High life
In hot pursuit
Taki
DGstaad ouble fives are very good in back- gammon — unless you're on the rim, uf course — but depressing when one reaches them as an age. I'm 55 today, so I've decid- ed to turn over a new leaf and finally olio/1 myself. From now on it will only be young girls, lots of them, nightclubs, trips, and lotsa booze. In fact I'm retiring from the intellectual life, as well as the business one, and the only work I will do from now on will be the pursuit of the fairer sex and sport (one and the same, n'est pas?). Gravl- tas, after all, has turned me prematurely grey, which led some wiseguy this morning to give me a bottle of Grecian 2000 as a birthday present.
I've got my tennis partner and karate kojai (junior) staying with me, but most of the amusement derives from the antics of • Master Tarun Naipul, son of the great Shiva. Tarun became my hero of sorts when he got into trouble in school by protesting his English Lit. teacher's ludi- crous assertion that 'Maya Angelou is as good as Shakespeare'. 'Bullshit', yelled Mr T from the back of the class and you can guess the rest. After all, political incorrect- ness nowadays is worse than shooting your parents, so Tarun was punished excessively.
He's making up for it here by tripping the light fantastic and chasing after experi- enced women. Last week he tried to pick up a British lady who can only be described as looking radioactive, she's so tanned. His line was that he would take her to Cher- nobyl, so her hubby lost his temper and my karate colleague and I had to intervene.
The weather has been perfect as usual. We breakfast on the chalet terrace and I read the family the lesson of the day. This comprises Alan Clark's sayings, maxims with which I totally agree. 'Bongo bongo land,' barbarian annexation of Europe by chewing gum and Chesterfields', and the 'vulgarity and brutishness of certain royals'. There is nothing Alan Clark has ever said that I disagree with, but my family is start- ing to hate him because it is now 15 days in a row that they've had his epigrams read out to them.
Among the guests will be a couple of Viscontis and Arnaud de Borchgraves. Sir Denis and Lady Thatcher are unable to attend. Last week my friend John O'Sulli- van, editor of the National Review, took me Up to their chalet for the most candid talk I've had with a politician since Constantine Karamanlis told me while in his Paris exile that the Colonels were right to stage their coup. I did admire the best prime minister ever when she told me what she thought about Bosnia, Heseltine, the Gulf war. What surprised me was her mild response When I asked how Ted Heath could be given the garter. But I shouldn't have been.
The strong never stick it to the ridiculous. •
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