The weather will be fine – le temps sera bon is, I believe, the term – the tulips will be out in the Tuileries, the Parisians will be strutting about the Boulevard Saint-Germain in their spring finery.
The European Parliament is fining Le Pen by withholding half of her parliamentary salary as well as freezing her allowances and expenses.
Compared with them, the fine old le Carré characters — Connie Sachs with her total recall for Soviet thugs, Toby Esterhase and his street-surveillance Lamplighters — seem wistful, melancholy figures from a different time.
The following year a French court imposed a three-month suspended sentence and a €10,000 fine on Le Pen for comments he had made in 2005 that violated France's statute on Holocaust denial.
Both numbers highlight her fluid coloratura technique and her natural ease in the French language, which are also apparent in her sensual rendition of Delibes's flirtatious "Les Filles de Cadix" and a fine "Depuis le jour" from Charpentier's "Louise".
Talking of difficult fathers, meanwhile, Ieuan has been reading Le Carré's A Perfect Spy, which features one of the trickiest: A re-read actually, but it's been years and years since I read it first and I'd forgotten just what a damn fine novelist Le Carré is.
On May 30th a Paris court also sentenced Mr Dumas's former mistress, Christine Deviers-Joncour, to three years, half of it suspended, and a FFr1.5m fine; Loik Le Floch-Prigent, Elf's former chairman, to three-and-a-half years, and FFr2m; and Gilbert Miara, another lover of the generous Mrs Deviers-Joncour, to 18 months and FFr1m.
After dropping in on Les Deux Ailes hunting shop, its rifles displayed in the window like fine patisseries, Ms Le Pen stops in the street market for selfies, kisses children and stoops to greet those in wheelchairs.
He had a fine season for Le Mans last year before making a lucrative move to Dynamo Kyiv.
The hotel is also home to two of Namur's most lauded restaurants: L'Espièglerie for fine dining and Le Grill for brasserie fare.
