April has been and gone and spring is here. One minute I’m seeing people sunbathing on the beach and the next day it’s windy and out comes the cardigan. I do love spring and seeing the back of winter. The hay fever is off the scale though.

TV : Netflix finally released the second series of  Ray Donovan in France that was soaked up very quickly. Now that Season 4 is about to come out, I’m way behind. Netflix is way behind. I had never found Liev Schreiber an attractive man until this show. His character, Ray Donovan is macho and messed up but he’s a great fixer.  No he’s not a DIY guru or match fixer. He cleans up rich people’s problems. It’s an excellent series with some great characters. Ray really got into a spot of bother this season with his wife, his clients and a reporter. Jon Voight is Ray’s crazy father and he’s one of the more out there characters  on the show.

I also polished off the final series of Californication. Well if you haven’t seen this before I’ll just say that it’s pretty full on. There’s an abundance of sex, drugs and rock n’roll. Hank’s (David Duchovny) a writer in LA who is in love with Karen, the mother of his daughter, but he can’t really commit. His character was great in the first season but the scripts just became sillier and sillier as the series wore on. However I wanted to see what the end would bring. Would Hank and Karen drive off into the sunset together?

Film : The Amy Winehouse documentary from Asif Kapadia. Well I love her music but I’m not sure that I loved this documentary, probably because it felt a little too soon after her death, although it was very illuminating. It highlights her incredible voice and talent before she lost the plot. The documentary really showed that she had no effective support systems around her. The music industry, her husband and father all let her down badly. She was  a money earner for so many people in her life and the money go round had to keep turning. One of the worst scenes was when Amy’s Dad turned up with a film crew when she was trying to sort herself out and have a break in the Caribbean. He really comes across pretty badly in this. The UK press also harassed her as she was good clickbait. Not a happy ending.

A little more on the upbeat side was Captain America Civil War. This was another Marvel extravaganza that I enjoyed more than Avengers Age of Ultron. To be honest all of these Marvel movies are starting to blend into one, although it was one of the best films I’d seen with les enfants for a while.

Books :  Currently I have three books on the go so next month …

Music :  Well it was Prince of course that was on high rotate. So many funky albums. I’ve been listening to Controversy a lot as it’s the only CD I have for the car. Apparently he has a giant vault full of unreleased music that will no doubt be plundered.

Fashion : I hate shopping for jeans due to my changing shape. And now everything is slashed / ripped / torn. I’m just too old to pull that off and you would not believe how hard it is to find a ‘virgin’ pair of jeans. Slashed is the new normal.

Perfume and Smelly Interludes : So many perfumes were smelt at Esxence. So many still to smell. The next perfume from Esxence I’ll review will be Adjatay from The Different Company, one of my favourites from the show. I’ll just say that I’m currently buried under a deluge of perfume samples. This isn’t a complaint by the way. It’s just that they look like the white mountain that Tony Montana wants to sniff.  I think a few Quick Sniff posts are in order.

The scent of spring is gorgeous here with the Bitter Orange trees in bloom. The perfume from the blossoms is magical and this more than any other smell is what I associate with France. Well maybe stinky cheese as well. They bring the bees too. There are plenty buzzing away in the garden.

Travel : Milan for Esxence was a riot of activity and went by in a flash. I didn’t see  much of Milan actually. It really was a whirlwind trip. I did pop out to a couple of excellent perfume stores in Milan while I was there – Campomarzio and Profumo. They are on the same street a few doors apart in a lovely old part of town. Both stores have a varied selection of perfumes and just walking the cobbled streets is such a treat.

Let me know if you came across anything interesting last month – TV, film, books, music, perfume…. And have a great May and safe travels.

Notes : Images : Featured, Esxence and Milan Perfume Stores by Megan In Sainte Maxime : Ray Donovan, Californication, Amy and Captain America : promo shots : Prince : Jenna Crawford