Country Living: Our Man in Arundel

Well, that's Easter over - although not, I'm delighted to say, the end of my chocolate supplies. There's still plenty left here at home. Incidentally, I was over in Alfriston on Easter Day and was surprised to see the village chocolate shop (!) selling its eggs at half price. I'm imagining many an East Sussex man telling his partner that "of course he's not forgotten to buy her an egg" and he'd "just pop out to the car to get it".

Here in Arundel it's all starting to kick off for the summer. I'm not sure when our tourist season officially starts, but the opening of the Castle (31st March to 28th October this year) seems a pretty good guide. For the next seven months there'll be people walking down the middle of the road, people staring through my front window and people describing the place as quaint, lovely, cute and interesting. I'm tempted to produce a residents' "i-spy" book offering bonus points for the first person who spots someone driving the wrong way down one of our one-way streets.

I'm writing this with tongue firmly in cheek, of course. I'm a relatively recent arrival in town - and I've just returned from a trip to France that saw me visiting assorted tourist attractions and just about getting away with a poor grasp of the language. Besides, I love Arundel's assorted tea shops, pubs, bars and restaurants as much as anyone else!

PS: I've not had a car for 6 weeks - a combination of unsuccessful searching, a short attention span and a lack of convenient transport to go and look at anything. My carbon footprint may now be smaller than a Mothercare sock but I'm getting fed up. A decision could be made this week, I think.