Beautiful Gestures

Did you know that if you join the Foreign Legion, you can escape your past, start a new life and even be given a new name?

I didn’t, but as I have said before there are many things I don’t know.

In the next village, for example, there is an old building with a beautiful green door that is always closed. The door is solid, ancient, wrought by human hand at a time when craftsmanship obviously mattered, and since it is never open I have no idea what lies within.

There are a lot of other things that equally trouble my curiosity; the best way to teach English to Foreign Legionnaires about to go to Afghanistan (as I have been this week), what the cat is thinking and where did I leave the keys?

The meaning of life is less of a mystery ever since someone kindly showed me the definition in the dictionary – it’s the period between birth and death. This knowledge should help one to make the most of it.

But if you want to start a new one – life - the French Foreign Legion is an option as they ask no questions. Of course they DO filter applications to a certain degree so certain crimes and criminals are not tolerated and as the lieutenant explained when I questioned him Mr Bin Laden would not be accepted as he has already been recruited by the Americans.

Which leaves us with the Green Door? Today, for the first time in 17 years it was open as I drove past so I slow down and looked in.

My keys are not there.