I came across Stones in a most unexpected context and even though the information is not terribly exciting:-) wanted to share this with you. This comes from a book written by an elderly Finnish lady who has retired to southern France (Thoiras); the book describes her life there. After 200 pages of descriptions of village life (garden fairs, church choirs, and such) the Stones suddenly come up in the last chapter.

As you probably know, the Wattses have a house in Thoiras. In the village, the house is known as "Rolling Stone", and according to the book, the other Stones,in particular Mick, are also visitors there. The house is described as "large country house, mas, and is set slightly apart from the village. The two-storey house is set amidst a large walled garden; however, since it is built on a rolling hill, it is very easy to see into the house. The gates to the house are always open. However, among the villagers it is not considered proper to take any notice of the house or its visitors."

She also gives an anecdote of a local builder who acts as a handyman for the Wattses. "A couple of years ago" he was asked to re-paint the walls of the rooms. However, when the job was ready, Madame Watts was not happy with the colour and everything had to be re-painted.

And that's about how exciting it gets:-). However,the importance of the colour to Shirley brought to my mind a quote from Charlie a couple of years ago (a Q interview,IIRC) where he told how Shirley was really a gifted artist when they met, and had a place to Royal College of Art which she had to give up because of the "Rolling Stones association/connection".That sounds quite sad.