Soon is the month of Maying, when Sprinter vans are playing: Philip White Freight has a mid-May service in mind.

BONJOUR, chers Alpiniards.

As I've been working rather too hard recently, I spent the morning hacking around Lulworth in Dorset, accompanied by my friend Stuart and my dog. Sun, sea and as it turned out, a pint of cider. Magical.

And illusory. For here I am back in the PWF office, talking to you about May. Because on the 12th of that fine month we shall set forth on a voyage Alpenwards. We will arrive late on 13 May, and spend the 14th delivering and picking up the vivid array of things you lovely people choose to ship to and fro. Then we shall return to the increasingly sunny embrace of dear old Blighty.

Ideally I would sit back now and await your mails, sucking philosophically on another pint of Old Rosie. In reality however, a load schedule, some accounting and the school run await. April, as an American once wrote, is the cruellest month...

A bientot, mes amis

Phil White

Spring! Forward! The Philip White Freight van in April

BONJOUR, tout le monde.

Next weekend we will be robbed of an hour’s kip. But after a coffee or two all shall be forgiven, as spring is allegedly here and ever-lengthening evenings stretch ahead. Oh, and Easter will be upon us.

Philip White Freight Towers is situated in the lovely county of Dorset, which is very much like living in the Alps. Not literally of course – the skiing in Lulworth is pretty woeful and you can’t parapente off the Cerne Abbas giant. But in the matter of being very popular during school holidays, oh yes… much like having a home in Cham or similar. This year the season of bunnies, eggs, crucifixion and resurrection will be marked by basically half my family and friends dropping by to indulge in country walks, coastal paddling and the wholesale destruction of cider and cream teas.

Naturally, instinct bids me to flee, to leap into my van and head south. But I’ve been informed by a higher power (Mrs White) that such an act should be regarded as verboten. So the early April PWF service will leave on 10 April, heading for the Alps. I will trundle into town a couple of days later, then return to Blighty.

The usual notices apply: should you be ordering things, they can come to our warehouse in Dorchester to join the wagon train. Or indeed, we can work door-door. Fire enquiries off via the Contact button on this very website.

So without further ado, bon Pacques, Alpiniards all. See you on the other side…

Caledonia dreaming… Philip White Freight plots a Scottish incursion

THERE is a place dear to our hearts, a place of rocks and mountains liberally swathed in snow. A place where log fires burn bright in the darkness of the night. A place where rugged, craggy men speak in strange, foreign tongues. Oh yes mes amis, I speak of Scotland.

More specifically, we are planning a trip to England's bonny brother, a place that we get to rather rarely. This does present an opportunity to collect goods from the far-flung north (I include the topmost bits of England in this term) without the massive surcharge that a bespoke run up there would generate. Therefore I throw the information out there, in case there are among you those who harbour a desire to have things brought from l'Ecosse to la France. Our next run to the Alps, as insinuated in previous mails, will leave our Dorset lair around 07 March (exact dates to be confirmed shortly, but that's the general idea).

Awa' wi'ye now, and bon ski!

The rides of March - Philip White Freight considers its next service

AH, here you find me, making bad puns about the words of a fictional soothsayer to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. But then, 'tis Friday the 13th. Fortunately, this fell day is to be followed by the glories of Feb 14th, when my thoughts shall turn to a different kind of seize her. Oh, lucky Mrs White...

Valentines' day means many things to many people, but amid the chocolate tributes, bath produce sales and the sight of many a man trudging around a wet Dorchester bearing floral arrangements, it occurs to me that half of February has whizzed by. In my case, mostly in a blur of driving, warehouse work and administration. In yours, a spray of lovely powder. It's time to consider March, mes amis.

Dates are not yet fixed for the March schedule, but anyone ordering sofas etc (lots of you seem to be in the market for sofas at the moment) should consider that the month's initial PWF service is likely to leave the UK around 07 March. It will head Alpenwards, slither around for a few days, then trudge back to the dankness of the UK.

As ever, the Dorchester warehouse is open to receive goods. Or to store your things should you be moving back and have discovered that the contents of two houses don't fit in one.

Alors, mes braves - may tomorrow be filled with love, smiles, cocoa-based snacks and the scent of flowers. If we survive today, that is…

BON Samedi, mes amis

Here's hoping that you're all whizzing gleefully downhill rather than pratting about reading emails. But for the cyber-detainees among you, oh yea, oh yea, hear ye this (sorry. Encountered Dorchester's European champion town crier, ghost story teller and balls-out lunatic Alistair Chisholm yesterday. Feeling strangely affected. If you're wondering where this digression came from, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP9EoU0ndOA). As advertised previously (this is just a reminder for those late shoppers among you - and frankly, late shoppers are legion), the PWF early Feb service will quit fair Dorchester town on 04 Feb, heading towards the Alps. In these fair mountains 'twill trundle on 06 and 07 Feb, before returning to Merrie England.

While the usual mix of the mundane and mental is already booked aboard, there be always room for a little 'un. As ever, the PWF warehouse here in Dorchester is at your disposal for the reception of items from suppliers too unaccommodating to deliver to France, or we can work door-door.

Bon ski, chers Alpiniards

Phil White
Philip White Freight

It'll be coming round the mountain… the Philip White Freight van, that is. New dates, mes amis.

WELL, I've only just given up bellowing Happy New Year! at everyone I meet or greet, like a dementedly cheery extra from a Will Ferrel movie… and already February looms on the calendar. The year's second month means two things in this office – one, that I'd best start thinking about Mrs PWF's birthday present; two, that I'd better let you lovely lot know the dates of the next Philip White Freight service. It leaves the UK on 04 Feb, and should get to the Alps the next day. We'll be in Chamonix, St Gervais, Morzine and that sort of place over two days, then we'll turn North again.

The PWF warehouse in Dorchester is at your disposal should you inadvertently buy some furniture, crockery, a bathroom suite or a pair of six-foot cuddly Polar bears (I kid you not…) in the January sales.

And so I leave you, chers Alpiniards, and wander into the distance wondering what on earth Mrs PWF might like for her birthday (she's not really into Polar bears, unfortunately). Until we meet again, mes amis…

2015: the road ahead

THANK you for 2014, Alpiniards. We did a lot of work last year. January 2015's first Philip White Freight service is just around the corner, and a whole new year begins. A quick audit of 2014 reveals a dizzying variety of cargo, transported both to and fro. It also highlights the wonder and variety of you marvellous people, those with enough poetry in their soul to live, work or play in the French Alps. I would be the first to admit that driving around in a van is right up there with painting ceilings for fist-eating dreariness. But the people I deal with at either end of every journey are a boundless source of entertainment and pleasure. Some of you are inspired, others inspiring. The odd one is clearly downright mental, which can only be a good thing. In a former life I was a journalist, writing pretty lies about people and their cars in magazines. I remain a professional gossip, which makes you brilliant lot my bread and butter in much more than just a balance sheet kinda way. So merci, mes amis. Have a wonderful 2015 – I'll catch you along the way…