Friday's Five ✋ #452
D'abord le potager, et puis nager...
Happy Friday! ☀️
Coucou de la France! Back in a ‘second home’ place in the Dordogne countryside, guests of my godfather and his wife who have been generous enough to share this paradise for more than two decades. Over the years, I've watched my cousins' children grow up here. Now it fills my heart to see our daughter rediscover the place every summer. The vegetable garden, the first dives into the pool, the search for the chickens.
What I’m reading 📖
Only recently discovered Don Winslow and his trilogy format. The first series that hooked me: The Power of the Dog, The Cartel, and The Border, three books following DEA agent Art Keller across his entire career fighting Mexican drug cartels. Even before speeding up to 1.5x, Winslow's writing is propulsive and immersive. The detail pulls you into the story and the graphic depictions of the drug wars made me shiver. If action-packed crime novels are your thing, this series is for you. More about the books.
What I’m listening to 🎧
The first time my now-wife joined me in France, before our daughter was born, we spent every day on a road trip through the Dordogne, the valley of a thousand castles, plenty to discover. The band we kept returning to on those drives was Elbow. Their song A Day Like This stayed with us so much that we asked a friend to play a violin and cello arrangement of it at our wedding. This will always be the song of that era, and of that place.
What I’m watching 📺
Matthew Rhys is best known for The Americans, the Russian spy series I watched twice in its entirety. Whenever he appears in something new, it gets my attention. Two episodes into Widow's Bay and it's hard to categorise: workplace comedy, horror, or comedy? All three, and somehow it works. Watch the trailer.
What I’m thinking about 🧠
“Soyez toujours ivre. Tout est là.” – Charles Baudelaire
What else?! 💯
The Bergerac wine region sits right next to Bordeaux and has spent decades in its shadow. Over the past twenty years, a new generation of winemakers has been quietly changing that. Coming back every year means rediscovering old favorites and finding new ones. The wine shop in the nearest village just changed hands after forty years under the same owner. The owner changed. The selection didn't.
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!
David
450+ Fridays. 61 countries. 400k+ views.
Leadership Journey | Instagram | Website | 2025 Playlist | Company