This is CBS Eye on the World. Here's John Batchelor.

To the south of France, to paradise, to Simon Constable, writing for Barons and the Wall Street

Journal and other distinguished publications. We begin, however, with the climate report.

Simon, a very good day to you in the south of France. I report that we snow flurries here in southern New England in the last 24 hours,

depending on when you were outside. Very cold. Clearly, the frosts have been with us for a week

now, and they're not packing off we might have more snow

flurries nothing to see on the ground but certainly the chill is in the air the leaves are all gone

we're full fall how is it with you good day simon good day john it's surprisingly beautiful today

it is sunny a few clouds not not many but they're very white, so it doesn't seem to put off the sun from coming out. The high was 69 Fahrenheit, which is absolutely lovely. It's a little bit windy, and the low is 54. It's been absolutely delightful out there to go for a walk. It isn't

too hot. It isn't too cold. It's just, you know, coldly locks. We move to our first Christmas

for Lyra. Now, she's growing very quickly. She choose the appropriate shoes and socks. But how

is she outside with the cooler air?

She's delightful outside. She's really growing up quite quickly and learning from her sort of,

you know, adoptive sister, Juno, which is very, very good. There's one thing she's doing. She seems intent on chasing cars.

So I have her on a harness, and I have to hold her down until the car is far gone, because she's

very musly now, and she's going to be even bigger, and she's got to learn not to do that, because

it is very dangerous. Other than that, she's been absolutely

delightful. And Juno is being appropriately disciplinarian. We're not doing that, that sort of

thing. I understand. Yes, absolutely. My Charlie's first Christmas is coming up. He's got way

too much energy for somebody at my age. I've got to deal with him

by saying, sailor, I need your help here, okay? Sailor being Old Man River. We move from the happy

children of our lives into the world of commodities. Because, Simon, the world right now is focusing on something called rare earths

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