Nautisports not very naughty

On my way into Cannes yesterday, I spotted a shop that I had not seen before called Nautisports. I don’t know why but I dropped in to see what type of merchandise they might specialise in and was distressed to find lots of seaside toys rather than a very different sort of toy I had been secretly expecting. I wonder in the French have a Trades Description Act like we do in the UK? In which case I will protest.

Cannes yesterday was windy, and I don’t just mean my own prodigious output as a result of the rather good steak I had the night before in the Valbonnaise, now back in fashion as the evenings have begun to draw in. No, the wind was full on and does not bode well for my boat trip today.  I even considered putting on long trousers and putting the top of the car up yesterday morning, but looking at the temperature gauge saying 23 degrees made me realise that I have gone a bit native and that summer still has a few weeks left in it

By 10 ish this morning, after we after we have no doubt dismissed the French challenge for the Rugby World Cup, we shall commence the trip to St Tropez. The rugby will be viewed accompanied by bacon sandwiches on board D5 London which will provide some perfect fuel for me to throw up on the way over to this renowned flesh pot if the mistral is still blowing,  but I live in hope as the forecast is for light winds. How can they know what I am going to eat and what effect it will have?

Once there, we shall be eating again, this time at the trendy Cinquante Cinq which if things go badly could provide yet more fodder for the seagulls on the way back.

Our engagement last night seems to have disappeared into the dust, thus I shall be up and ready this morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed and fully rested. That is the plan as I write this the night before, but you can never be sure what that nice lady decorator will do. At present she is lounging on the sofa in her jim jams, but the trill of the phone or a text from the ether could still mean that I shall be dragged out to eat and drink somewhere. Its just happened; she has awoken and suggested early doors at the Queens Legs for a pint of Guinness. My whole being is screaming “no”, but my voice just said “good idea”  so I suppose it must be.

Yucca in flower

Another nature photograph for you today, one of our Yucca plants has suddenly decided that October is a good time to burst into spring like flower. Perhaps it is ambidextrous or dyslexic or something. I thought they were supposed to bloom in the spring? I guess it is just being difficult, a bit like Banjo, the cataclysmic cocker.

Take yesterday afternoon for instance, Tony “I invented the internet” Coombs and less than adoring wife Pat dropped around to pay for their tickets for that literary lunch, and Banjo proceeded to make himself unpleasant by attracting a rake of mosquitos and refusing to obey the simplest of commands. I know I said “sit” but he obviously imagined a silent “h” and did just what it says on the can, or rather what you do in the can if you are American.

So work for Currencies Direct will have to take a back seat this weekend, I have some serious last ditch summer sunshine activity to enjoy. Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting instalment.

Chris France