Monaco

Perhaps I am hard to please. I find Monaco boring, I find Cannes boring as well. My friend, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoys both. I love watching the kids play in the sea, and sitting at the beachfront restaurant, talking to the young waiters who are nice to my son. One spent a year in Australia to learn English, and is going to Canada to get his MBA. It is nice to see young people who are looking beyond their noses to develop a future. The other waiter spent 2 months in the US and tells my son to keep up his French and English, as it will take him a long way. My youngest son explains that his father is French, and his mother (as he indicates me) is Japanese, and he speaks French and English, and "a little bit of Japanese". He is now known in the restaraunt as the "bon homme" who has a bright future ahead of him. The waiter is nice enough to come tell me that he "must tell me that my son is very polite". These are the things that make my day.

I find that I am becoming quite the local in terms of road traffic rules. An old granny tries to cut into my lane to turn left, and I deftly block her from getting in AND manage to make her block the other lane, resulting in her getting the death look from other drivers. Serves her right, I say. Trying to get to la Croisette in Cannes, I end up in le Cannet, but make an illegal U turn in a oneway street, and find my way back to the beach. We plunck ourselves down on the beach and set my friend off to see the town. 4 hours later, we find ourselves on the aforementioned beachfront restaurant.

We weave our way home and find that the rest of my family went on diet and had salad for lunch, which means we get to eat my ratatouille and couscous for dinner, with the hot pepper from last night and marguez. The night is still warm, as I mop the kitchen floor and clean off the kitchen.