Day 112 (Wednesday)

It was another glorious sunny day today and poor Huw had to go into the office. Louise, from the other night, phoned and said that there is possible job for me in a private school in Monaco, I thanked her and arranged to meet later to help Andy celebrate is big 60^th birthday. When I looked at the job I got quite excited because I had all the necessary qualifications until I got to the bit that it was working with children – bugger! I emailed my CV and certificates anyway just in case something with adults comes up. The fire engine boy is on fire yet again today (don’t excuse the pun, it was intentional) there really is something wrong with him. It was quite amusing at first but now it’s just annoying. Bought Andy a chocolate éclair to take to him later and found my old 50 candles – I know he’s going to be 60 but they’re the only ones I’ve got.

Huw went to the office again today so I met him in the bar with all the expats. Andy was there wearing a fez (which rather suits him) and he loved the éclair and the loved the candles even more.

He was already a bit pissed and it was only 6pm! There were quite a lot of people there and it was great to see such a turn out for him. He was sitting facing the bar being very loud and obnoxious and there was a pint of water on the table in front of him, which he found quite offensive. Without looking a threw the offending liquid behind him and splashed a poor, innocent tourist. The woman was obviously startled, which was very funny but it was even funnier when she looked up at the flats above thinking it had come from up there. Chadwick, one of the expats, called for everybody’s attention and handed Andy a large envelope containing his gift. As he opened the envelope there were four smaller envelopes inside and strict instructions to open these in order. He felt them all and asked if his present was drugs and was quite disappointed when they said no. envelope number contained an e-ticket flight from Nice to Scotland. He was quite baffled and opened number two, which was an e-booking for a family room (two adults and a child) in a hotel in Edinburgh. He was really baffled by now. On opening the third one it all became clear – it was a ticket for the six nations France, Scotland game in February. He was quite overwhelmed by it all – what a wonderful gift. The fourth envelope contained a little purse with a number of £5, £10 and £20 notes! As he got the pounds out of the purse lots of people in the party shouted ‘real money!’ The reason for the family room in the hotel is that it was cheaper to book that than a single.

   

Louise soon arrived and we managed to get seats together and had a nice chat. she didn’t stay very long and soon we found ourselves talking to Chadwick’s wife Helene. (Chadwick is the one in a blue shirt in the photo above.) She was also quite drunk but good fun and a great believer in travelling so quite a few stories were exchanged. There was also another younger woman with a small child who was also a bit worse for wear and she soon joined in the conversation. It tuned out that she lives here six months a year and England the other six months and this year was the first time she’d rented out her apartment very close to the beach while she was in England. It’s a two-bedroom place view a great view, expensive furniture and state of the art everything. I couldn’t help wondering what she does for a living to be able to afford all this. She had never planned on renting the place out and kitted it out for herself, her husband and little boy. Due to the pristine condition of the flat, it’s kit and location she is charging €300 a night! I told her my idea of trying to start a small business as the meet and greeter and key holder for all the airbnb places in Villefranche and doing the cleaning in between guests. (I only want to do the cleaning part of it until I can afford to pay for a cleaner.)

I had this idea a while back because a few times we have used airbnb here it really wasn’t very organised at all. It was very difficult it get the keys in the first place, there was no internet password and no toilet paper. These little things are so simple to do but a lot of the owners don’t live here so I think there’s a real business in this. She agreed that it was a great idea but this year she’d mostly been able to do all this herself and the few times she couldn’t she got Andy to do it for her. Andy butted in here and recommended me so who knows this could be the start of something and it would make a lovely change from teaching. She said that friends of hers also have the same situation but they are rarely here to do the handover so she is going to tell them about me. I gave her my card and prayed that she wasn’t too tipsy to remember me tomorrow.

We stayed in one airbnb a few times because it was so organised. The owner lives in the same block and so she meets you at the front door. She gives you little snacks, shows you how everything works and provides you with train and bus timetables and recommends places in Villefranche and nearby places. This takes no time at all but it’s so welcoming and important. And I think I’d be good at it.