Day 294 (Wednesday)

I had a very early start this morning and it was another sunny day.

I noticed this sign on a neighbour’s gate and wondered why they didn’t want a pub, but of course it means ‘no publicity’, which means no junk mail thank you.

I didn’t have to wait very long for the bus to Nice and the journey felt really short after my trips to Cap d’Ail. I was early so I walked very slowly and bought another multi-trip bus card. My student Jean-Marc, yes I’ve now found out his name, arrived bang on time. Three hours is a long time with one student but he is very nice and it’s not a problem. He has an estate agency Cap d’Ail and invited me to call in after work one day for a glass of wine with him and his wife. He was talking about the business and said that he has sold many properties to Russians but this has recently stopped because Putin is controlling the banks and visas to stop the rich taking their money out of Russia, it seems hard to believe that he still has such power. During our petite pause I showed Guillarme my social security card and number and he was very impressed that I’ve got it so soon. He explained exactly what to do to complete my time sheets so that I will be paid next week – hooray! I also agreed to take on a new student next Friday morning 10-12am which will give me an hour to get to Cap d’Ail. I was lucky with the tram and the bus from the old port as well. When I got off the bus I went to the boulangerie to get some cornbread and it was a lovely colour,

much more yellow than usual. There are also some lovely new flowers in the park.

As it is Wednesday the market was on in the square and I bought some poulet roti and roast potatoes. Our favourite poulet roti man disappeared months ago and he still isn’t there, I do hope he comes back in the summer because he is so entertaining.

I bought three small pots of pansies for €4.50 and the woman selling them spoke very quickly so I asked her to speak slowly and she did and we had a mini conversation. I had a lovely relaxing afternoon planting my new pansies and tidying up the old flowers – spring is definitely here.