A Year in Villefranche sur Mer - Moving to France

Day 1,026 (Tuesday) 31 st March 2020 Day 16 and shock horror it wasn’t sunny; this isolation is a lot easier when I can sunbathe! Huw put Andy and Chadwick in the back seat of a car with this caption… ‘Andy and Chadwick take on their most dangerous role, accepting a lift from Grace Kelly on the Grande Corniche in the 1955 romantic thriller To Catch a Thief.’    As the weather wasn’t so good we decided to be good citizens and stay home today although I did pop to Casino for bread, wine and potatoes and to the tabac where the very funny shopkeeper has now got a plastic protective screen between himself and his customers. He is a very tall man and I found it hilarious when he had to stoop down to be protected from me – we both had a good laugh.   I spent a few relaxing hours in the living room doing a jigsaw and Badger joined me to help – not! Things you should NEVER do when dining in France The French love their food rules, so here's how to get thr...

Day 1,025 (Monday) 30 th March 2020 Day 15 and it was a little cloudy but warm enough to eat lunch on the balcony. We filled in our paperwork and went for a walk and Huw kept Andy and Chadwick in Villefranche today with Sean Connery hiding behind a tree in case anyone spots him appearing in the woeful 1983 James Bond stink-fest Never Say Never again. This went down really well with the WhatsApp group as it is so close to home. We started our walk on Rue du Poilu and absolutely everything was shut even the boulangerie and Tabac. This is the spot where Sean Connery was standing in the above photo but the tree isn’t there anymore. I don’t know how many times we have walked along this street but neither of us has ever noticed this seating area. We walked through the citadel and the flowers looked lovely When we got to La Darse port we saw that the elegant yacht The Bystander was there – I hope someone has bought it and is giving some TLC. The...

Day 1,024 (Sunday) 29 th March 2020 Day 14 and we’re feeling a bit stir crazy but at least it was warm and sunny and my bougainvillea is coming back to life Huw put Andy and Chadwick in Hannibal Lecter’s cell to discuss the merits of eating under-cooked meat in a scene from the blockbuster horror The Silence of the Lambs. I was very sad to hear that one of our village characters has died. We nicknamed him Shouty Dog Man because he was drunk very often and shouted at himself with his faithful dog always at his side. He once kissed Huw on the forehead for no apparent reason and he seemed like a happy little soul. After lunch we filled in our forms to go out for some exercise. There’s a new form now and we have to write what time we leave because we are only allowed to be out for an hour and only once a day. I sent Angie a text saying that we would be walking past their flat and we had a nice chat with them from their second floor...