A Year in Villefranche sur Mer - Moving to France

  Day 1209 (Wednesday) 30 th September 2020 It was lovely and warm this morning but there were a few wispy clouds in the sky and I had an issue with what to wear today because I was working until 6.30 and it has cooled down a bit in the evenings now. Huw gave me a lift to the Old Port of Nice on Kisbee so I wore long trousers for the first time in months and months and even wore a light cotton jacket, which was needed on the scooter. I wasn’t as early as usual but I still managed a short walk along the prom and it was as lovely as ever.    It was great to see Gilles again, it’s been three weeks since we had a class. He is very worried about his job because they are still cutting his hours. He is confident that he will have a job until Christmas but he doesn’t know after that. There are 140 rooms in this Marriott and at the moment 100 of them are empty. He is a single parent and his daughter has just started a new school so he has had to buy a new uniform, gym kit, books etc which cost

  Day 1208 (Tuesday) 29 th September 2020  It was lovely and warm again and I had a bit of a lie because I’m working till 6pm in Monaco.  Badger had a lot of fun playing with our Super U shopping bags in the kitchen. Huw went up to the big apartment to do a bit of gardening and I caught the train to  Monaco. It takes 25 minutes to walk from the platform to the WAG’s apartment who from  now on I’m going to call her highness. The lovely Pilipino house keeper let me in and the  concierge stopped me asking who I was there to see. I told him madame Marlene and he let  me in. Her name is pronounced Marlen but every time I say it or think it I can hear Boysie’s  voice talking about Marleeene in a strong cockney accent. When I got to the apartment the  housekeeper was in the kitchen, her highness was in her bedroom and Bradley was hiding  under a huge woolly blanket on the sofa. I couldn’t be bothered to cajole him into joining  me on the balcony so I just waited at the table on the balcony –

  Day 1207 (Monday) 28 th September 2020 It was lovely and warm again today and our perfect blue sky is back. I made the most of my day off today and spent a few hours sunbathing. As soon as we lost the sun off the balcony we took Kisbee to Beaulieu to do a bit of shopping and get my train pass for tomorrow. It was a sign on the changing season when we had to wear a light jacket on Kisbee – I don’t want summer to end. I know we’ve got many, many sunny days to come but that’s the first time I’ve worn a jacket for months and months. I bought my weekly train ticket between Villefranche and Monaco and was chuffed that it only cost 9€ for seven days; it’s 6€20 for a daily return so I will get value for money just going two days but from this week I’ll be going three times a week to work with her highness the WAG and her son. We wanted to buy some new toys for Badger so went to the shop Chiffon et Bazaar but they didn’t have any but there were plenty of Christmas decorations – why so early?

  Day 1206 (Sunday) 27 th September 2020 We had a lovely sunset last night but the weather has definitely changed and I had to wear leggings and a long sleeved T-shirt last night. I am convinced that I suffer from SAD because the thought of summer being over is really depressing. Badger shocked us both last night by sitting on Huw’s lap for a short time, he hasn’t done that since he was a kitten. had a nice lie in this morning and Badger only woke me up once chewing my ankle and knee. We met Pat and Dee in Le Phare just after midday and had a good chat with the gang before going to Les Garcons for lunch. Huw had a seafood dish and the rest of us had a lamb kofta and it was delicious. For 17€ you can have two courses; Huw, Pat and Dee had a starter and a main and I had a main and dessert accompanied by a lovely bottle of rose with a great label. I chose a chocolate mousse/ice cream for desert and it was served with a slice of salty fried bread and olive oil and weirdly it worked a tre