A bit of theatre and Christmas drinks

The weekend kicked off with a theatre play in Mouans-Sartoux, a village located near Valbonne, where Mathilde works. We had been invited to this festive event by Myriam, who was actually playing one of the main roles in the play! We actually recognised a fair few faces; mostly belonging to people we’d met at Myriam’s recent birthday party. The play, a modern take on the classic Cinderella story (the play was called “Cindy”), was an absolute hoot. I guess it was more accessible to a “barely fluent” French speaker such as myself, than the last play we saw in Grasse. I loved every minute of it, and I can honestly say Myriam was brilliant in her role. So if you read this, Myriam, thanks for a very pleasant evening!

Saturday started, as always for me these days, with a sailing session (the last one of this year, though). My trusty partner Hannu was in Paris, so I teamed up with one of the ladies of the group instead. The results were rather positive actually, as our boat seemed to move with an unforeseen rapidity. I suppose the reduction in total weight may have had something to do with it – well having said that we experienced the strongest winds so far, as well. Since the weather was also perfect (blue skies, sunshine, you get the picture), it was pretty much a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning…

For the evening, the plan was to meet up with Youcef and Ismael, as well as some others, for Christmas drinks in Nice. We did take advantage of the occasion to squeeze in a bit of last-minute Christmas shopping before, though. The centre of Nice was surprisingly peaceful, actually, considering it’s just two weeks before Christmas. Perhaps people are still keeping a tight belt, what with the crisis ‘n all…

The venue for the night’s festivities was Bar Karr, naturally located on Rue Alphonse Karr, near the pedestrian part of Nice. It was a nice enough bar, with a modern and trendy look (and prices to match). Not the sort of place we go to very often, so it made a nice change for us, actually. We were soon joined by Ismael (who’d been working like mad, as usual), as well as his lovely Irish lady Sarah, whom we finally had the honour to meet. Funnily enough, she did her studies at DIT Mountjoy Square in Dublin, where I also spent 5 months “studying” (=drinking Guinness). Ah, the fond memories I have of that place…


We were also joined by another Irish lady, as well as Ismael’s boss: Naim (a Londoner, who actually used to work both at Guildford and Farnborough – it’s a small world indeed). And eventually Youcef showed up as well… All in all, it was a great evening. Good fun catching up with everybody, and meeting a few new faces. And the bill didn’t even turn out to be too bad, in the end (especially considering I had a nice plate of foie gras for dinner – all in honour of Christmas, of course).

A rainy and grey Sunday with rather little activity on our part, brought and end to a great weekend – the last one before our upcoming trip to Japan!