R but No R

Well, my little winter break in the sun is about to come to an end and while there has been much activity and plenty of relaxation, I don't feel particularly rested, mainly because the boiler in our Cannes flat is located in the spare bedroom, which means that when anyone wants to have a shower in the morning, they have to come in to turn it on and it is very noisy. Never mind: fun has been had and the sun even came out yesterday morning and stayed for the weekend.

Yesterday, we drove out into the Estérel mountains for a walk. It was bright and sunny but very windy and I was forced to wear my shiny, white trainers with my otherwise stylish outfit as none of my other footwear was suitable. We sheltered in a little rocky cove for some soup and then headed back town for assorted running, leaping and shopping. Dinner was at Astou, one of the nicest fish restaurants in town. The oysters and jumbo prawns I had for my starter were very good; the faux filet I had for my main course, not so much (not rare enough and far too fatty for my taste), but I had to have it as I hadn't had a steak yet this holiday.

Today, we caught the boat out to Ile St Honorat, which was a bit of a mission in itself as there was some bike race in town today and the Croisette was partly closed off to traffic (policed by a lone policeman who got very annoyed every time a pissed off Frenchman got out of his car to move the carefully erected barriers so he could get through), which meant the bus down to the port was very late. Eventually, though, we got to the marina and made it out to the island. It was a beautiful day and very warm in the sun. We went into a little castle, with multiple floors and balconies providing plenty of Escher-like vistas and space for leaping. There is a monastery on the island and the monks maintain a shop where they sell wine (not quite like this one) and sweets shaped like monks--I'm not too sure about the appropriateness of suckable monks, but what would I know? Then, there was just time for a long lunch at Cresci, on the sea front, a final run in the sun and some packing before my very late flight. With luck, I'll be home by half-midnight...