Happier things

Before yesterday went badly awry in the evening, it was an awesome day! My husband has recently learnt to drive, and yesterday was the first time I'd got in the car with him. (He is, as I always knew he would be, an excellent driver!)

We rented an Auto Bleue - one of Nice's electric cars, for hire hourly/daily - and drove around the coast, heading up the mountain behind Villefranche and Eze. You get some amazing views from up there, and I'd recommend making the trip that tiny bit in-land if you're here on holiday - there are buses that do the same route, if you don't have a car or don't fancy driving on French roads!

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In which St Jean Cap Ferrat incurs the wrath of the gods

There's been a *huge* thunder and lightning storm here, it's been rather pretty. St Jean Cap Ferrat clearly hasn't been keeping up with its ritual virgin sacrifices: it got hit by lightning 3 times in the space of half an hour, twice slamming into poor inoffensive trees and exploding them into flames. Monaco looks like it's being hammered now.

The pretty bit is gone from here now, no more thunder rattles the windows and only occasional flashes light up the sky; even the driving rain has died off, leaving just the whistling gusts of wind. One of the exploded trees is still burning slightly.

I like storms, when I can stay inside in the warm and watch them.

ETA: It's sunny now, and hot. There follows a probably very boring video of lightning - though it doesn't have the trees exploding, since I wasn't awake enough to grab my camera at that point...

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Week 2, Day 2 - and some good news

Week 2, Day 2 went well - better than Day 1, anyway. The hills have got smaller... I took some photos this morning at the end of my run, so you can see where I end up, in case you're interested. The statues are prettier than the pics show...

Oh, and the good news? Paul and I are now properly and officially engaged! We're going to get married in the autumn, here in France at the mairie; date yet to be fixed...

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End of week 1!

I have done my first week of running; I get to move on to a new podcast on Friday! And I'm still not dead!

Things I have learnt this week, in no particular order:

• It's pretty much 5km between Villefranche and the bus stop at St Jean Cap Ferrat.
  
• There are a *lot* of hills between here and St Jean.
  
• The buses at St Jean don't run very frequently.
  
• It's not summer yet.
  
• A sweater is a good thing, especially if it has pockets.
  
• Porridge is actually surprisingly edible, if you don't look at it.
  
• Running really is faster than walking. Even at the snail's pace that I do it.
  

Speaking of pockets, what do people who Do Running Properly use to put things like keys, ipod, phone, money, bus pass, that sort of thing, in? Because when summer finally does get here, I'm definitely not going to want to be wearing a sweater...

(First person to suggest a bum bag gets shot. This is not the 80s anymore.)

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More photos of sunshine

Today has been beautiful weather - we ate lunch on the beach today and went for a walk to St Jean-Cap Ferrat, and then I was even productive and wrote more of my story sitting in the last of the afternoon sunshine. There were even people swimming - mad people, undoubtedly, but still. And the most adorable pair of little girls, who were playing ukaleles.

Lots of photos below, because I know you all can't possibly be sick of them yet ;-) I decided I couldn't take a photo of the people, but there's several photos of a dog who also decided swimming was a good idea, and some birds who were singing incredibly noisily, and fish. Who were at least quiet, and have an excuse for swimming.

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