Nice, Lord's & The Future!
Again, it’s been a couple of weeks. It seems that I’m just too damn lazy, I will try harder. Promise.
The first Blogworthy thing is our trip to the south of France in sunny Nice. We decided to get away for a weekend for our anniversary and after a quick scout on Sleazyjet Nice represented excellent value for what we were after (sun & alcohol).
Nice is a resort that’s been around for donkeys years and as a result it’s become quite ‘purpose built’ in the sense that it’s very easy to get to and from and there’s plenty to keep you occupied when there.
It was a 4am start for us on the Thursday and Liverpool airport was as busy as usual with the ever-colourful groups of people in the Easyjet check-in queue (hen dos in pink, stag dos being sleazy, old people flying for the first time etc etc). We’ve decided that Easyjet check in queues are probably the best looking (and in Liverpool, the most orange) in the world.
I have had an awful lot of airport sadness but so far it’s all been with ‘respectable’ airlines and never with the budget carriers (except when we couldn’t get to Geneva because the French decided they hadn’t had an air traffic strike for a while). So, as Easyjet seem to have an unblemished record with me I need to take matters into my own hands:
We got to Nice airport, straight through immigration, our bags turned up immediately and we were through to the bit of the airport occupied by chaps with moustaches holding up bits of paper with peoples’ names on. Pezza went for her customary airport piss and I rummaged around to get the info on the bus to the centre of Nice. It was then I realised that airport sadness had befallen me. I had left my wallet on the plane. D’oh!
I braced myself for the worst but tottered through the airport to an office with the Easyjet logo on the window (along with a couple of other airlines including my friend Aeroflot). I was expecting an arrogant Frenchman to greet me with a smirk and pretend not to understand me; I was very wrong. He couldn’t have been more helpful and had my wallet back to me within 3 minutes, result!
Once in Nice it’s a €4 bus ride that takes 20 mins and drops you off outside your hotel, so far so good. Because everything had gone a bit too smoothly we arrived at the hotel a couple of hours before the room was ready so we took the opportunity to have a wander around Nice. It was fairly cloudy so we weren’t suffering from the sweats at this point and enjoyed some food by the harbour and booked our Monaco boat trip.
Pezza sampling snails.
Our hotel was quite nice, bang on the beach. We were sharing our hotel with a load of people from Great Rail Journeys who are a tour company that sees the world from trains. It seems like a great way to see the world and it’s not hard to see how the journey along the south coast of France along the coast line is great.
After a quick nap we tried the Nice nightlife. It’s fairly typical with the usual mixture of al fresco dining and bars. Generally in Nice you can’t go wrong. We ended up in an Irish pub that had Karaoke on, they didn’t have any Roxette so I settled for ‘Mistletoe & Wine’ by Sir Cliff – it seemed to go down very well.
After a night on the pop our second day in Nice was restricted to some hardcore sitting on the beach.
When I was a nipper we used to have the occasional holiday in the south of France, I’m a bit too young to remember and really only have the family albums to rely on. This is where I differ the most from my dad. Flicking through the albums from my childhood holidays was one of my first lessons in sex education, it’s as if dad’s camera would only focus on nipples on the beach. I was a little more reserved but we were next to some woman who had permanently erect nipples the size of your fist, incredible. Anyway, it was a glorious day, hot as hell.
After another night in the Old Town we were looking forward to our final full day. This would be spent in Monaco. We got the boat from Nice over to the principality, it’s strictly a tourist route as it’s far easier to get the bus or train over but the view along the Côte d’Azur are stunning with numerous bays and cliffside mansions owned by the rich & famous. The highlight is obviously the views of Monaco when entering the world-famous harbour. You get the idea very quickly that Monaco is a truly ridiculous place with its massive private yachts dotted all around the harbour and you really get taken in by the place.
After a jaunt around the harbour and taking many pictures of the various vessels from Grand Cayman etc we stumbled across a couple of chaps renting out their Ferraris for a spin around the Monaco F1 track. Who was I to resist?
The dude came with me but I was allowed to drive, he even made sure we slowed down before the tunnel so I could floor it and hear the roar of the engine.
After I broke Kimi Raikkonen’s lap record we tottered up the huge hill to witness the changing of the guard at the Palais, a typically colourful ceremony that draws the crowds everyday.
Monaco’s not the biggest of places and it didn’t take long to stroll through to Casino Square, taking in some more sights of Monaco along the way. It’s amazing how well turned out the place is, every road junction, every path, every bit of space is turned into a garden with perfect rows of flowers and freshly mown lawns. I suppose if you want to attract film stars and F1 drivers to live there it needs to be a 5 star country and it certainly is.
We ended up in Casino Square for lunch at the Cafe de Paris, a great spot to people watch and spot the ludicrous cars parking outside the casino. Drivers of Mercedes & BMW cars would feel inadequate here!
Casino Square
After a boozy lunch we crawled back to our boat via a couple of more beers ready for another night in the Old Town!
The journey back was again via an airport which meant more self-inflicted sadness. We (Karen) managed to lose the passports in the airport. Many people would panic in this situation but this kind of stuff is now water off a duck’s back for us. Even people around us were panicking and amazed that we weren’t going mental.
Nice Airport has the best thing in the world. A very enthusiastic set of girls on rollerblades waiting to help you! I sent one of these roller bunnies on quest for my passport but she was beaten to it by an Easyjet bloke who was looking for us. Passports returned, no need for drama!
Safely home and ready for the next trip to Lord’s!
Stuart, The Don and I had decided to catch Day 1 at Lord’s for the England v South Africa test. This would involve a trip to The Don’s for a couple of nights and we decided to get the train down to save a load of hassle. We arrived at The Don’s on Wednesday afternoon and it was Pimm’s o’clock, the evening sort of drifted from there into a bit of a drunken mess.
We had to be up at 8am the next day in order to get to Lord’s in time for the start of play. We got the train to London and walked to Lord’s. I’ve been to many of the test grounds in England (all of the ‘original’ 6 grounds anyway) and been impressed by all of them but Lord’s is a different class. The ground is gorgeous but it’s the land around the ground such as the nursery that sets it apart.
I always whinge that Lord’s gets two tests a year and with the Oval having one a year it means that three a year are in London which I’ve always seen as a disgrace considering Old Trafford will not have any in the next three years but it’s clear to see why the ECB wishes to stage two a year at Lord’s; with a capacity of 30,000, a dead pitch guaranteeing 5 days play and a sure sell out at £75 a pop it’s a no brainer! The money pouring through the gates is staggering. I’m sure it’s got nothing to do with it being a ’special place’ as they could easily drop one test a year from the calendar and still let all test players have a go, but they would run the risk of upsetting people like MCC Bloke….
…you know the kind of bloke who can’t actually speak anymore and just lets out lots of upper-class noises.
I will always be a fan of Lord’s though, it’s the only ground where you can take in your own booze! Result!!! Seriously though, I’ll probably not go for a while due to my objection to it’s test monopoly and the extortionate prices but it was a great day of tubing, cricket and lunch on the nursery…
What I was expecting for the remainder of the day was a walk back to the station, perhaps a snooze on the train and then a few drinkys back at Château Don. We’re renowned for making a session out of anything and this would be no exception. We boarded the train at Paddington for the 30 minute journey to Reading, it was quite busy and I suggested finshing a seat before getting a cup of tea from the shop on board. Stuoobs and Ian poo pooed this idea and we went straight to the shop, or as it could otherwise be called – The Bar. Although we were getting off at Reading, the train continues onto Plymouth so there was a mix of commuters (with their computers), people who had been to Lord’s and some folks going to the south coast for a long weekend. Stu ordered ‘three gins, one tonic’ and we were on our way. It turned into a mini mobile Roxettival with a few renditions of classics along with a bit of ‘Jerusalem’ and a few others. Most people were in the mood and the atmosphere in the cabin was awesome, we’ve come up with ideas before but I think the BOTT franchise of the westcoast mainline is an absolute winner.
I have looked on the Great Rail Journeys website and there is no reference to the delight that is Paddington to Reading. I’ve emailed them and will let you know.
The rest of the evening went to plan as we had a curry and sat in Ian’s drinking whisky and looking for power ballads!
So that brings us just about up to date.
As for the future, well it’s going to pan out a bit like this. Stuart, Karen & I have now booked up winter, we’ll be in the French ski resort of Tignes from December to April. We’ve booked an apartment for the whole season and will be open for guest whenever you fancy! We’re hoping that Caroline will join us but we’re just waiting for her to sort her life out!
Right, the blog. I think one of the reasons I update it so infrequently is because once I miss a week I know it’ll take me hours to do it so I’m going to make a real effort to update it AT LEAST every Monday!
Until Monday,
Au revoir.
xxx
