the vegetable music man

there was this town party the other day. for the first time ever, i actually had time to go. it was nice to see people out and about enjoying themselves in the warm summer evening. as i was strolling around, i saw this guy preparing vegetables for something. carrots, endives, melons, aubergines, parsnips and more. i sat down and waited for it to start. and when it did... wow! the guy was playing music with all those veggies. he started by recording a beat, then kept adding to if with lots more other recordings of wind music (made with carrot-recorders, which sounded amazingly flute-like, and a carrot-parsnip-aubergine combo instrument that sounded kind of like a trompet), some kind of stringed music with the endives, etc. with each addition, the music became clearer and in the end, it was complete, like the Irish ballad he came up with. it was amazing! the funniest thing, though, was watching the faces of passers-by who came from behind - and thus couldn't see the 'instruments' - when they saw what the music was made with!

first roller blading lesson

i bought roller blades back in November. they were on sale and i knew i wanted to start roller blading. good, free exercise in the summer. but with the whole knee-thing and then the errible weather we've been having since, i hadn't got around to starting (unless you count skating up and down my very short corridor starting!). but today was the day.

Mr. J. came with me. thank god for that. i would have looked like an idiot without him! he was really good. i think he'd imagined i was more than a beginner, but if he got bored, he never let on. he was incredibly patient and helpful. i was impressed.

anyway, i fell only once (well, twice, but the second time i was trying to go from standing to sitting in the grass, so i guess that doesn't really count). anyway, all my protective gear came in very handy - well, apart maybe from the elbow things - without it, i would have some rather nasty scratches on my hands and knees, which would no doubt have seriously shortened the experience. as it was, we only spent a little over an hour together, and quite a lot of that was break time (my feet just hate being in those shoes). still, Mr. J. said i did a great job and i think i did ok, for my first time.

the Chamonix wedding

it's wedding month here. so after Cannes, it was Chamonix. my sister flew in a couple of days before, seeing as it was her classmate E. who was getting married this time. and off we went yesterday morning, under pouring rain and cold weather - they'd predicted snow at 1800 metres, which was where the reception would be.

we started at the church, where we met C&N, who'd flown in from New York. B. the groom, was walking around greeting people. he was wearing tails! for some reason, i'd thought this was going to be a laid-back affair, but i'd clearly been wrong. then, when E. walked in in her dress, i didn't recognise her at first. she was so radiant and so beautiful (not that she isn't generally, but there you go).

after getting lost on our way to the reception place, we finally made it to the cable car that would take us up to the summit. it was such a shame about the weather, cos from there, you were supposed to have an amazing view on all the surrounding mountains, Mont Blanc first. as it was, we could barely see anything beyond 75 metres.

the dinner was good, with lots of breaks for funny accounts of the bride and groom's life, or singing or, a lot earlier than apparently planned, dancing! clearly, everyone was game. the DJ/singer played lots of French songs from the 80s, which was just great. i really had a ball!

while most people were staying there for the night, i'd decided to drive home the same evening. some people in 4x4s were going to drive us back down. but in the end, it seemed i was the only one going down, so i got my own private ride. it took a good 20 minutes, but the driver, the groom's father, informed me he was going slowly to avoid scaring me - normally, he'd do it in 3 minutes. jeez.. honestly, the trail was very narrow and full of potholes, not to mention at a 45°+ angle! and it was snowing most of the way down.

got home at 3am, went to bed, slept over 8 hours. A. came home a couple of hours later - she'd barely slept and very uncomfortably (sleeping bags on the floor are not known to be comfy - the reason i very definitely wanted to drive home).

Cannes reunion

originally, i'd just sent an email to some of the people i'd met at M&D's wedding down in Cannes. they were coming to Geneva for the music festival, and we agreed to meet up while they were here. i'd presumed M&D would probably be part of the evening, and S. had asked me to let her know what the plan was once i found out, but it turned out to be a big reunion kind of thing.

S. and i showed up at the meeting point where two other guests were already there: tin fact, Ma.'s band was doing a little gig there. so his wife was also there to support him. that was already 8 of us. then K. also showed up! it was great. the music was good (as was the food!), the company was even better and the sudden storm didn't put a damper on the evening. it was prefect. a great evening.

Cannes - small world

yes, i've said it before, it's a small world out there. but it's always fun to find out how small.

when we met up for the wedding pictures just before the dinner, we met some of the latest arrivals. i introduced myself to this tall Chinese-looking guy who replied: 'hi, i'm K. i'm one of your colleagues' flatmate.' it only took a second for it to register. the name and the appearance had rung a bell in my memory. i looked at him and asked if he was St.'s new flatmate. yep, that was him. and that was just funny, cos St. had been telling me about him and it was so random that he'd be D.'s friend. but when K. had told St. he was going to a wedding in Cannes the very same weekend i was, St. had said it had to be the same one. and he was right!

back to the gym

i finally had my first session at the gym yesterday. thinking about it, the last time i'd been was 6 years ago! it's really weird, cos it really doesn't seem that long since i last pulled some weights. but there you go. as it was my first session, a trainer took me round a few of the machines to explain how they worked - that i already knew - and how to best do the exercises. on that count, i must admit there are a couple of things i obviously did wrong for 10 years... i did my best to follow his instructions, but there are some bad habits that are hard to break. it didn't help that i'd been off sports these last few months. it turned out i was very weak. i mean, i used to push nearly 100 kg with my legs, and we started at 30 kg, which i then put down to 20 kg because it hurt my knees. i felt like a weakling! the trainer gave me advice, such as how many sets of how many to do for each machine. and i don't know if it was the advice or the movements or something else, but i'm actually barely sore today, which is just great.

Cannes - the 2 Cs

there was this guy, C., at the wedding. he was Norwegian and seemed nice. intelligent, didn't brag, able to talk about general stuff and to take care of the ladies around him. a gentleman. but also there with his girlfriend. damn! at dinner, however, someone at the table mentioned they thought he looked like Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. there was a huge debate over this. i couldn't personally see the resemblance, and definitely not for that particular movie. anyway, we were discussing this when he looked at me and said i looked like the lead actress of the movie, Minnie Driver. i don't actually look anything like her, and unfortunately i can't stand her - i actually said so, which he seemed slightly hurt about. he was trying to be nice, he said. then he asked if, given the choice, i'd rather he said i looked like Ben Affleck, cos really there were only 3 characters in that movie. and me thinking, what is he talking about? of course i'd rather be the girl than the boy but what did it matter who was in the movie? was this some attempt at flirting? honestly, i wouldn't have minded and might even have come up with something clever (then again, maybe not!) but let's face it, his girlfriend was right there. what was i supposed to say? i don't know if it was this or something else, but he was the only one who didn't say goodbye to me the next day when we all left...

there was another C. - yes, exactly the same name - and he, on the other hand, was a bit of a twat. he worked in finance and clearly had loads of money - and the attitude to go with it. his girlfriend lived in LA, they were getting married in the summer and they were expecting a baby for December. but that clearly didn't stop him. apparently, he tried to get S. to walk back from the nightclub with him and stay with him on his boat. he was quite insistant. she refused and she told me he wasn't too pleased with that. what an idiot...

Cannes - the wedding

the whole reason we all descended on Cannes was M&D's wedding. it wasn't originally supposed to take place down there, but i think M's parents put their foot down and decided that a local BBQ in various locations wasn't good enough. there should at least be some kind of main ceremony, some sort of formal meal and a dress. but the event was kept small, as planned. so 37 of us (including 4 kids) all found ourselves at M's parents' place - a nice house with a small garden - to celebrate. the instructions were to wear hawaiian shirts for men and flowery things for women.

as neither M. nor D. is religious, there was no priest. instead, the ceremony was performed by a friend. and it was incredibly moving. perhaps it was the fact that we were the chosen few, or just what was said, i don't know, but i basically cried all the way through. many of us did, including the bride and groom. it was one of the best weddings i've been to.

Cannes by night

after dinner, we headed to the nightclub where we were supposed to finish our night, Baoli. apparently, we had to be there before 12.30 or we'd lose the table reserved for us. except that, once we got there, they had no clue what we were talking about. this was a nightclub like you see in the movies, the kind where the rich and famous go. we were told they didn't take reservations, then we were told to wait for the hostess, who'd surely be able to sort this out. credit where credit's due, the guy was quite polite.

eventually, we got in. and my, what an experience! because we had a table, we had to buy drinks by the bottle. we're talking hard liquor here, not wine. and the lowest price was 150 euros for a bottle of 'cheap' vodka. everyone's jaws dropped when we looked at the price list. and because we were 14 and it was minimum 1 bottle per 7 people, we got vodka and whisky. oh, and free coke, orange juice and something else.

the music wasn't great, but after a while, i got dancing nonetheless. as S. mentioned the next morning, the guys did not look at the girls - they were already with the women they wanted to be seen with! i saw 'Special Agent Di Nozzo' there - he passed our table. when i told A&M later on, while we were walking back to our hotel about an hour later - the music really was crap - they couldn't believe i hadn't told them sooner! they were big fans. but anyway, we all agreed that it really wasn't our type of place. all three of us being on the left side of the political world, we simply couldn't believe how much money these people were spending there. but then we walked past that hotel that had a 36,000-euro-per-night room during the festival, and that seemed like even more of a waste. by comparison, 150 euros for a bottle seems like a measly sum.

weekend in Cannes - day 1

i'd been to J.'s housewarming party on Friday night and only got about 4 hours sleep before my 6.30am flight to Nice, and after the crazy week at work, i was shattered. but anyway, we got all the way to Cannes and we were even early and made the 9.30 meeting at the ferry terminal for the excursion on the island of St Honorat. after a cloudy start, the sun came out for us and by the time we reached the island, both S. and i were wishing we'd changed into shorts after all.

we were on the island for about 4 hours. it was inhabited by monks, so very nice and quiet. the great thing about this excursion is that the guests got to meet one another before the actual wedding. it was really nice. once back in town, i suddenly felt very tired and decided to head back to the hotel, where i took a quick dip in the small pool before falling asleep in my bed. i felt a great deal better when i woke up much later. then it was time to get ready for the evening: the wedding dinner - before the actual wedding - was taking place in a nice little restaurant that also played live jazz. it was great. the food was good, the company excellent. M&D really have nice friends.

when N. is away...

N. took some time off to get married, which is completely fine. as he was going to be away for 10 days, and i've now been working with him for a while, i was going to deal with some of his stuff. he gave me a list of pending things, and that was, according to him, all i'd have to do. our boss would take care of the rest. that was the theory. in practise, as some of his contact people knew i'd be there, they took the opportunity to contact me directly about other matters. and because the boss didn't necessarily have time to do everything else, i basically ended up doing a lot. some of it was easy but other stuff i wasn't necessarily sure how to handle - every client is different and needs different things - but i guess it mostly all worked out in the end. still, it's been some long, long days and i am very, very tired. and i can't wait for N. to get back and take over again.