The little boy, I would say 6 years old, had just got a marvellous gift: a huge inflatable ring, brightly coloured, to bring to the beach! His parents asked to have it inflated in the shop (it was a do-it-yourself shop downtown Antibes), a procedure which took 8 minutes (yes, I timed it). The boy then couldn’t get his ring out, he was too small, the door was too narrow and the ring was too big. Eventually his parents stepped in.

Not only children have inflatable devices on the beach: people of mature age can be seen floating around on huge flamingoes. Not me though. I went to the beach with a brand new parasol, anti-uv and all. It was just that it wouldn’t stick in the ground on the pebble beach. It was also a little windy, so twice it took off at great speed towards the neighbours, scaring them greatly but causing no harm. I have now, a couple of days later, learned to harness this wild item. Or maybe is it just that the wind has calmed down?

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After exhausting hours on the beach, chasing the parasol, I thought I deserved a really nice dinner, so I went to the Café Milano, to be taken care of by Luana and Davide. There are always other Swedes in this tiny restaurant when I’m there. If this is because there are lots of Swedes in Antibes, or because Swedes are particularly fond of Café Milano or because of pure coincidence, well, that I don’t know. But I don’t really believe in coincidence.

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