Nice day

Some days suck. Other days just work out perfectly, and one is at a loss to explain why. Today was one of those good days.

One easy explanation is that the BH is on holiday, which means that she didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn, and she could wait for me to buy fresh bread before having breakfast. We have taken to buying a very rustic, dense country bread with a wonderful elastic dough and a thick, tasty crust. Consumed with coffee on a bright Antibes morning, with snow on the Alps and sun on the snow, it was bliss.

I finally figured out a way to do some plasterwork on the ceiling, after a botched attempt last week. This involved woodwork, to reconstruct the laths, and working with wood and cutting tools always puts me into a good mood.

To cap it all, we were able to eat out on the terrace for lunch. It was actually hot in the sun, and I sheltered a bit when taking my coffee. More than the actual heat, it was the luminosity which lifted the spirits.

In the afternoon, I gave in to temptation and went for a swim. There have been near constant gales for the last week, churning the sea, scouring the seabed, and bringing in to land large quantities of fairly dangerous flotsam (see picture). But to get back in the oggin after what looked like the onset of winter, and to swim out into the bay of Antibes, kissed by sunshine and sparkle, in late October, was absolutely priceless.

To cap it all, this evening the public library put on a show mixing jazz and literature, performed by professors from the conservatoire and from the local theatre. It was spectacularly good: intelligent, subtle, sincere, and performed with mastery. It got an audience of sprightly pensioners dancing and clapping in the aisles as if back in a Bill Hailey concert, but, as far as I could see, nobody slashed the seats.