The English, then the Russians, then the Americans, followed by the Belgians, the Scandinavians, and finally the Russians again (plutocrats not aristocrats), all of them were attracted to the Côte d'Azur by the fabled pleasantness of its climate. For much of the year, the climate is indeed pleasant, somewhat superior to almost anywhere else on this planet.
But Wednesday, Thursday and today tragically told another story. All that superheated, moist air off the Mediterranean has to climb up steeply once it hits the land, cooling rapidly as it does so. This leads to violent rainstorms a little way inland. We were the recipients of a tiny one at St Barnabé earlier this spring, but it was nothing like the terror which descended on Draguignan and nearby towns, wiping out shocking numbers of human lives, countless livestock, whole livelihoods, everything...
Antibes, as usual, being on a low promontory, escaped the worst of it, but here are some pictures taken as the bad weather was passing over. Darkness at noon!
Three hours later, we were on the beach, with yours truly swimming out into the Mediterranean. Abrupt?
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