Car return
I blame myself for having to return to nice Airport on Tuesday morning. Originally Magg and I had planned to leave on the Tuesday, but when Maggi found out that Alex had booked to return to the UK on Thursday 31st she changed our flights. I forgot to change the car hire booking.
The two days I had the replacement car appeared cursed by Maggi’s demands and my stupidity.
Within a few moments at the car rental return area the attendant found the damage Maggi had inflicted on the car on Saturday. Almost immediately I found that it will cost just over £1,000. Hopefully our insurance company will pay this, the only problem being the pain in the neck of sorting it out.
I ascended to the Avis Preferred cabin at the car rental centre because I couldn’t find my new car on the board etc. After looking at my license and her computer she suddenly announced that I was blacklisted and that I couldn’t have a car. I discussed the situation that this decision left me in and asked her to call her superior. She did and was told to call someone else.
A young man arrived and proceeded to go through the same process again. I explained that I had just returned a car and that it had some damage. He called a colleague. The upshot of all this activity resulted in a delay of 35 minutes while we sorted everything.
Swim at Cagnes-sur-mer
We set off to have a swim around 12 am and stopped at the p[ort of Cagnes-sur-mer. We immediately found that a spillage made the sea unsuitable for swimming. I moved on and parked a little further along the coastal road.
I impressed myself with my reverse parking into a tight spot with the oncoming traffic increasing the tension. We had a nice swim in the sea.
Next stop in the middle of Nice just near Garibaldi Square in order to go to Babbio Mio for lunch. What a disappointment that lunch turned out to be. All the plates arrived at once on a very small table. My spaghetti with prawns was unbelievably greasy. Maggi asked for her pasta to be done again because it was cold. Everything was wrong including the children’s behaviour.
The Journey back and forth
The girls insisted on staying in Nice for their afternoon swim rather than return to Cagnes-sur-mer. I didn’t want to swim and sit on the beach in the middle of the day and we had promised to see Fanny at Orpi. Alex said she was happy to pick up an Uber to return to La Colle.
All the way back to La Colle Maggi kept going on that we should go and pick them up. To keep the peace I agreed. We had a good meeting with Fanny and thanked her again for sorting out the leak situation.
I then drove back to Nice to pick up the girls. I dropped Maggi off so that she could return with Alex etc. I waited for 15 minutes and then Maggi rang to say the young ladies had just ordered another drink. I felt used, abused and very annoyed. I parked the car and then walked to the beach where I had a terrible chocolate milkshake. I could still taste the chocolate powder.
I drove them all back to La Colle. 5 minutes of an enjoyable swim and the rest of the day a complete pain.
Wednesday
The girls wanted to go back to Nice and swim rather than somewhere more local. Alex as usual gave into them. Maggi wanted us to drive them there I was reluctant but again kept the peace and acquiesced.
Rather than make the best of a bad situation I dropped Alex and the girls off at Le Negresco and drove back looking for a place to have a coffee. We should have said, let’s park and have a coffee with them and then return to La Colle and prepare the house.
We ended up having a terrible cup of coffee in Cros Cagnes and then returning to the house.
In the evening we had a meal at La Pizzata in La Colle. A pretty ordinary meal.
Thursday
Basically rose and sorted out the final preparations for our departure and drove to the airport. Dropping off the car this time took place without incident. The flight took off 30 minutes late because of air traffic issues and we arrived back home around 2 pm.
Greg turned up after I had a customary walk around Pinner.