I can turn my back on it all. I have will power. I can not enter French shoe stores if I must, I can skip the aperitif, the cappuccino. It would be hard, but I can do it.
But bring out the sun, point to an empty road leading through vineyards to the sea and I am on it.
At least I stopped work closer to three, a little better than noon the previous day. But I did not admit to myself what I was doing. It was a windy day and I cannot emphasize this enough – when the winds blow through here, they really blow. So I thought I’d just head out for a little drive. Maybe to a town a little south of here, maybe for a simple pleasure of a café, somewhere in a pretty setting. (St. Chinian’s cafes are not remarkable in this respect; they spill out onto the street alright, exactly at the intersection of the busiest road so that you can basically watch the trucks and tractors race by.)
Oh, indeed, it was a beautiful ride! Let me show you:
road beckons
one of many
rows and rows
I noticed myself passing the town I was supposed to visit. In fact, deliberately, I took a road that headed around it. I am just not ready to get out, I told myself, even though it was nearing five.
But what’s this that I see, there behind the vineyard? Water?
vines, olives, sea
Oh that damn Mediterranean! How dare you throw yourself in my path! Out I go, feeling the indescribably wonderful sensation of gusts of warm wind on the water’s edge.
sandcastles
she reminded me of certain little ones I know
sandcastles, against the wind
Someone (you know who you are) asked for an Ocean author photo update. Sure, I look different these days. The hair is streaked by the sun, it’s longer, in a bun to keep it from going crazy in the winds, the skin is darker of course, the denim skirt is faded from overuse. And there’s this look of satisfaction that I have. Here, forget the lovely backdrop of the parked cars. You told me to ask a waiter to take a photo, so I did. This is what he chose to frame:
It was late when I left this beachfront (it was alongside a tiny and colorful seaside community). I couldn’t get myself up and going. Though the idea of a road in the early evening, passing past vineyards, and inevitably, the Canal du Midi (the Canal separates me from the southern most coast) finally revved me up.
Dinner? Time to make a return to my local La Caleche. Let me just post the appetizer and dessert. Though I ate everything in between as well. You know, it’s the sea – it works up the appetite.
first course
last course
