Exile on Main Street
Sailing somewhere with a purpose always feels good, so when my brother announced that he was going to rent a villa for my dad’s 70th birthday, and would it be possible to take him sailing as part of this, I was pleased. My boat was based in the south of France and the villa was near Lerici on Italy’s Ligurian Coast. This was far from an impossible destination for a week’s cruise and I’d always fancied cruising the French Riviera.
Preparations had been protracted as my home port of Bouzigues on L’étang de Thau is connected to the sea by a lifting bridge. Unfortunately, when I came to depart, this bridge was being replaced and was very firmly in the down position. When would it open again? I asked the harbourmaster in Bouzigues. “Le 14 juillet” he replied with admirable sangfroid. That was a month hence and I would miss my party in Italy. “C’est un grand probleme” he added with a shrug. I knew what he was
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