Allô, allô, Bonjour!

Hooray, we'll be getting a brand new year!
Fantastic.
Twelve shiny fresh months to fill up. This seems like great news, but beware, great change await us.

Allez, on y va!

Every day again you do whatever it is you do, because you think you have to.
But do you really have to?
Or are you just blindly following a pre-arranged course, like a sheep in a herd?
Stop it! Stop it right now.
Look in the mirror and ask yourself: Am I a nice person? And what on earth am I doing? Is this what I want? And if not, what do I want?!

Everyone has got a special talent. You too. You can bet there is something you are especially good at. Find out what it is, ditch everything else and go for it. Because once you have a clear goal in life, you can develop yourself. And that will make you a whole lot happier.

Research has shown that people who develop themselves score higher on psychological tests, have better sex and a healthier heart, and live longer on top of that. So do what you love. It may seem like a somewhat dim-witted suggestion, but amid all the chaos of day to day live, it is easy to overlook how much time you are wasting on nonsense.

Don't let your vision be clouded by other people's opinions or you'll turn into the sock doll of another man's thinking.
Be aware that you are more than a response to what other people want you to do. You are yourself, you are unique.

But don't latch on to anything and everything. A person is a living, breathing tangle of prejudices, so be wary of first impressions. Try to delay your opinions. As they are a confirmation of what you think you already know and therefore a dead end.
Instead try and stay open, keep looking with clear eyes. Have the courage to follow your gut. Your intuition will know what you want before you do. Don't be afraid to lose face and stay faithful to yourself, everything will be all right. A river always finds its way.

Most people do not realize that happiness is something you create yourself. Keep in mind that you are shaped by your experiences. And that set of experiences, is something to cherish. Because that's your life.
So it's all about what you want to do between now and the moment they secure the lid of your coffin. So don't do anything 'in five years'. Do everything now. When you're dead, there won't be an 'in five years'. Don't put anything off that could contribute to a happier life for you and your loved ones. Every day is unique, every minute is precious and will never come back. Your time is limited, so don't waste it on living someone else's life.

We have got eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, a nose for smelling and a mouth for drinking wine. But nowhere on our heads have we got a lump to perceive time. Time is something you cannot see, hear or sniff out.
Children don't need to. For them everything is a novelty. That is why their time passes like thick molasses. A child's day lasts a century; it moves in slow motion. Like a high-speed camera that records an immense number of images and replays them at normal speed, resulting in a slow motion effect.
This is how your brain works too: when you experience more, time slows down.
When you get older, you tend do what you have habitually done. You've seen it all before, you don't get excited about things.
As a result, time slips like water through your fingers. Therefore: do lots and never lose your sense of wonder. Slurp life. You'll live longer that way.

Three separate weeklong holidays will give you more joy than a single three week holiday.
Personally we like to go even further: we take holidays that last a single day.
An hour to the west of our Chateau, the Atlantic waves caress the endless sandy beach of Cap Ferret. A sleepy outpost completely deserted outside the high season. Delightful.

We've got 'an adresse' there, a secret hotel that no one knows about. A favourable state of affairs as it means that our nemesis 'Time' cannot seem to get its claws on this establishment.
When we, around mid-October, come through the door a pleasant calm prevails.

If you want something, you ring the bell, feels proprietor Gérard. Not that he will show up if you do, no he is nowhere to be seen. When this happens you follow the old tradition and pick up a key from the rack and move in to a vacant chambre.

Real love is something you can taste. Gérard doesn't just put up some flimsy poster or other, but a real painting that has real meaning. The rooms are light, sunny and furnished with wonderful old junk. The beds however are of unsuspected quality.

Not those relentless hotel mirrors that make you look like the un-dead in a chainsaw-movie, but pleasantly shabby mirrors made of old glass that always make you look young and cute.

Because the conservatory breakfast room is open only to beautiful young women, it's as good as deserted.

Breakfast is rich and copious and invites cheery morning humour.

Because we are free spirits and can work anywhere, the jardin de repos is instantly transformed into an outdoor office. After breakfast we quickly and deftly complete our chores so we can devote ourselves for the rest of the day to the noble art of bodysurfing.

Voilà, een adresse.
But keep it to yourself.
Don't tell anyone, whatever the circumstances!

It is Hors saison; the beach has been returned to itself. Any respectable wineboer will come well prepared, and armed with a chilled bottle of blanc and a Paleo-approved Pizza Siciliana.

While the wineboer samples the wine, the wineboer's lover proceeds with the pizza distribution using the razor sharp wineboer-knife. A minor thumb injury aside this progresses without further incidents.

After the afternoon meal has been brought to a satisfactory end, the intellectual outdoor sports can begin: enjoying the passing of Time and being rocked to sleep by the sound of the lapping waves.

Nothing much happens in the village. Little boats on dry land, a lonely pensionado hanging up the laundry, restaurants have turned their signs to 'Fermé'.

And yet year round, the pier receives visitors who have made the trek per ferry from Arcachon at the other side of the bay, braving wind, cold and seasickness. Why?

To expose themselves to the terrors of the chef of restaurant l'Escale, 'Ouvert toute l'Année'.

The staff here are selected based on insolence and whatever you choose to order it will turn out to be disgusting. The Brochettes de Lotte are charred black, the Langoustines are simultaneously burnt and frozen solid, de Parillada has been comprehensively cremated.
But none of this matters, because you are in paradise.
The food here really SHOULDN'T taste too good anyway because otherwise you'd go mad with the euphoria.

The reflection of the moon in the water, the comforting heartbeat of the waves crashing on the beach, the glimmer in your lover's eyes. Who cares that the food here is a crime against humanity. The ancient adage certainly holds true here: if you really want good food, stay at home.

Restaurant L'Escale, 2 av. de l'Ocean 33950 Lège Cap Ferret
Téléphone: 05 56 60 68 17, Téléfax: 5 56 03 77 93
The wineboer and his lover do not accept responsibility for any physical and/or psychological injury sustained.