Goal 46 - Virgin territory.

I have long been an admirer of Richard Branson, and have mentioned him in several of by past blog postings:-
Screw It, Let's Do It!
Kitesurfing, Richard Branson and naked supermodels!
Help needed... yes, again!

And so it was with great excitement that I headed into central London this morning with my brother Martin.

While back in Australia I had done some internet searching, and had found email addresses for several people at Virgin Blue, the Australian-based Virgin airline. I sent a couple of emails, and got a reply suggesting that I might be able to meet Richard next time he was in Australia. Unfortunately that wouldn't be until November 2009, and I was not sure that I would be back in the country by then.

However, my email had been forwarded to a Virgin PR person in the UK, and I followed up by emailing her. I got a response from Richard's personal assistant, who said that Richard would be happy to meet me when he was next in Australia.

While in Cannes, I heard rumours that Richard may be heading down to Monaco, which is just along the coast, for the Grand Prix, so sent another email to his PA, explaining where I was, and that I would also be in the UK for the following few weeks. I was amazed to get a response from Richard himself!

He invited me to the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the life of WWII fighter pilot, Douglas Bader, and suggested that I could then jump in the car with him afterwards as he headed for the airport.

So Martin and I arrived early, and waited in the small city centre mews as the TV crews and the crowd gathered, watching the plaque get polished in preparation.



Eventually Richard arrived, and when he appeared to have a relatively quiet moment I took the opportunity to introduce myself. In terms of my hopes and expectations for this goal, I had already achieved what I set out to do, but Richard confirmed that I could join him after the ceremony for the trip to the airport.



The ceremony was interesting, and if you don't know the story of Douglas Bader, it is well worth reading. Despite the loss of both legs in an aeroplane crash in 1931, he went on to become one of the most successful war-time fighter pilots. There is also a movie about his exploits, called "Reach For The Sky", which I watched again just last week. A very inspiring man!

Richard was there because he wanted to support the "Douglas Bader Foundation", which exists to advance and promote the physical, mental and spiritual welfare of persons who are without one or more limbs, or otherwise physically disabled. But he was also there because he had met Douglas Bader while he was a boy, as Douglas and his aunt Clare had been close friends. He told the amusing tale of how as a mischievious 7-year-old he had stolen Douglas's artificial legs while he was swimming, and had been chased by an irate legless Douglas dragging himself along after him!

After the ceremony was over, Richard made his way back to his waiting car, and I joined him, and after a quick photo we headed towards Heathrow.



We spoke about many things, and I thoroughly enjoyed the half-an-hour I got to share with him. He is very down to earth, and easy to chat to. I asked him about current ventures, and was particularly interested in recent progress with the amazing Virgin Galactic project.

He asked many questions about my goals, and I told him of a couple that I am currently working on, including my current fundraising efforts for Bowel Cancer Research, and my attempt to gather 5 Ian Ushers in one place!

He made a very kind offer, and said that he would donate $500 to the Bowel Cancer Research and Awareness Institute, for every Ian Usher that I managed to gather, but only if I do manage to achieve my goal and gather a minimum of five of us!!

Pressure is on now! Come on, Ians!

Thanks to my brother once again for getting me to another goal on time, and of course, enormous thanks to Richard for fitting me in to his busy schedule, and allowing me to complete another goal in a manner way beyond any of my expectations. Thank you very much!

Help needed... yes, again!!

I am currently reading Richard Branson's fascinating autobiography, which is called "Losing My Virginity". I have long admired Richard's approach not only to business, but to life too, and first read this book several years ago. His wonderfully cavalier and innovative approach to many of the challenges he meets is very inspiring. But it is his adventurous spirit that I admire too. I have often written about my desire to fit as much experience into life as possible, and Richard seems to share a similar outlook on life's adventure too.

As meeting Richard is one of my goals, and I am planning to try to achieve that while here in the UK, I thought I better do a bit of a refresher course on his background. So just the other morning I set off for one of the book stores in Ealing town centre, but was also optimistically armed with my brother's library card too! On the way I walked past the Oxfam second-hand bookstore...

"I wonder..." I thought to myself, and went in. There was the exact book I was looking for right in the centre of the first shelf of the biography section, almost as if it was waiting for me! And at a travellers bargain price of £1.99. Sorry Richard, I will buy a new copy one day, but I'm operating on a bit of a budget at the moment!

I am well into the amazing and inspiring story of how Virgin developed initially from an idea for a student magazine, and grew eventually into a global business empire. And it is the unique and remarkable way in which Richard turns problems and obstacles around to his advantage, and comes up with some incredibly innovative solutions that has inspired me again.

So here I am, wide awake at 3 o'clock in the morning, having been woken up by a mis-timed international SMS message. As I tried to get back to sleep, my brain started mulling over one of the problems I have been wrestling with for a few days now, and suddenly the answer just came to me! I am now wide awake, but it is the wrong time of day to put my solution into action, so I have decided to make good use of this time. And in a way, this blog itself is hopefully part making my idea work.

The problematic goal I am currently working on is to gather 5 Ian Ushers together in one place. I have already attempted to achieve that goal once, in September last year, when I was last here in London. I made the mistake of assuming it would be relatively easy! It wasn't, and through various factors conspiring against me, didn't even manage to meet one other Ian Usher.

There are several Ian Ushers spread around the UK, and I have managed to contact about six of them via Facebook, and have a few of them possibly interested in the idea of gathering a group of us.

But I am facing a couple of problems. First of all, I have to accept that some of the Ians will have very little interest in the idea of actually meeting other Ian Ushers. It is a pretty random idea, and of course there is no guarantee that we will have anything at all in common, other than our shared name. And there are a few Ians that have not responded to my suggestion at all.

My second problem is that the Ians are spread far and wide across the country, and have little incentive to travel halfway across the country, find accomodation for the weekend, and pay all other expenses, just in order to help some random travelling guy achieve a somewhat unusual goal.

And so I think that I need to find some sort of sponsor, or possibly multiple sponsors, in order to make this happen. It would be impossible for me to fund all travel, accomodation, beer and food costs that this will incur, but I hope there are some people who might be able to help out.

And this is as far as my thinking has got, with no real idea of how to go about finding these people, until I was woken by my phone this morning, and laid here turning the problem over in my mind.

And the answer just came to me. I need to get onto a London-based radio station, ideally, I would imagine, onto a chatty, fun, breakfast show programme, and ask them to help me find the people out there in this great big city who can make this goal come to life.

I have just over 3 weeks until the date I have set for the gathering of the Ian Ushers. I need to find a sponsor to get the Ians from wherever they to London on the 20th June, and then back home again the next day. I need somewhere for the Ians to sleep that night, and I need a venue for us to gather in, hopefully with some nibbles and beer!

Surely it can't be to hard to do? My next job is to email several of the London-based radio stations. Watch this space....

CNN cheese rolling reports.

When I was in Cannes, my friend Rikki was chatting with a TV producer from the UK, who just happened to be looking for someone who had been, or was going to the cheese rolling festival.

Rikki put me in touch with Rupert, and he put me in touch with Don at CNN in London. They wanted me to appear on their show this morning, but only if I had managed to be a competitor in the event.

And so at 6am (another early start!) a CNN courtesy car came to collect me from Martin and Rachel's house, and whisked me into the central London studio, where I was wired up with a microphone, and told that I would be on in a few minutes.

It had all been organised pretty quickly, and I had no idea what show I was going to be on, and I asked where and when it was going to be transmitted. "This is going out live, on CNN International, all over the world!" I was quite surprised at how calm I felt, but then after chasing cheeses down Cooper's Hill, this would be a breeze!

There is a good video report on the CNN website of the cheese rolling day itself, and there is also a copy of the three minute segment I did too. Great fun!

You can see them here:-



http://edition.cnn.com/video/#

Goal 45 - chasing cheese.

After the early start in Cannes the previous morning, the last thing I wanted to do yesterday was get up again at 5.30 in the morning. But I had been in touch with the organisers of the infamous Gloucester Cheese Rolling Festival, and they had told me that the only way to be certain of competing was to be there early, and line up with everyone else. There is no entry fee, no paperwork to complete, and no guarantee of taking part in the event.

So along with my brother Martin and partner Rachel, we headed westward out of London along the M4, and made it to the small village of Brockworth by around 8am. We found a place to get a coffee, and waited for the carpark field to open.

Our first view of the hill, as we drove out of the village, had us slightly worried, as it looked very steep, but it wasn't until we actually arrived and scrambled up to the top that we realised just how steep it really is.



At the top of the hill Martin and I joined a crowd of others sat waiting for the first race. Tension and excitement was already building, and it wasn't even 10 o'clock, still over two hours to go before the action started!

Eventually, when the burly security guards and event organisers arrived, we were all shepherded off to the side of the run, and formed some semblance of an orderly line, and sat to wait out the next couple of hours.

We had managed to get a pretty good position, and I was reasonably confident of making it into the first race. There are only five downhill races in the day, four for men and one for women, and the number of competitors is strictly limited to fifteen per race.

As the morning progressed the hillside filled up, and an estimated 5,000 people vied for position to get the best view of the upcoming events. The place was packed, and the line of potential competitors behind us was steadily growing. We had certainly been wise to arrive early, as there were going to be alot of disappointed people.

Just before midday a light rain started, and made the whole hilside much slippier, and at about five minutes before midday they let the first fifteen through the little gate and onto the top of the hill. Both my brother and I made it through, despite the chaos at the front, as everyone tried to get in for race number 1.

There was a huge cheer from the crowd as we lined up, and my heart was hammering - there was a real danger that this could end very painfully! After brief instructions on how the start would be conducted, the cheese was rolled, and we were off!



I think in my younger years I might have been alot quicker than I was yesterday, but my middle-aged common sense kicked in, and I ran with slightly more caution than many of the other young guys, most of whom were probably at least 20 years younger than my brother or I.

I still found myself tumbling and sliding, completely out of control. It was impossible to stay on your feet, as the slope was so steep, and by now quite wet and slippy. Somehow though, I managed to make it down in one piece, my number one priority, but was one of the last in my race across the line. It's the taking part that counts, I told myself proudly at the bottom of the hill.

The atmosphere at the bottom was fantastic as the winners collected their prizes and certificates, and we shook hands all round with the guys we had run with. It was only later, as the adrenaline began to wear off that I started to feel the cuts and scrapes on my arms, and the ache in my left shoulder. Compared to my brother though, who had chosen to wear shorts for some reason, I was relatively unscathed.

This picture courtesy of Liezel, who we met in the crowd, and who kindly emailed me this through:-


We stayed at the bottom of the hill, and had an excellent view of the next two races. I think that if I had seen the carnage on the hill that race 2 produced, I might have been alot less inclined to run myself. One of the guys looked like he possibly dislocated or broke his shoulder, and there was quite a break before race 3 started, as he was carted off to hospital.

Back at the top of the hill after race 3 there was another long break as another casualty was transported away - the rumour that ran through the crowd was that he had fallen out of a tree! He was taken away down the main slope, a tricky rescue operation in it's own right, his neck immobilised to prevent possible further damage.

After race 4 we made an early exit to avoid the worst of the traffic chaos that would obviosly follow as everyone headed for home, and got away pretty quickly.

And so, as pretty much all eccentric UK Bank Holiday Monday activities do, the day ended in a trip to hospital for the unfortunate few, and a headlong dash to the nearest pub for everyone else! What a fantastic day! Thanks to Martin for coming along and being foolish enought to come and run with me, to Rachel for getting us there and back, and to Sutty too for joining us too. Thanks also to the organisers for putting on such an incredible event! I have no idea how this continues to run without the Dept. of Health and Safety stepping in!! Fantastic!



There is a good article about the day on the SoGlos website, including some great video of each of the runs. Click the link below for the review, and take a look at the video below:-
SoGlos 2009 Cheese Roll review

Goal 44 - Je parle Francais (un petit peu!)

There are quite a few goals on my list that are very difficult to quantify in terms of when they are achieved. For example, I recently marked my goal of learning to play the didgeridoo as complete, but I really am still a beginner when compared to some of the Aboriginal didge masters I have seen or heard.

But my playing has improved considerably, and I continue to practice when I can. I learned the technique of circular breathing, which is something I have been unable to do for a long time, although I would never dream of claiming to have mastered the didgeridoo.

As with any such skill, I don't think there is ever a point when you stop learning and trying to improve, and that is how I view life too, always trying to learn how to play the game a bit better than you could previously!

And my "Learn to speak conversational French" goal is another that is difficult to decide exactly when the goal has been achieved. But over the past year I have had quite alot more interaction with the French language than I have had in all the years since I left school.

And I really do feel that I have improved. My friend Mel in Perth is originally from France, so I have had some help from her. I spent a couple of weeks in France last year at the start of the 100goals trip, and did my whole paragliding course in French. I met French football coach Philippe Troussier in Japan, and we had quite a lengthy chat in French, which I was very pleased with. (Doug and Mike, who were there as that interview and chat was filmed both reckoned that I could have claimed my French goal as completed there and then! More about that day here.) And now I have been back in France again for the last couple of weeks, visiting the Cannes Film Festival.

I have managed to do pretty-much everything I have needed to in French in the time have been here, including all my day-to-day purchases, as well as the less commonly done things, such as hiring a tuxedo!

But it was actually while wearing the tuxedo that I made my greatest steps forward in conversational French! The movie I watched, called "Fish Tank" was a gritty, real-life, English-slum-housing-estate drama, and as such was liberally sprinkled with some choice expletives!

But one of the best things about the movie was that it was subtitled in French, so the local audience could appreciate it too. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but was somewhat distracted by trying to remember some of the more choice phrases in French.

The next time I spoke to Mel I ran some of my new vocabulary past her, and she was pretty impressed at my top-level French swearing ability. I have two particularly high-level French swear words in my vocabulary now, and have been strongly advised not to try to fit them into any sort of French dinner table chatter!

So while I will be the first to admit that my French conversational abilities are somewhat stilted, on a one-to-one basis, I am certainly able to communicate at a reasonably satisfying level. I can't possibly keep up with a group of French people chatting together, but can often get a good idea of what they are talking about.

And this morning I fly out of France, having completed my last French-based goal. I don't imagine I will be back here, or have much more opportunity to speak French for the rest of my 100 weeks, and so am quite happy to finally tick this one as achieved.

I will however always continue to practice and to try to improve my French, as I would like to become much more fluent.

My thanks to all who have helped along the way. "Merci beaucoup."

Cannes round-up.

What better place to begin my overview of the rest of my experiences at the Cannes Film Festival than the press office wi-fi cafe? I have managed to get into the festival buildings a couple of times now thanks to Rikki and a spare pass from the UK Film Council.

This place is huge, and every time I go for a wander I find something new and interesting. I asked Rikki where I could go with the pass, and apparently it will get me into most areas except movie screenings, and so I have been exploring.

The pass really does seem to get me pretty-much anywhere, and I have adopted the tactic of simply marching around with a confident air, and looking surprised when even asked to show my pass. I am usually politely waved through into a new area to explore.



The other day I somehow found my way up to the rooftop terraces, which have a spectacular view across the harbour, which is jam-packed with multi-million dollar yachts.



Rikki has been a fantastic help here, and without him I would be in the crowd outside, straining to get a peek over the fences, and wondering just what goes on in here. He put me in touch the other day with Rupert, managing director of Motion Picture House, who just happened to be searching for someone, on behalf of CNN, who is going to chase cheeses down the big hill in Gloucester next week. Rupert put me in touch with Don in London.

Rupert is also working on a web-based show here in Cannes, about the festival, and after a quick cup of coffee, and a chat to producer Stephen, I found myself in front of the camera being interviewed by Oscar. The interview can be found here on InsideCannes.com

Haha, as I am midway through writing this blog, I have found myself ejected from my first festival location. I made the mistake of leaving my comfy press desk to go and get a glass of water, and coming back in past the security guard, was told that without a press pass I could not come in. It took a bit of explaining to retreive my computer from inside, and the guy practically stood over me as I packed my stuff up.

However, every cloud has a silver lining, and just below the wi-fi place I found the Nespresso bar which gives out the most fantastic free coffee! I have been a regular visitor there ever since, and am working my way steadily through their extensive coffee menu.

I had to move house midway throughthe week, and was a bit disappointed, as I had settled in nicely to my city centre apartment. But I went back to see Lao at Azure Alive again, and he said he had another vacant place that I could use. And believe it or not, this one is ever nicer. It's a very modern luxury apartment with a huge balcony overlooking the main street, Rue d'Antibes. Fantastic.



I have wandered around the town and up the hill in the old part of the city. I took a bus out into the hills to visit Jean-Claude, where I stayed last time I was in Nice. I have visited the film festival a few times and hung out with Rikki, watching UK show Newsnight being filmed, and have met up again with Valerie and family here in Cannes.



All in all it's been a very relaxing and pleasurable week. I could get used to this sort of lifestyle! But I have to get up early tomorrow and catch the train to Marseilles, and then a flight to London. On with the next part of the adventure.

Once again, a big thanks to all who have made my stay in the south of France so much fun. A bientot, mes amis!

Underwater Hotel - an invitation to join in.....

On several previous occasions, I have borrowed a quote from the movie "Into The Wild", in which Christopher McCandless finds himself living completely alone in the Alaskan wilderness. His eventual and somewhat tragic realisation is "Happiness is not real unless shared."

As I have progressed through my list of goals I have endeavoured, as much as possible, to share my time and adventures with others, and by doing so truly believe I have enjoyed much happier experiences. I have met some wonderful people, and done some amazing things, sometimes as part of achieving my goals, and other times completely non-goal-related.

I have completed a few of my goals on my own, but when compared to other experiences, would have much preferred to have been accompanied, and had someone to share the joy and thrill of achievement with me.

And so I am now planning the US-based next leg of my trip. My first port of call is Miami, and I expect to fly in around the 16th July. South of there, at Key Largo, is a place called Jules' Underwater Hotel, where I have booked a night under the sea on Saturday 18th July.



The night in the underwater hotel costs $375, but there is a $25 discount currently available. I have booked my place for the night of the 18th, and am keen to have someone else come along to join in, and help me achieve another goal.

The rooms look small and comfortable, and are fitted out with bunk beds, so no issues there, unless you are a loud snorer!! Take a look on Jules' website here:
Jules' Underwater Hotel



If you are interested in coming along, please contact me through the "Contact Me" page. Please note, you will need to be a certiified diver, or there is an additional fee of $120, and some training involved!

As well as enjoying sharing the experience with someone else, I will also enjoy the small added bonus of saving myself the 15% single occupancy surcharge, and if you are able to help with transport to Key Largo from Miami and back, that would also be a great help, as I have nothing arranged for this either.

As always, there is an open invitation to join in with pretty much anything else I have planned, and if you can think of any way you may be able to help out too, I would be very grateful. See an outline of current plans here:
http://www.100goals100weeks.com/goals_Plan.php

Regards, Ian

Goal 43 - Cannes-tastic!

Wow! As an example of how you can expect the events of a day to unfold in one direction, but a couple of things change, and the course of the day takes you in quite an unexpected direction, yesterday is certainly going to be hard to beat!

I woke early again, feeling slightly feverish, and wondered casually if I might have caught the swine flu virus already. When I passed through Hong Kong the airport resembled a hospital wing, with about a third of the travellers wearing surgical masks, notices everywhere displaying dire health warnings, and temperature testing stations set up in several locations for paranoid incoming travellers.

I was looking forward to a quiet day at Valerie and Pierre's apartment, and wanted to catch up on some emails. My main priority was to try and sort out some new accomodation, as Valerie and Pierre have family arriving today, and they need the space.

I had had a few contacts from people who had suggested that they may be able to help out, but so far nothing had been confirmed, so I re-emailed a couple of people. My first contact was Rikki, who runs Exhibition Consultants International Ltd. and builds stands for the film festival, among other things. He had been told about me by Philippe from EIE Global, who helped out with my Eiffel Tower goal back in September last year.

My second contact was Adrian, who first contacted me via the website way back when I first started my goals quest. At the time he lived in Cannes, but has since moved to London. He still has many contacts here, and thought he could possibly find some accomodation for me in Cannes itself.

Adrian was quickly on the case, and put me in touch with Lao from Cannes-based accomodation agency Azur Alive, and Lao said that he would be glad to help, and that I could use one of their apartments at no charge! Marvellous! I arranged to meet him at around 3pm that afternoon.

Almost straight afterwards Rikki called me, and although he had been unable to track down any accomodation, he had a contact from the UK Film Council who would like to meet me in the afternoon, with the possibility of a ticket to a screening. It looked like things were coming together, perhaps.

After a quick shower and shave Valerie dropped me off at the train station, and I met Lao at his office. He took me to see a lovely fourth floor apartment right in downtown Cannes, and left me with the key. I can use the place for about 5 days, and then he will find me another. Fantastic.

Next I went to meet Rikki in front of the Palais, and he produced a pass for me, and we went through security, into the festival building itself. I almost felt like my goal had been achieved, as I was already somewhere that the general public could not access.

We walked through the huge marketplace area where stands from movie production companies from all over the world are set up to sell their wares to movie buyers. We made our way to the International Village area, and at the UK Film Centre, Rikki introduced me to Tina from the UK Film Council.

She is Head of Industry Relations, and as well as helping me with my goal, hoped that the Film Council might benefit from some publicity too. She rang a couple of people to set up some possible interviews, and offered me a ticket to the movie which was going to screen that evening at 10.30pm.




At first I didn't quite grasp the significance of the ticket I was given, but when Rikki saw it, he was amazed. The movie being screened was the premiere of the first movie in the Film Festival competition, called "Fish Tank", written and directed by Andrea Arnold. Andrea won the Prix de Jury in 2006 with her first movie "Red Road", and "Fish Tank" is her highly anticipated follow-up.

Because the UK Film Council co-funded both of these movies, they had some pretty good tickets for the screening, and my seat was in the "Orchestre" section. "That's right at the front, up the red carpet and in through the main door," Rikki exclaimed! "You'll need a tuxedo!" Hmmmm!

However, somewhat coincidentally, Eric, a producer in Hollywood had called the day before I left Australia, and he had put me in touch with an actor/writer/filmmaker who would be here in Cannes. I had spoke to Bobby Leigh earlier in the day, and was hoping to meet him later, and he had suggested that if I managed to get a ticket, I could borrow his suit, if he wasn't using it at the time.

I tried Bobby a couple of times, but his phone was off - he was obviously having a busy first day. I went looking for a suit hire shop, and soon found one pretty close to my apartment. At 7pm I gave Bobby a final try, and upon discovering that his phone was still off, I went ahead and was relieved of 90 Euros for the hire of a tux and shoes for the evening.

I was going to have to stay in Cannes for the night, as the movie would finish long after the last train, and I called Valerie to let her know. At the apartment I showered and washed as best I could, but had no toiletries at all with me, and no more cash either, as it had all gone on the suit, and a sandwich for dinner. The apartment was so empty of anything at all that I had to dry off after the shower with handfulls of toilet paper! All my stuff was still back in Nice.

Eventually I suited up and headed down to La Croisette, the seafront area, and wandered around soaking up the atmosphere, which was electric. I joined the line of other smartly dressed movie-goers, and made my way through several security and ticket checks. Many others with different coloured tickets to mine were directed off through side entrances, but I kept waving my ticket about, and kept getting waved through, until I was at the foot of the red carpet. To either side were huge crowds of photographers, but they were obviously waiting quietly for the stars to arrive.

The walk up the carpet was wonderful, and I stopped at the top to look back down. Many others were taking photos, despite warnings on the ticket that photography was not allowed, and so I joined in too. What a wonderful atmosphere!

My ticket granted me access through the main doors, and I was escorted right to the front of the cinema and told that I could sit wherever I liked. I picked the front row!



On the huge screen you could watch others arriving on the red carpet, and the seats slowly filled around me. Eventually the director, Andrea Arnold arrived with some of the stars from the movie, and I watched on the big screen as they made their way up the steps outside.

It was interesting to see their progress live through the lobby area, and then turn around and see them come into the room, to a huge round of applause.

Eventually, when all were seated again the movie started. It is a very English, very gritty study of a girl growing up on a rough housing estate in southern England, and was very compelling and well acted. At the end there was a huge standing ovation, which was fun to be part of.

Afterwards, we had to wait for the stars to go back down the steps, and then followed suit. I met a Chinese girl who appeared to be on her own too, so we swapped cameras and took plenty of pictures of each other. She seemed to be as thrilled and excited as I was to be there.

At around 1am I wandered back to the apartment through the busy streets with a huge smile on my face. What a way to achieve my Cannes goal! I couldn't possibly have imagined being so successful in aquiring a ticket for a screening. What a dream come true!



Huge thanks to all who have helped to make this goal possible:-
Phillipe, Rikki and Tina for the making the ticket a reality.
Adrian and Lao for sorting out my accomodation.
Eric and Bobby for their advice and support.
And of course, Valerie, Pierre and Thibault for their wonderful kindness and accomodation in Nice.

Valerie had contacted local English-speaking Riviera Radio on my behalf, and this morning I was scheduled for an interview with them at 9am. I put my suit on again - I had paid 90 Euros for it and was determined to get value for money!! - and headed down to the huge Hotel Martinez on the seafront. There I met Peter, who transmits live daily from the lobby there, and was soon live on air. It seemed to go pretty well, and when I eventually got back to Nice Thibault said he had heard the interview and said it had sounded great.



What an amazing 24 hours! What an awesome way to achieve a goal! What an adventure!

Cannes Film Festival Opening Day.

Yesterday morning Pierre dropped me off at the local train station, and I headed in to Cannes, where the film festival was scheduled to open in the evening.

Cannes is another beautiful south of France coastal town, and the place was packed with all sorts of people wearing festival passes and badges. I felt like one of the only people that did not have some form of ID around my neck. However, when I arrived at the front of the Palais de Festival I wasn't the only tourist taking snaps of the final piece of the red carpet being rolled into place.




The atmosphere is great, and I wandered happily along the seafront which is packed with movie industry tents. Around the other side of the building, where huge yachts fill the harbour, most emblazoned with adverts for different movies or studios, I found a huge gaggle of press on stepladders shouting over the fence at people arriving in limos. Unfortunately I did not recognise any of the new arrivals.




I have been emailing all of the movie industry contacts I have, which really isn't that many, most of whom I know from when the ALife4Sale publicity was at it's peak. My actual Cannes Film Festival goal is to get into an event here, or see a screening of a new movie. But the problem is that in order to do this, you need official accreditation, and to get accreditation, you need to be part of the movie industry.

I am hoping to find someone who has a spare ticket for an event, and hopefully get in to something under their wing. There are a few potentially good contacts to call this morning. Fingers crossed! I never thought it would be so difficult to get to see a movie!

After returning from Cannes, Pierre had some tickets for the big game of soccer, between local rivals Nice and Marseilles, and along with Thibault, we haded along to the match.

The atmosphere was electric, and the local fans were in fine voice, singing their hearts out behind the goal. However, there was disappointment all round as local team Nice failed to find any sort of form, and were beaten 2 - 0 by the much stronger Marseilles team.



By the end of the match my eyes were drooping, and I was off to bed pretty soon after we got home. I have managed to sleep in a little longer this morning, but am still up and about, wide awake, long before anyone else!