It’s hard to believe but I’ve been visiting friends in the south of France for nearly 40 years. And on my first journey south the yellow ochre MG certainly looked the part, even if my bank manager did question the 'financial sanity' of my trip in a very long phone call on my return to the UK.
The three week tour took in my friend Didier’s wedding in Montpelier and then a pretty crazy trip along the Côte d’Azur…..with Monaco planned as our final stop before returning home by way of the Route Napoleon.
On reflection I guess we probably did the trip the wrong way round, because by the time we stood on the steps of the Casino our clothes were somewhat tired and our pockets pretty empty. But with the optimism of youth and with the help of a bottle of wine we did manage to come up with a plan…..and somehow spent the night attempting to win enough Francs to get us back over the Alps.
Monaco has been the playground of the rich since the mid 19th century when the Monte Carlo Casino opened its doors for the first time. Wealthy families from across Europe and America were attracted by the mild winters, hot summers and freedom to have fun without questions being asked.
But as I grow older the once shining allure of the streets of Monte Carlo, bursting with a seething mass of beautiful people, has been replaced by the simple desire to be consumed by the Impressionist landscape of Provence…...
I broke open the ancient shutters and recoiled……..it was going to be oppressively hot.
As far as the eye could see, clouds of dust hung over the burning white farmers' tracks between the gardens of olive trees and well tended vines under a huge sun of a dullish silver which filled the whole sky.
Not a patch of shade, not a breath of wind. Nothing but the quivering hot air and the raucous cry of the cicadas, the crazy, deafening, urgent music whose loudness seemed the equivalent in sound of this immense quivering radiance……
So if I was going to open a bank account in France I reckon it would be in perhaps Arles or Avignon ....but certainly not Monaco.
Now I wonder what attracted Harry Redknapp, current manager of Tottenham Hotspur to open an account at HSBC Private Bank in Monaco when he was manager of Portsmouth……perhaps we are about to find out!
For all of my dislike of Monte Carlo I have to admit that on my infrequent visits I continue to be fascinated by the behaviour of the many players who choose to challenge the roulette wheel in the Casino. Such analysis and planning, confidence and concentration, investment and evaluation……….then the croupier spins the wheel in one direction and launches a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular track. The ball eventually loses momentum and falls on to the wheel and rests in one of 37 coloured and numbered pockets.
Gosh, how do I decide……should I choose inside bets - straight-up, split, street, corner (or square), six line (or double street), trio, basket (or the first four), top line or perhaps the outside bets will be better today - with smaller payouts but a better chance to win…..1 to 18, 19 to 36, red or black, even or odd, dozen bets, column bets or the Snake Bet (don’t ask!).
In truth it really doesn’t matter for despite any amount of planning the ‘house edge’ means that they win and you lose.
But the way people lose is so interesting……
In his first year with the Shots, Dean Holdsworth has probably signed nearly enough loan players to fill a roulette wheel.
Yet if I met him at a ‘table’ in Monaco would he prefer the inside or outside bets.....I wonder?
No comments:
Post a Comment