Promenade poetry in motion

What is better after a good meal to go for a stroll on the promenade of Bordighera. Surely not as grand as the Promenade des Anglais but more charming. With a cool evening breeze and the wave hitting the shores the stroll started half way through.
The most enjoyable thing to do during a walk I find is to observe others and ‘figure out’ what they are doing or thinking. With the Italians being rather nocturnal, the play ground is still lively until about 23.00 with kids playing or trying not to fall asleep in buggies or tiny plastic houses.

The next part is more restaurant orientated and offers a lot of peeking options but let me just share one. With the tourist season in full swing, there is a fair part of the promenade crowd that is foreign and bless them …Dutch. My eye was caught by a group of rather grey and stubby folks that had rosy cheeks and of which one was wearing clocks (wooden shoes) the real deal with socks. I didn’t think anybody still wears them but this guy was serious about it. When I got a bit closer it was obvious, these gnome like people were farmers that probably purchased a cheap bus ticket with Oad to tour the South of France and surroundings. They have plenty of money in rappers terms ‘they keep it real’.

Funnily enough they sat down at one of these funky restaurants and interested to order. The waitress asked them what they wished for and they all replied ; ijs ! The girl was surprised by the outburst and asked again. The reply was similar ; IJS !!! But this time very loud and clear because if you speak very loud in Dutch everybody understands… The girl pointed out that they serve coffee and drinks so disappointed the group decided to go for a Espresso latte, which they pronounced with the fattest ‘achterhoek’ accent I have every heard, hilarious!

Moving on, I spotted an old chap with a bike cycling towards a cat that had three legs pointing the right way and one the opposite (no joke) they seemed to know each other. He sat down on a garden bench and the cat jumped next to him and he stroked it gently. Than he took a plastic bag from his bike and served a delicious meal to this cat. This was clearly a widow that has struck up a friendship with a cat that barter strokes for food and some peace. Very touching to see and it clearly underlined that having a stroll is not just healthy it is also very entertaining and offers small painting of people lives that we seem to have forgotten they existed.