Welcome to the Jungle

A bidding war has started for the Riviera Palace and it makes things not easy. The Italian house has encountered an additional challenges cos they have not had the planning permission for 20m2 grrrr. Buying and selling is great fun but it sometimes really feels like a jungle; a warm and humid environment that is a bit silent but you feel you are not alone, you are being observed. Scary.... Anyway, having already taking an appointment with the notary office the reaction of the other party is needed AND fast!

Having said so I feel a bit like a used car salesman that is pushing people to buy his car cos there is a bunch of people ready to buy that specific model. However it makes things clear and the future owner or future loser of the place will realize that he needs to get in the jungle and find his way out very quickly.

The first party is a well known doctor who is of course a bachelor and needs to find a pad to impress the ladies the second is a couple of rich people from Paris that are looking for a weekend pad. In both cases they are interesting people with good conditions and the ability to pay the peanuts we ask. May the best win !

The only thing I need is ONE party to sign and I will be out of the jungle :)

La Dolce Vita

It looks like I might be moving over to Italy to create a new pad that still benefits from lots of sun and good food! The city is Dolceacqua and it is a peaceful little town that is still owned by Italians but the people from Monaco, Ireland and Germany are trying hard to change this... Hopefully not too hard! Its only 40 minutes from Nice and quiet close to Monaco so for working its perfect and living...well the 7.000 m2 of land with olives trees and a small vineyard will be great to keep me busy. Thank God wifi is working on the terrace :)

It will be a big change but it all looks very promising. Although there are plenty of pitfalls that are still to be avoided but for now...Take a look at the place and start reserving that extra room. Its like easyJet, first come first served, koffie is klaar :)

Getting Closer

Things are getting very very close....to sell the house! Tomorrow there will be the last round of paperwork (currently 30 cm high and 1 kilo) and we will fix a meeting with the notaire and lawyer. This means than there is still a period of about 2 to 3 months to be covered before the dosh will arrive on my bank account and we need to return the keys.

Negotiating it was quiet tricky cos at this price there are not a lot of people so you have to cherish the ones that are keen to go forward. But with the high price comes high demands and some where quiet frankly stupid! One person wanted to buy it at full purchase price but needed a garage that could accommodate his Bentley GT ... sorry they are all built in the early 1940 so very small. Anyway this buyer seem to be very keen to move fast and has good references so that we dont need to worry about falling through at the last minute, unfortunately this has happened before. Funny thing is that he is a European expert in the field of 'nerves', earning about 8K per month and still being a bachelor at 45 however not be able to take a decision without the OK of his mum, hilarious! He is being assisted by his personal assistant and quiet a funny guy. He liked the wardrobe I have in the bedroom (unbelievable) which I wanted to cut up in pieces and burn but well has now become part of the sale :)

It is all going forward in any case now and it is strange cos we have a mixture of sadness to leave the house and a feeling of joy in terms of the sale and the good memories.
It was the first house we bought and it turned out to be a very good investment and we enjoyed 8 years in it with friends and family!

But no time for tears now, need to move on and create another beautiful place for fresh souvenirs and who knows....in Italy?

A Prune

The joys of living is Nice are sometimes a little bit difficult to locate when trying to find a parking spot Saturday evening. After having driven 40 minutes (!) to find a place that was free, large enough and not illegal and passed by the Negresco to get to the Promenande quickly and passed through ORANGE. Stopped in the middle and voila, 4 poulets eg cops pulled me over.
Quick lesson in law; Papers please? Ok, ah you are a foreigner! Is this your car? Is the insurance valid, do the lights work, were you driving with a seatbelt, all with his armed crossed over his chest and looking at me like I was the biggest criminal ever hit the Riviera.

Anyway, you crossed the red light, we all know that! No, sir I did not! Well, we are cops so we always say the truth... Give me all your papers and you will be fined now and we will take away four points on your licence....hahahha, no you wont, I have a Dutch one and that is not possible.
The blue uniformed chaps were not very pleased with that. I was getting a bit angry cos it all felt a bit aggresive and said to the guy, just give me the PV and I will bugger off.
Of course he wanted to teach me the law ect and I had to follow him cos he wont come to me, the power of blue is stronger than orange...or Red.

90 euros later, I drive off angry to finally find a space to park and withing 30 seconds, a car leaves just in front of the place where I needed to be... luck is a strange thing but well I am now the proud owner of a Prune like they say in French grrrrrr, I think I will eat a cracker tonite.

How to handle a Candle

The dark and cold days are approaching and having an immediate effect on our mood. Everything seems to be better and brighter when the sun is shining. Well, this is of course not true for the Dutch. We spend on average 99% of our time in doors cos it is raining cats and dogs and we have a huge summer that covers at least three weeks during which you will spend more timing standing in a line waiting for an ice cream or worse...to get to the parking of the beach. Nevermind the hairy, slightly overweight German fellow that taken over the beach, although this time temporarly.

How in the world is it possible to remain positive under these conditions??? Well, we decorate! Excuse moi? Yes, Dutch people spend fortunes on pimping their houses into a Palace of Deco. With revolutionary interior designers likes Jan de Bouvries (paint it all white) or Wanders.

Decorating is big and it is getting big overhere too in France, take a look at Deco at M6, even the presentor is Big! But when decorating the place we often look for the latest trends, that thing that will draw your attention or that painting that stimulates your brain. (Take a look at my Brood) But I like to make people smile when decorating (oufff this sounds rather gay ...) I bought a painting of two belgium artist of Kenny of Southpark (maybe those Belgium guys were having a laugh) and now I have purchased a new candle holder.

A what? Yes a candle holder. During those sober days and dark nights, we need to enjoy the magical light of candles and since everybody is buying those crap candles holders from Ikea, I have invested in a rather different version. Mine is called the Candle Man and yes it is rather funny and different. It is for sure eye catching but it is also a create investment, it was designed by Smeets and Tynnagel.

There is only one little problem about it....it weights 450 kilo! Try to hang that on the wall and soon you will be enjoying coffee with the neighbours with a huge hole in the wall.

Decorating is great fun but who can handle the Candle man?

Give me 5 00

Companies are always obsessed to find the latest trend or fashion item, something everybody likes, something you get a special feeling with, a personal item of desire. They come in all shapes and forms but in many cases there is nothing new under the sun cos its all based on something which has already been desgined before. In marketing terms ...vintage branding.

In the fashion industry you see it all the time but in the automotive industry they know to apply this law very successfully. The Mini Cooper was a legend but not very sexy but it had that special feeling about it. When BMW introduced it, it was sold out very rapidly and everybody wanted one, so no price talks, just pay the full whack! Not many have succeeded in doing this again but now the struggling Fiat brand has looked on their dusty bottom shelves of the design department and woken the old Fiat 500 from the death. They have managed to turn the old version in a funky looking car that will please women (and meeting hunters like me, when looking for a place to park with a too big of a car) and young professionals.

I noticed recently one in black and pimped out in SanRemo and it was quiet a cool looking car!

Although I am not a great fan of the vintage style movement I do think that Fiat has created something that is fun and personal. And to underline the personal side of the car, 'the feel good factor', they have created a funky website that underlines this. With not just some standard features like Wallpaper and Pics but things like the 500-ology, the baby boom feature, message board etc etc

I just signed up for a trial of the 500, cos their biggest challenge will be...how to fit a tall Dutch man in a Fiat 500 ! Keep those tin openers at close range....

Gevoels temperature

The Dutch use an expression that is quiet interesting and called 'Gevoels temperature', basically the temperature you estimate as being the right one, often isnt correct cos factors of wind seem to make us believe that its colder. But today when having lunch in Monaco I was reading some papers and preparing a presentation while sitting on a terrace.

At a certain time, I switched place cos the sun was burning through my suit and I didnt wanted to welcome my client with nice sweaty wings under my arms. I moved to the other side of the table and started to observe peopling walking by and it became clear to me that Gevoels temperature was something different for the French.

Two gentlemen were passing by in sharp suits but covered in bright coloured scarves with the length of the Chinese wall. A lady carried her Louis V bag while wearing a leather jacket and leather gloves, big sun glasses and boots. A student passed by trying to imitate a Michelin man, a group of office girls were covered in sheep skin and hiding behind big jumpers. They were all obviously trying to beat the changing temperature in the South of France, cos it has gone down here to ..... almost 21 degrees!

Does this means that the Dutch are just basically a bunch of complaining bad looking people and the French a group of well dressed and prepared to suffer to stay beautyful type of group?
The gevoels temperature has gotten a new dimension and I am sure that there will be a Dutch man soon, complaining about it...

Dutch Design Week

The Dutch Design movement is growing fast with the likes of Victor & Rolf, Marcel Wanders (featured lamp), Rob Birza, Otte,....

A small country with bold designs, check out the website

Victor & Rolf

Yes yes, it has finally arrived. After a number of weeks waiting at the concierge to finally pick up the package ....my V&R has arrived! Why the exitement ? Well, being Dutch and appreciating een Dobbe kroket and dropjes is simple but after awhile you want more and being a bit of a fashion victim I searched the globe for something which is Dutch and not a pair of wooden shoes or a hennep clothes and.... found some really cool stuff at Victor & Rolf.

Being a proper Dutch man, I picked my pair of black trousers at http://www.yoox.com/ that is basically the best fashion website on the net with a super collection and great prices.

My initial order was a pair of trousers and some nice designer shoes. As mentioned before, there is now a UPS guy doing deliveries in it cos it got nicked by them :) oh joy!

Second order took a little while since I had to re-order the same articles which were of course sold out. However, after spending numerous hours behind my laptop I found a really nice pair of funky black trousers with the touch of Victor & Rolf! My mum tends to refer to them as the Knabbel and Babbel of Dutch fashion but they are very talented and completely weird, which I tend to find a good quality in a person ! They were the guys that launched a limited edition perfume that was called Le Perfume and which smelled liked...water and which was ...water.
They were basically taking the mickey out of the industry, and all 250 bottles were sold !

Today it arrived well packed and eager to be opened and I was not dissappointed, it is classic with a twist and I fit in it :) Victor & Rolf have put Dutch design on the map !

Buy Sell Hold

Testing the market, comparing sold properties, the price per square meter, works to be done, the charges YOU name it, I know it :)

We are heading to the final stages of selling the house and I have had a crash course in selling, buying and finding houses, it seems. As France is a great country to work and live in it sometimes surprises me that when dealing with Business, they become kind of slow and old fashion. Which basically translate to...Yes we would like to sell you house and earn 6%!! comission on it but cant you find us some customers? Or maybe can you do the tour with our clients? This meant that the selling process became slow and I ended up on a Booty kick tour to all the agencies and informing them that I will take away their Mandate (contract to sell my house) if they wouldnt advertise it properly and organise visits.

We have seen everything from estate agents to come in for a tour with a potential client that was looking for a place for a student and modern...which is not really the case here and certainly a student room is not really the best way to describe the house. Than we had meetings cancelled 3 times, we had one prospect hating our house still willing to make an offer but that say it should be 100.000 euros less cos he hated it..Yeah right! Than we got agents that visited it on Friday but never seen the place or knowing the price! And one that is specialised in foreign customers although she doesnt speak english.

Yes Yes, I guess working for a French bank is more interesting... But we are now heading towards the final phase with a serious purchaser and two others keen to visit and make an offer so if all goes right we should be able to sign a deal before the end of October! This will be a great joy and pain cos the house has been amazing but well, things change and I am sure that in the near future a new Riviera Palace will be created that has all the ingredients of a good life and of course all the ingredients to be sold for a better price hahahah Being Dutch is sometimes hard but when it concerns making money we do tend to have fun and achieve what we want! grrrrrrrrrr

Hungry Meeting Hunter

Last week I hunted for meetings and this week the hunter has its meetings. This means I will tell everybody that wants to hear about new media, innovative ideas and interactive solution, that JuniorSenior is new in town and here to stay ! We are the next generation communication agency that will get you results ! Yes yes even at almost 24.00 I am ready for a pitch !

Over the last years I have come to know a lot of influential people and interesting organisations and I get know the opportunity to tell them about us and generally people are happy to welcome us (although coffee seems difficult..) and are surprised about what we do and of course what we have done ! Our work of course doesnt stop there but it is an essential part of getting the name and brand out and informing prospects that there is an alternative if you fed up with expensive agencies that never stick to deadlines and recycle crap old non creative campaigns into 'new ones' Anyway I can go on and on and on but feel free to check the website http://www.jr-sr.com/ or subscribe to the Newsletter !!!

However running around makes you hungry and knowing Monaco for its 17 euro burgers I found an alternative address that had a remarkable sign out there...

Is the name linked to their price strategy ? In anycase, this is even a step to far for the JRSR creative team....

You heard it here first!

Who ever said that the church is boring? That it preaches things that are irrelevant or not interesting to young people? I have overheard people talking in churches about a bit of marketing to get the young people back in church! Wow, that sounds fantastic! But how? Well in my search for the originial advertising outings I came across this 'billboard' of church marketing. This Baptist church have turned to marketing and I guess will be very successful to get new people to join them ! Wouldn't you ?

Cheesy Wifi

Sometimes being connected feels like the most important thing in the world! Pcs and gsm with WIFI are great anywhere we can read emails and continue working without ever feeling less connected... Recently I have gone to great lengths to stay connected by searching a spot to reply to a demand of a client on the way to another one. Wifi is great but very often in hotels you need to pay a lot of money for it and it works poorly. So, I have been doing my research and found a place where it is Free, Fast and Cheesy. Cheesy? Well yes, I ended up at MacDonalds logging on their WIFI system and surfing in their Burgerspace to McNugget freedom or something like that. By doing so I thought, heck, why not getting something to eat. I soon realized that things have moved on and I have become old... The burger I wanted was no longer in there stock and when I asked for a Sunday with Strawberry sauce she looked at me with huge question marks in her eyes, replying, sir, we dont serve that anymore. The last one served was about 5 to 6 years ago...ouff, it has been awhile since I enjoyed the delight (!)full flavour of the golden arches.

I ended up ordering a cheese burger and fries. Didnt supersize it but manage to eat it and get the smell of junkfood off me in just under 48hrs :) BUT wifi is free, so why complain :)

By the way I have enclosed a picture that underlines the competitiveness in the Junkfood industry and the use of products! I ordered a cheese burger and yes, it had cheese on it, see picture!

The sound of silence

Silence is gold. Well in some cases and in other cases it can mean far more negative things. This morning rushing from client to client, I wanted to relax a bit and turn on the radio. But there was no sound, so I cracked it up ...still nothing. Than I took a turn to the right, indicated it but not an annoying click sound. I parked that care with the parking radar and no sounds either. Well you do need to be Einstein to understand that your car has gone silent on me. D

id it become shy?, tired of the sounds or did he wanted to make a statement? I really dont know but being as handy with cars as French bank with a Dutch client, I drove straight to the car dealer.
Since its new and still under guarantee, they would be hassling me out of my money...
Friendly staff welcomed me. All well Mr Bos? Coffee? Well, thanks but I am kind of busy. Please fix my car cos it seems like Kit of the Knightrider has lost his voice. Two greasy guys in overalls started to looked intelligent to the car, openend all the doors ect Discussed the car in a Dilbert like language and than turned to me with the Microsoft words; your board computer has a bug sir! Ok, thanks, well that I realised too. What's next? Well, sir, what do you do with a pc?

Well, I switch it off and turn it on, or just hit it. Indeed, sir. So polite! He starts the car with a special key and...... ahhhhhhhhhh we go deaf cos the my hi fi system now works and its was still on volume 20.

The staff guaranteed me that this happens now and than like with pcs hahah well, soon we will all be driving Vista upgraded cars... Anyway, I do appreciate the silence but it good to have some sound back in the car! Silence is gold but the new Radiohead cd is diamond!

A sign ?

My blog is not always very topical nor tropical but certainly not political. But today a short detour, on the road to elections in the US. Where the new president could be black or even a women, wow what will be next ?? an actor or cowboy? ...

All the candidates are raising funds for their ever increasing campaigns and marketing and advertising seem to be the most powerful tools to get elected, ask Sarkozy.

TV commercials, radio spots, magazine and newspaper ads and of course internet advertising, all not very creative but well they are not Radiohead yet...

Billboards and signs are obviously part of this as well and on my little tour around the globe I came across one that was left over after the Bush election campaign and basically underlining the results of the second term.

The city would like to exploit the fact that The Cowboy President saw the light in their town however the second sign added after election period speak for itself ! A priceless campaign !

I will call you back illness

Some people in the South of France suffer from sunstroke, others from food troubles while other suffer from a far worse condition, a condition that is yet without a solution, this condition is called 'I will call you back"and it is considered to be a fast growing illness.

Something that generally starts at civil servants offices and than spread rapidly to banks, notairy offices, etc For some reason this illness is still without a remedy and seems to create havoc in our lifes. To illustrate this I would like to give an exemple that involves my bank (yes my dear friends) and the notaire. My lost deposit cheque of a considerable amount is somewhere floating in the no mansland of Nice, waiting to be collected although already debitted from my account. In order to change this I need to have yet another form (this is one of the side effects of this illness) This form is complicated and of course involves many signatures of important people.

I have been trying to get this paper for the last month! This meant (and I have counted them) 50 calls to the notaire AND 50 I will call you back and 50 TIMES nothing! The receptionist was feeling ashamed and when I finally confronted the notaire today, face to face, he claimed he was busy (deborde is the deadliest illness in France) I looked at him and the accountant and I asked one simple question; Why didnt you call me back and when will I get my cheque bank. (I guess these are two questions but well after 50 calls I do have some credit...

Well sir, in terms of the cheque its very simple and we will deal with it today... and for not calling back we apologize but we have many clients and especially the Cap d'Antibes clients are very complicated. Better read here; Dear Mr Bos spending just under half a million euros on a house is not our priority we prefer the 20 million ones.

Ok, well that is clear than. So, how can we cure this illness? I thought long and hard about it and came to one conclusion, if I would be able to cure it, I would single handly improve the french economy and win a Nobel price for science and economics...

The only cure I have found so far is to keep my mouth shut and go with the flow, but that does sound a little like I have become part of the disease and not of the cure.... OH DEAR, SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEEEEEEE!

Handy Mums

Advantages of having mum around...mmmmm, well she wishes to make herself helpful, that generally translates itself to ironing my shirt...and there are plenty, cooking a meal, cleaning the house but she never washes my clothes! Weird cos I seem to know for a fact that I read that is her duty... check it out :)

Blog regime

Yes yes, I realised that I have been not doing my daily dose of bloggism but with the family around, work and of course my bday I have been rather busy.
I am happy to inform you that my bday party was really nice, although the age thing starts to creep up a little bit but well, what can you do. When asked for by people what age I am, I generally reply that I cannot remember since it keep changing every year...
Well the family has moved on to an apartment in Golf Juan with sea view which I unfortunately dont have and the sun is still giving us plenty to smile about!

My presents have of course been partly eaten, worn or read and the old age was quickly forgotten about with some Veuve C. Yes I do tend to like a little bit of bubbles!
What else has happened? Well the Radiohead album is selling well and with an average price of 10 dollars (!!) they will succeed it making it the most profitable album, taking in consideration the low distribution and marketing cost, excellent!

Ajax has finally kicked Mr TC over to London to earn a huge salary and forget quickly about that little football team from Amsterdam that he never managed to get rolling outside the country borders.
In Burma things got silly when police started to shoot at protesting and unarmed monks!
DaimlerChrysler has become Daimler and has launched a huge campaign to tell the world about it. It almost look like they want to change the world...
The biggest mafia court case was kicked off in Holland after a delay for health reasons of the mafia Mr H. All of as sudden witnesses have become deaf, blind or numb and some even decided to commit suicide... How handy...

And of course the most important news fact of the week....Britney Spear has officially become looser of the week when being dropped by her manager, record company, boy friend, lost custody of her children, got her videos stolen (yes, the naughty ones of course), crashed her car,... well you get the story... Not much went like she wanted.
And last but not least my ordered Victor&Rolf trouser have been nicked by the UPS delivery service hahahah I guess those horrible brown crap they are wearing was too much for him!

Simple Pleasures

There are thing we such take for granted, getting up in the morning and taking a shower is one of them. We dont really think about it, we just turn it on, strip off and shower.
Until this morning, I followed the same procedure got in the shower and quickly jumped out of it. Brrrrrrr, it was cold as ice and nothing willing to change his reportoire. I looked at it with a very professional eye, spoke kindly against the boiler, before I started kicking it...

Nothing seemed to be working. Went to the other bathroom to have a shower and than asked the concierge about a possiblility to fix it and he congratulated me first, I was number 5 in just under a week with problems. What is the prize? Well, the telephone number of the plumper that should be able to fix it. He is suppose to drop by at 14.00, which is French for somewhere around 17.00 on the following days. Too bad that we didnt get any DYI lessons at business school cos it is quiet annoying not to have a warm shower and certainly when your whole family is staying at my place. (does anybody has the address of Bob the Builder?)

I will remember for the future to say thank you on a daily base to my heating system, in order to prevent it from asking for attention. On the other hand it does wake you up in the morning ....

Music Revolution

The music industry is constantly being challenged in the way they market music, whether it is the format, digital or cd or its sales channel. Many groups have found alternative ways of promoting their new cd via YouTube or Myspace or have just launch small website that are really different from a corporate type website. Record companies are making less money since we all download illegally now and than and buy less, although the download charts with Itunes as the number 1 channel is selling loads of tunes too.

This makes record companies nervous and they are willing to jump on the band wagon when they feel they have discovered a new artist, promote the hell out of it and sell millions. A few established artist fund the income of a record company as well as some of the hyped up artist that came through a Idols type of reality tv show, and generally lack talent but make good sales for their first record. Obviously gone for the second.

One of the established and most talented rockgroup in the world is Radiohead. Long known for their fantastic records and ability to renew themselves over and over again.
Their new cd is coming out on the 10th of October and they have stepped up the challenge for the music industry even more. Freed of their record company obligations, they will launch their cd called 'In rainbows' through their website http://www.radiohead.com/ as digital download. Nothing new there, however, when going to the checkout ( I have done it) the price of the cd is not shown. However you get a message; Its up to you. When continuing to click to the checkout there is another message; No really, its up to you ! Radiohead is asking the customer to decide on the price of the cd or download it for free!
Wow, the record companies must have been shocked to see an established artist like Radiohead being unsigned and selling, or better, giving away a potential million seller for what the customer wants to pay for it!

The Music Revolution is in full swing! Radiohead is getting back to the origin, making music of the lover of music not for the funding of a record company balance sheet !

French Banks part 4

Is there an end to this never ending story?? Well, today it seems there is a break through. After having called one of the two notary offices involved who promised me to call back....

I told them that they never do it and I was willing to put 100 euros on it! They lady laughed and assured me that they would call back within 20 minutes. Generous me gave them 30! Three hours later (and 100 euros richer, but try to get it hahaha) I called them again and was being put on hold for 15 minutes. Butttttt, than a new voice, gently and sweet, oh Mr Bos, how are you? Well, better with my cheque in my back pocket...

Our apologies for the delay and confusion. In my 10 years of accountancy I have never seen this type of trouble. Well, trust me, you dont want too! But could you be so kind and inform me about the status of my kidnapped cheque? Well, Mr Bos we have send it to you other notaire. Really?? when? well....15 minutes ago. Our apologies, we made some mistakes too. Dac. Well, so what is next?

Alors Mr Bos, the other notaire first needs to cash the cheque and than refund it back to you.

Excuse moi? Yes, that is normal procedure. Sounds like another delay but well I will call them and inform my bank. It seems that we are heading towards a solution, well its only been 3 months... But the scary thing now is that after the notaires ...its now back to the bank again...oh dear, it feels rather scary.

On the other hand I feel like with this whole story I could easily write a book that can be turned into a motion picture, starring Brad Pitt as me (well he is blond too) and Mr Bean as the bank manager. I take offer over 1.000.000 euros :)

PS See picture for a save alternative to put your money in!