I promised YOU I would post it today ... part two of St.Tropez, Var, France..
Clothes were packed, rooms were checked for forgotten items, pool furniture put away into pool room, the two couples gave Ingrid and HER BIG hugs for taking such good care of them.. Sir Robert gave them their last weeks wages, he had slipped a massive tip into HERS with a very sweet note written by Lady Ropner.. they got into their rental cars and drove off to catch flights at Nice Airport back to England.
Ingrid and SHE spent next day making sure villa was spotless, Penny came to collect their cases and then it was time to ride to villa Orla and start looking after new guests. They knew they had been incredibly lucky and spoilt with their first lot of guests in villa at Sainte Maxime, they had had their own bedrooms with bathrooms, people had been funny, kind, helpful.. now they would be sharing a room and bathroom in villa Orla and, in height of season, each person would be responsible for up to four or five villas a day.. lots of work!
Next day Penny took a mobylette and showed them routes to villas they would be responsible for, other members of team had already been allocated their villas, SHE was given two on road to Ramatuelle, one at plage de Tahiti, one at plage de Salins and two at plage de Pampelonne.
HER favourite was a villa called 'les Huits Bois'.. beautifully appointed villa set in a charming garden with pool that looked down and out to sea... it was always slightly cooler being higher.. good kitchen, very well equipped - obviously NOT just a rental villa but someone's home - easy to work in. All villas were different, some had pools, some didn't ..
Guests started to arrive.. most were repeat clients of Continental Villas and were nice.. one couple were far too grand for their own good until wife asked HER "what is your name.. oh, that is same name as a great friend of my mother's who works at Chatham House, are you related at all?" SHE smiled sweetly and said "Yes, she is my mother".. poor woman choked on delicious fresh Brioche that SHE had brought up with HER..
"Where's best place this year to eat and which Disco is good this year.. Byblos or Papagayo on rue Gambetta?".. Everyone wanted to have a great time and enjoy themselves. Fun in the sun.. order of the day!
One MAJOR perk.. was that IF a villa was empty, friends were allowed to stay for 10 francs a night.. best deal on Riviera!! All the girls had 'anxious' friends awaiting calls about such'n'such villa..
One couple came to stay, SHE cannot remember which villa they stayed in but certainly remembers their names, David McAllister brought his girlfriend Prue Polson, a charming new Zealander.
At 7.00pm every night, everyone met for a drink on the port.. corner table in front row was held for them NO matter what.. it did not matter WHOSE boat was in town.. all the staff at Senequier knew 'les filles' and, of course, they were treated 'pretty well' because they were there for the entire season and brought other people there almost every day.. GOOD CUSTOMERS..
One weekend night, (Astra had left St.Trop and was looking after a villa in Biot), Penny, Jenny, Ingrid, HER, Pru, David and another couple of girls, whose names SHE cannot remember, were chewing the fat and suddenly a man's voice called "David", everyone turned around.. coming towards them were four men, David said "more the merrier, join us for a drink"..
The men intoduced themselves, staff pushed two tables together and they joined the party.. "where are we eating, we are starving".. went up the cry after half an hour or so, two girls said "we are eating with guests in place de Lice, we will see you back at Orla" and left, the four newcomers said to the four remaining girls "may we buy you all dinner." and everyone moved to next restaurant along the port..
It was an interesting mix of people and NONE of them were shy.. David was a British Army Officer, Prue worked for the Wool Mark Association, her father ran a huge sheep station in Wanganui, New Zealand, the four newcomers were.. Robin, drove racing cars and had just won Monza, Val ran a very famous country pub in Surrey, Roddy was a highly successful PR man with his own company and the last, but not least, was a Lt. Commander in Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy.. man all of YOU know as Pilot.
Part three..
What happened to rest of summer.. tomorrow night, time for MY bedtime.
GeeGee Parrot..
August 5th, 2012.
Clothes were packed, rooms were checked for forgotten items, pool furniture put away into pool room, the two couples gave Ingrid and HER BIG hugs for taking such good care of them.. Sir Robert gave them their last weeks wages, he had slipped a massive tip into HERS with a very sweet note written by Lady Ropner.. they got into their rental cars and drove off to catch flights at Nice Airport back to England.
Ingrid and SHE spent next day making sure villa was spotless, Penny came to collect their cases and then it was time to ride to villa Orla and start looking after new guests. They knew they had been incredibly lucky and spoilt with their first lot of guests in villa at Sainte Maxime, they had had their own bedrooms with bathrooms, people had been funny, kind, helpful.. now they would be sharing a room and bathroom in villa Orla and, in height of season, each person would be responsible for up to four or five villas a day.. lots of work!
Next day Penny took a mobylette and showed them routes to villas they would be responsible for, other members of team had already been allocated their villas, SHE was given two on road to Ramatuelle, one at plage de Tahiti, one at plage de Salins and two at plage de Pampelonne.
HER favourite was a villa called 'les Huits Bois'.. beautifully appointed villa set in a charming garden with pool that looked down and out to sea... it was always slightly cooler being higher.. good kitchen, very well equipped - obviously NOT just a rental villa but someone's home - easy to work in. All villas were different, some had pools, some didn't ..
Guests started to arrive.. most were repeat clients of Continental Villas and were nice.. one couple were far too grand for their own good until wife asked HER "what is your name.. oh, that is same name as a great friend of my mother's who works at Chatham House, are you related at all?" SHE smiled sweetly and said "Yes, she is my mother".. poor woman choked on delicious fresh Brioche that SHE had brought up with HER..
"Where's best place this year to eat and which Disco is good this year.. Byblos or Papagayo on rue Gambetta?".. Everyone wanted to have a great time and enjoy themselves. Fun in the sun.. order of the day!
One MAJOR perk.. was that IF a villa was empty, friends were allowed to stay for 10 francs a night.. best deal on Riviera!! All the girls had 'anxious' friends awaiting calls about such'n'such villa..
One couple came to stay, SHE cannot remember which villa they stayed in but certainly remembers their names, David McAllister brought his girlfriend Prue Polson, a charming new Zealander.
At 7.00pm every night, everyone met for a drink on the port.. corner table in front row was held for them NO matter what.. it did not matter WHOSE boat was in town.. all the staff at Senequier knew 'les filles' and, of course, they were treated 'pretty well' because they were there for the entire season and brought other people there almost every day.. GOOD CUSTOMERS..
One weekend night, (Astra had left St.Trop and was looking after a villa in Biot), Penny, Jenny, Ingrid, HER, Pru, David and another couple of girls, whose names SHE cannot remember, were chewing the fat and suddenly a man's voice called "David", everyone turned around.. coming towards them were four men, David said "more the merrier, join us for a drink"..
The men intoduced themselves, staff pushed two tables together and they joined the party.. "where are we eating, we are starving".. went up the cry after half an hour or so, two girls said "we are eating with guests in place de Lice, we will see you back at Orla" and left, the four newcomers said to the four remaining girls "may we buy you all dinner." and everyone moved to next restaurant along the port..
It was an interesting mix of people and NONE of them were shy.. David was a British Army Officer, Prue worked for the Wool Mark Association, her father ran a huge sheep station in Wanganui, New Zealand, the four newcomers were.. Robin, drove racing cars and had just won Monza, Val ran a very famous country pub in Surrey, Roddy was a highly successful PR man with his own company and the last, but not least, was a Lt. Commander in Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy.. man all of YOU know as Pilot.
Part three..
What happened to rest of summer.. tomorrow night, time for MY bedtime.
GeeGee Parrot..
August 5th, 2012.
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