Family arrives!

Erica and Cliff arrived Sunday after spending some time in England were Erica had to present a paper at Natasha's and Lawrence's university. Cliff and Lawrence went to Barcelona while Erica, Natasha and Annika spent a couple of days in London. After England they went to Geneva to visit some friends and will spend 6 days with us. They like lots of action so we have been playing tennis, playing bridge, walking, eating, drinking wine, going to the parks, etc. etc. etc. Aren't you tired already.

Today they took the train to Avignon, so the old folks have a quiet time. Niko and I warmed up my usual bench but this time there were no takers for my interesting conversation, so I mainly spoke to Niko who seemed quite taken with my input. Maybe it was the piece of bread I had in my pocket, but I couldn't have asked for a more attentive audience.

Cliff knows the least French of the group, but he is gifted with languages and basically fearless when talking to people. So, we didn't think anything of him going to purchase two coke zeros until we saw a melee forming at the food stand with the lady attendant and the cook engaged on a somewhat heated discussion with Cliff and then Erica. They insisted Cliff pay more money. Erica was finally able to understand that somehow, Cliff had ordered some pizza slices as well.

There was no backing out of that from the vendors' point of view since the pizza had already been cooked. So now when we ask each other if we want some coke we say: "would you like some pizza." Very amusing. On left is a picture of the scene of the crime.