Looking back at Agay from down the coast
We didn't know quite what to expect of Agay. The train ride along the coast showed us Monaco, Cannes, and Antibes: beachfront cities all under rainy dismal skies, with the Mediterranean a dark battleship gray. Our arrival in Agay, to a thin strip of concrete (no station, no shelter, no taxi) did not hold promise.
Monday, though, the sun shone and Catbird set out exploring. Our room looks down from a steep red rock hillside to Agay Cove where a scattering of sailboats and yachts tilt in the waves, so it was easy to get the lay of the land. In the sunlight one sees why this is called Cote d'Azure; it is a different sea altogether with the beautiful Mediterranean sun coaxing out all those shades of blue.
Our laundry was held hostage by a blown circuit breaker that left the hotel's front-loading washers full of water and locked closed. Language barriers made it difficult for us to know when maintenance would arrive to broker a release (maybe Monday? maybe Tuesday?), so Catbird thought it prudent to look for a few supplemental clothing items.
Agay had only a few beachwear shops, so Catbird hiked on to the next village, enjoying the scenery very much even if she didn't find what she needed in clothes. And the breeze off the sea and the gentle sun (hard to imagine it is the same sun that broils us in Austin) kept Catbird walking long after there was any real mission.
It was all lovely, until Catbird discovered her wallet missing.
Alas, Catbird comes from a long line of folks who lose things in the most absurd and impossible ways. Sister WBN once lost a pair of shoes that was wearing at the time. Catbird's father once lost a set of car keys found decades later hanging on a nail in the attic.
Glasses, keys, cell phones, sunglasses, hats...these are the most commonly misplaced items, and we lose them no matter how hard we try to keep track. And, in the flush of looking-for, Catbird always hears the voice of her mother (who did NOT lose things) derisively saying something about not being able to find it with both hands...
Being experienced losers, so to speak, we know what to do. Battling panic and that voice in her head, Catbird first returned to the hotel and completely ransacked every possible cubby, corner and bag. Then she began to retrace her steps.
As Catbird walked, she thought about what it would mean to cancel the credit cards and bank card, replace her driver's license and insurance cards...and how another week of vacation would go down without cash or credit. And how this would all take place from Agay without benefit of cell phone.
Imagine a bedraggled Catbird, with skirt now torn from knee to mid thigh from climbing under a fence in the retracing of steps. And imagine the most beautiful words in the world from a clerk in the last beachwear shop, "Ah, oui, Madame, I have your wallet." It had fallen out in the dressing room.
The cash was still in it. Catbird wanted to kiss her. Instead, she bought a pair of capri pants, which she wore back to the hotel, her tattered trusty travel skirt in a bag with her wallet.
All Catbird can say is: Merci!
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