"WHEN THE NIGHT HAS COME, AND THE LAND IS DARK, AND THE MOON IS THE ONLY LIGHT WE SEE...."

I sat at the edge of the Mediterranean watching a fisherman cast his line toward the moon……

Down the corridor of shimmering light that hit the horizon and reached toward the smooth pebbly beach on which he stood.

His trickery floated effortlessly into the reflected light, suspended in time. For a moment it was if there was no force of gravity……timeless, silently holding the sky as the moonlight glinted off the lure at lines end.

Then it gracefully fell to the ocean, far away into the night – and time started again.

My absence was broken by the soft rolling rumble of another jet banking low and left along the line of the beach and descending with the same ease into the airport as the lure to the sea. In fact, here all things seemed to occur with such ease, no matter the task. I had arrived in Nice, the cosmopolitan capital of the French Riviera.

I looked to my left and saw the promenade lights stretch away towards the far headland. A mural of pastel shaded houses that have adorned the stony hillside for centuries. The glitzy buildings along the beach front are filled with people spilling onto the pavements. Dining on the fruits of the ocean, drinking wine and coffee, smoking cigarettes and recounting the sun kissed day amongst friends and lovers.

The sound of a guitar and its master’s voice gently floated across the water and flowed through my head. The choice of song matched the atmosphere at that moment and others must have thought so as I could here the tinkle of coins being tossed into a hat that invited passers by to lighten their pockets.

I turned back to the horizon and saw the lights of what seemed like a thousand boats gently rock back and forward with the movement of the waves. The ocean rising and falling like the chest of a sleeping giant.

I threw my gaze further a field and squinted to see if I could see the dark continent south of the sea – but only my imagination saw what lay on the other shoreline, my eyes only aware of the darkness pierced by needles of light.

In that moment I stood and turned toward Antibes – I began to stroll back towards shelter for the night. Looking forward to the morning when the sun would take place of the moon and a new day in another new land would begin…..