Laura's Word 19 April 2013

And so it begins. The first ‘save the date’ Cannes party email dropped into my inbox this week, like the first sauntering snowflake of winter. Or like that bit in Jurassic park when the glass of water starts to ripple ominously. However you care to visualise it, the vibe is very much ‘après moi le déluge’. 

 

With the frequency of the ‘so are you going this year?’ conversations picking up noticeably and organisation underway for our very own institution La Plage Courage, there’s just no avoiding it any more: Cannes is coming. In under two months. 

 

Wait, what? 

 

When did that happen? 

 

Having spent the last few years bumbling around Scotland and Wales, living the life of a freelancer and born again student, I’ve skipped out on the last couple of festivals. I’m feeling a bit apprehensive. I’ve grown used to my beaches being of the rain-lashed and wind-swept variety, bleak and empty, not littered with adlanders. Then there’s the bending-the-laws-of-time-and-space-to-our-will thing, whereby everyone figures out how to be in five places at once. The answer seems to lie in Excel spread sheets and a decent pair of trainers. And this year we’ve got an LBB Cannes noob to keep an eye on, in the shape of young Mr Capper. If anything’s going to bring out the bossy big sister in me and Miss Lott, it’s our researcher being led astray at the Gutter Bar. 

 

It’s just pre-deluge nerves, of course. Which is no bad thing really – a recently published UCLA study suggests that neurotics make great employees. When it all kicks into gear, though, and we’re running about meeting new friends and old, putting faces and voices to email addresses, flitting from the LBB Beach to the Croisette and the Palais press room there won’t be time to worry. 

 

In any case, all this anticipation is as much about excitement as apprehension. I want to see what Vivienne Westwood has to say and find out what the crack is with the Puff Daddy.  Plus I can’t wait to see the dapper old gents walking their neat little poodles around the old town – it may well be my favourite thing about Cannes.

 

For now though, anyone else who is already in training to build up their rosé wine tolerance is invited to head to our Facebook page where we’ve got all the details about this year’s Plage Courage. 

 

Laura