Time to Sète off!

Did you see what I did there? Sète is our destination of choice having left Monaco. The conference finished at exactly 13:00 yesterday and by 13:10 we were leaving Monaco. The reason the conference finished at exactly 13:00 was simple, I was in the chair! I was wrong about the number of people who were at the conference yesterday as I really hadn’t expected there to be many. The reality was that there were probably around 500 which is amazing for the last day. Sadly for the conference organisers, the ones who didn’t turn up turned out to be those chairing the last sessions. As a consequence they came to me and said “We have a bit of a tricky situation. All of the panelists for the next session are on stage but the Chair hasn’t turned up. Will you Chair a session on regulation affecting the industry?”. Now, I know a bit about legislation that is coming down the line but I had never met the panelists before, I didn’t know their names, let alone their skill set, so Chairing a panel where I don’t know what they know is always tricky. In fact, the first session went relatively well. The panelists seemed to know about the regulation that I asked them about and they seemed pretty well versed on how to answer.

The next panel was a bit more tricky. The Chair hadn’t turned up again and I seemed to be the Chair of choice. I believe this is largely because I don’t have anything to prove anymore and I can basically ask what I like and say what I like … if they don’t like it they don’t have to ask me to do it again. But they do like it because it adds a certain risk to the panel which is usually good. By way of example, the next session was on AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the data centre. This is hardly my area of expertise but I know a bit about it. One of my panelists (none of whom I had ever met) was from one of the largest data centre providers in the world. He was on a panel about AI so it seemed reasonable that I asked him to explain the difference between Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. It was only at this point that I discovered that, not only had he the worst case of halitosis that I have encountered in quite some years, but he had absolutely no idea what I was asking or how to answer! When I realised the he had no idea, I moved on to the Global Head of Data Centres for what is probably the largest cartoon film franchise in the world (work it out, they have a couple of theme parks in the US too!). Fortunately, she knew exactly what she was talking about and did a great job of answering. It became apparent during this session however that all three panelists were at the very beginning of a very long journey and that none had actually implemented any AI anywhere. Ho hum! Onto the last session!

The last session was the one I was booked for. My panelists knew their subject, I knew them and it all went very smoothly. We talked about ‘Zero runtime Generators’ and what this meant for the industry and why they should no longer be called ‘Diesel Generators’ because most run on HVO 100 (hydro-treated vegetable oil) which emits over 90% less emissions than diesel. We should be calling them HVO Power Plants, we decided. The session was due to finish at 13:00 and I made very sure that it did! Captain Clarke and I had already checked out of the hotel and had loaded the car with our cases. The car was parked directly underneath the conference centre and Captain Clarke was waiting outside when I came out. We made our way to the payment point, paid of the parking (€40 for the three days) and drove out of the carpark. The exit from Monaco was relatively painless (for Monaco) and very soon we were on the road once more in the direction of Sète. Sète is about 300 miles west of Monaco but it was a leisurely drive with just one charge at yet another busy charing point!

As we made our way west we were back on the Route du Soleil. We were reminded that we last drove on this bit of the Route du Soleil 30 years and two weeks ago when we moved to live in Spain. It was the one and only time we every drove to Spain using the Route du Soleil! You may struggle to see from the photograph but the signpost is actually for Barcelona which is only about 300km from Sète. We arrived in Sète at just after 6pm and, having checked into our hotel, we took about an hour to just relax and unwind. The conference had overall been a success and there are some interesting and unexpected opportunities coming out of it that will almost certainly prove both fun and lucrative! But conferences are tiring and then adding a 300 mile drive on top is very tiring. Having had a bit of a rest we went for a drink on the rooftop bar. Having had such a bad experience in Monaco we were hopeful that this wouldn’t be the same. It wasn’t. The prices were reasonable and, was it not for the fact that it was windy and cold, it would have been idea. As it was, we were both cold so we drank our cocktails (Captain Clarke had an Aperol Spritz and I had a Paloma which is basically tequila, grapefruit juice and lemon juice).The cocktails were good but the temperature was not!

We decided to stay local to our hotel last night as we had realised that we were quite a way from the main town of Sète. The receptionist at the hotel told us that there was a restaurant just two minutes walk away and that it was really very good indeed. That sounded perfect so, after our rather cool drink on the rooftop, we made our way to ‘Le Petit Bistro’. Sadly, when we got there we discovered that it was full and there were no tables available. We decided that the best thing to do was to walk into town where we had seen a lot of restaurants on our way in. The walk to the town turns out to be just under two miles. It seemed like a very long walk but we both laughed when we realised that if we were attached to a dog it would be just another stroll! We arrived in town and then really struggled to find any restaurants that were open or that had anything appealing on the menu. I had read that Sète is known for its mussels which are reputedly some of the best in France. We eventually found a restaurant that was selling mussels (initially we couldn’t find one, then when we had eaten we discovered that almost every restaurant sold mussels but the board advertising them was facing away from us when we first arrived.

We chose a restaurant that looked reasonable, ‘Le Grand Blue’, and were directed to a table for two. Within a couple of minutes a waiter arrived and asked if we had chosen what we would like to eat and drink. We both ordered Moules Marinière and asked for a Piché of Rosé wine. The wine was brought and, shortly afterwards, the mussels. I know that we have been spoilt by the mussels at Saint Valerie-sur-Somme which was, of course, near to where we used to have our French house but really … the mussels were overcooked and rubbery, there was no liquor, they were cold (yes, I do mean cold!) and really overall rather unpleasant. We were never brought any bread (even if I can’t eat, no meal in France is ever served without bread!) and at the end of the meal we had to ask for a ‘Rinse Doits’ (finger wipes)! Really it wasn’t very good. We both ordered a Noisette de Café (small white coffee like a Cortado in Spain or a Macchiato in Italy) and a cognac. What arrived was a Noisette de Café for me, a straight black coffee for Captain Clarke and one cognac between us. We correct the waiter once again and finally got our correct drinks. We didn’t leave a tip! Today we are returning to the town of Sète to see if we can restore our faith a bit, when we will begin the journey north. To restore our faith in mussels, we have already booked a hotel in Saint Valerie-sur-Somme for Friday night! Before we leave though, we must Wordle! This has become a daily routine for quite some time now and cannot be missed. If you haven’t yet come across Wordle, you really should … it is so addictive! (https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html) Today I got it in five, it should have been in three! So, just to be sure, Wordle is now an absolute daily requirement … it’s RudyMenTerry!