I’ve always figured, if you are going to die anywhere, the south of France is probably a good place to do it. When I finally kick the bucket, just push my body out into the sea and let nature run its due course, I foolishly used to think. But as I sit, struggling to breathe in a seedy Cannes pizza shop, my oesophagus burning from ingesting too much of the chilli oil the overly friendly waiter warned me about, I’m having second thoughts.
I, for one, scarcely could have predicted that the soundtrack of my demise would be P!nk’s ‘I’m Coming Up’, but I guess that’s the luck of the draw. Luckily, my hospitable hero returns from the belly of the kitchen with some much-needed table-bread to take the edge off. He promptly plonks it down with a triumphant ‘voila’ and continues on his merry way. Bless him, little does he know, he could well have saved a life.
It’s true, travel is a gift that is quite often fraught with danger. Faced with unique and unfamiliar surroundings, we place our livelihoods, quite literally, in the hands of those kind locals unfortunate enough to stumble across us. Sometimes, we wind up with more than we bargained for.
I’ve spent a good part of this month on the trail of a few good stories, in Switzerland for the latest Hamilton adventure piece before heading to Cannes for the birth of Blancpain’s next classic. What I’ve managed to collect along the way is a lifetime of memories, not to mention a handful of coins that I’m unlikely to ever use again. That being said, I certainly won’t be throwing them out, particularly after learning what some of our more collectible currencies are going for. Who knows? I might be sitting on a goldmine!
Whatever the outcome, I’m not holding my breath (already done that once this month), so instead, I’m pointing my attention to the future. With new technology, timepieces and series on the horizon, there are a lot of things happening in the Man of Many world, and it’s only getting busier.
Just a few months out from Christmas and still with much work to be done, things are coming up quickly, but the Man of Many team is prepared. The wheels are in motion, the engines roaring and the soundtrack set. As my newfound spiritual advisor once quipped, ‘better get this party started’.
Editor-in-Chief, Nick Hall
