Ok. I"m back, after a brief respite.

I've got a lot going on now, so it is tough to post. But I do have a commitment to my readership, so here goes.

I've got a lot of material forthcoming, so it was difficult decision to decide what I'd write about today.

Let's take it back to 1998. France, to be exact. So There I was... :-)

A hostel in Juan-Les-Pins, to be exact. I was freezing my rear end off on a bunk with no blanket, waiting for the next day's events to go down. And what were those, you ask? How about the Monaco Grand Prix, for starters...Really. No joke. The world's premier Formula 1 event. And I was going...

After a short train ride, me and my compadres detrained in Monaco, spent a little time walking around, and found this hill from where we could observe the race for a small pittance. So we dug in on that hillside. Created earthen benches for ourselves to sit and observe the action with the Italian rednecks in attendance (they're into Ferrari, after all...cool people :-)

So Mika Hakkinen of Finland won the race, which we saw go down from our great vantage point over the finish line. He was of the McClaren team, which was dominant at the time.

And how do my usual subjects of food and wine fit in here? Well I recall having some sausage and or/cheese, washed down by a couple of bottles of local vino, as well as some Pastis, perhaps... :-) Good stuff!!!

So we left after the race was over, and promptly almost got run over by Prince Albert (pretty sure it was him, due to the Rolls, police escort, hot blonde riding shotgun, and the fact that they were not stopping for anyone or anything...)

Like this post? Stay tuned for my next one, when I will regal you with tales of my trip to the Tour de France, Leg 20, Mont Ventoux, 2009, when Lance Armstrong rode past me at a pretty good clip during Comeback 2.0 :-)

Until next time...

Loose!