Monte Carlo(Kristin Dockar) Monte Carlo.

Mia Evans stopped pushing the library trolley, which was loaded with books, and surveyed the scene. Through the full-length glass windows, she could see the world going by with people bustling about. But inside the library it was almost silent except for the scraping of chairs, the muffled sound of pages turning and the click of computer keyboards. There was the occasional cough as people browsed for books.
As she looked around, a thought came into her head and surprised her.
‘Is this it?’
She had worked here for 32 years since leaving school at 16.
The thought reappeared as she continued to shelve the library books.
‘Is this really it? Am I never going to do anything else?’
Mia had never married but she had enjoyed her fair share of lovers.
Now in her forties, she was still a good-looking woman. Small, slim, with beautifully cut hair and elegantly dressed.

As she methodically put the books back on the shelves, a woman asked: ‘Where can I find the biographies? ’‘Follow me’ said Mia ‘Are you looking for anything in particular?’
‘Yes, I want to read about Grace Kelly, her life and her loves. Apparently she was a bit of a girl. Must be something to do with the air in Monte Carlo’.
And that’s when the idea struck Mia. ‘Why don’t I go to Monte Carlo? I’ve got holiday owing’
Thinking about it, she didn’t really know where Monte Carlo was. Just a vague idea it was somewhere off the south of France.
And so, fired up, she booked a cheap Ryan Air flight to Nice, and a three day stay in a budget hotel in June.

Mia arrived in France early in the evening. A she walked down the aircraft steps she breathed in. The air smelt of heat, citrus and sun.
Collecting her luggage. Mia walked to the taxi rank and joined the queue. The couple in front of her exuded wealth. Louis Vuitton luggage, chunky gold chains, state of the art trainers. Both had beautifully highlighted hair.
To her surprise the female half of the couple turned and smiled’
‘Hi, have you been before?’
‘No. first time. Spur of the moment type of thing’ said Mia.
‘Why don’t you share the cab with us. It makes sense, plenty of room. I notice you don’t have much luggage’.
‘Thank you, that would be great’.
‘We’re staying at Hotel de Paris. What about you?’
‘Oh, just the Novotel’.
Mia noticed a flicker of something when she named her hotel.

On arrival in Monte Carlo, the cab dropped Mia off first. Again, to her surprise on so short acquaintance, the woman who had now introduced herself as Sara, and her partner as Billy, said:
‘Why don’t you join us this evening for a drink? Come to our hotel about 8pm and we can show you some of the sights.
Mia felt unsure about this but didn’t want to appear rude and thought one drink can’t hurt so said ‘Yes, that’s kind of you. See you then’.
To her surprise, the Novotel was clean, modern and her room was airy and spacious. ‘Good value for money’ thought Mia. The first thing she did was go down to the pool and swim. It was so refreshing. Then she ordered a non-alcoholic cocktail. Delicious.
Later that evening, she walked to Sara’s hotel using her phone to find the route.
Entering the hotel foyer, she noticed it was beyond luxurious. Sara was waiting for her, and together, they went up in the lift. ‘This is ours’ said Sara, opening the door to a suite with an enormous balcony with a tremendous view of the principality. To Mia’s surprise, there was a drink’s trolley which was also loaded down with canapes. ‘We thought it would be good to stay here and enjoy the view’.
This was the first time Billy had spoken to her. ‘You look lovely’ he said putting an arm round her shoulders in a far too familiar way. ‘Come and sit down’.

To Mia’s surprise they led her to a vast sofa and sat one each side of her. Nothing about the situation felt comfortable and Mia began to be very suspicious of her invite. She didn’t drink alcohol so knew that the glass of sparkling water she asked for was laced with something. She took a careful sip and held the glass so that it couldn’t be topped up. Every now and then she pretended to sip.
After about half an hour of small talk, she stood to walk over to the balcony talking about the amazing view but really she was working out the path to the door. Billy walked over to stand beside her and put his arm around her again, chatting amiably but all the while allowing his hand to slide down her back.
Then, impatiently, he cut to the chase. ‘How about it? You must know why you’re here’.
Mia looked into his face which was sweating slightly. She smiled.
‘Excuse me for a moment’ and walked to the bathroom which she had noted was right by the suite’s main door.

She went into the bathroom which she reckoned was as big as her flat at home, sat for a minute and then flushed the toilet. Emerging, she simply walked quickly to the door and let herself out without a backward glance. She took the lift down and emerged into the street.
Her heart was pounding but she breathed deeply, thank goodness for all the years at Yoga and learning breathing techniques, and started to walk briskly back to her hotel.
Once safely back in her room, she wondered to herself ‘Did that really happen?’
She double locked her bedroom door, showered to wash away all the horrible sleaze of the situation and then went to bed.
‘I’ll start my proper adventure tomorrow’ she thought. She was deeply irritated that one of her three nights had been wasted on such horrible, horrible people . But what made her smile was that she thought with all their money, they simply had no class.

The next morning Mia woke with more bounce. She went for an early morning swim and then had a coffee and croissant at the hotel bar. The waiter asked her how she was liking her stay.
Mia replied ‘Well it’s got off to a bad start but I’m hoping for better things today’. The waiter said ‘Why don’t you visit the Japanese Gardens. It will restore you’.
So that’s where Mia found her way to. It was just lovely, serene, pretty and a peaceful retreat. It balanced all the bling and falseness of such a wealthy society with its cherry blossom, cascading waterfalls and Koi filled ponds.
For Mia, it was the perfect antidote to last night’s unpleasantness. It was exactly right for relaxing and meditating, and it enabled her to enjoy the rest of her stay.

As she left Monte Carlo and flew back to England she reflected that the life she had at home was not so bad and all she needed to do was to motivate herself for the odd new experience and adventure.
Back at work, her colleagues asked her how she had enjoyed Monte Carlo.
‘Oh, it was great, just to do something different’.
Sandy, who was always trying to set her up with dates said:’ Meet anyone nice?’
‘Unfortunately not’ laughed Mia ‘just some rich weirdos who wanted a threesome’.
The shocked looks on her colleagues faces made the experience worth it.

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