If you do decided to live the expat life in France in a coastal town, you will find there is not only the weather to report back home, but the daily changes that happen to the beach.
As January comes to an end, the beach of Nice is on the move! Throughout winter there have been a couple of storms, a week of wild seas over Xmas, and many tranquil days that brings out the beachcombers.
The beach cafes start closing down during October.
Everyday there are workmen taking down the parasols, sun loungers and dining tables and storing them in the vast caverns under the Prom, then battling down the hatches ready for the winter seas.
One famous beach restaurant, Castel, lifts its whole facade with a crane then moves it to storage in a warehouse.
We know spring has arrived when the crane returns and the cafe is reassembled.
Throughout the sunny winter days the local sun worshippers gather under its sign as it is a great suntrap.
What is most interesting is how the pebble beach gets moved around so much from the action of the tides.
Sometimes the sea will hide the beach altogether and create a white froth that reaches the sea wall, moving the pebbles with it.
By December the beach can get so high, the showers stick out the top as though they are just for children! With Nice carnival only 12 days away, the beaches are coming alive again.
Its the time of year that diggers are brought out in force and excavate all the cafes from under the winter debris and literally push the beach back down to the tide level.
Then all the focus is on the maintenance, with painters and carpenters out in force; and finally, out go the menus, and the beach is back in business for another 9 months.
Living in Nice is a wonderful year round treat, each season there is something to look forward to, and there is always something exciting to write home about - not just the weather!