The Beach ou La Plage

Drove up north to the beach yesterday, what weather -- so warm -- and what a day! Went with my French friends and as soon as we put the blanket down, weirdly, there were two boys a little bit down the beach from us playing paddle ball and speaking French. So our friends said hello to them and chatted in French a bit.

We minded out own business another ten minutes or so and another family came dragging their stuff across the dunes, heading for their car, and as they came close, it ended up being some friends of friends who were also French. This was getting silly. More, "salut" and "ca va?" all around.

Late in the day, after kite flying, running, walking, sand castle building -- you guessed it -- two strangers walked by and ended up hearing my friends speaking French and they spoke French too. These were Americans who'd lived and worked in France. My son looked at me and we both had that face full of question marks???? What gives with all these French people at the beach in Boston? We'll never know.