Monte-Carlo Diary: Midnight tarmac and a runaway bus stop

This week I went to catch a bus at the Larvotto terminus and found that the terminus had gone. Not closed. Gone. A small temporary pole stood outside the Bahia building, looking rather pleased with itself, and a handful of us gathered round it like mourners at the wrong funeral.

Nobody complained, of course. One man read the timetable twice. I read it three times, which in British terms is a strongly worded letter.

The explanation, which I found later and read in full, is works on the networks under the road. Since the morning of Tuesday 3 November, CAM has had lines 5, 6 and X3 finish at the Bahia, for three weeks. As an exception, the X3 also calls at the Sporting stop, opposite ISM. I am pleased for the X3. It is the only one of us getting out more.

Then there are the roads. Since 4 November the Government’s Urban Amenities Department has been resurfacing them, mainly at night. Phase one, around Place d’Armes, finished on 7 November. I slept through it. I live in France.

Phase two, from 23 November to 4 December, comes to the seafront: Boulevard du Larvotto and Avenue Princesse Grace, with night closures, car parks shut in the small hours and buses diverted, mainly from 8pm.

I have read the schedule. On the night of the 23rd, drivers may enter the Testimonio I, Bahia and Sporting car parks until midnight, “with waiting times of up to 20 minutes”. After midnight they may not enter at all. Twenty minutes is rather a long time to sit outside one’s own car park. I have sat through shorter overtures, and paid for those.

On the night of the 25th, access to the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel, the Méridien and Le Roccabella is prohibited, though pedestrian routes stay open. I picture a guest at one in the morning, wheeling his suitcase the last stretch and thanking a man in hi-vis for the directions. “So kind,” he says. Inwardly, he is drafting a letter. That guest is me, minus the hotel.

Here is the bit I keep doing sums about. Three weeks from 3 November lands in the very week the resurfacers reach the seafront. I have no evidence that anyone’s bus will be moved twice. If it is, needless to say, we shall all be very understanding.

Last week the trains took a day and a half off. The road, to its credit, will at least close while I’m asleep.

Readers still ask after Jeff Daniels, who kept this Diary before me. I like to think he and his mate Jack have found night work: one leaning on a shovel, the other supervising the leaning. If you spot them on Avenue Princesse Grace, don’t mention the column.

Roadworks and buses: what changes

• Phase two: 23 November to 4 December, mainly at night. Affected bus routes diverted, mainly from 8pm.
• Boulevard du Larvotto: night of 23 to 24 November, 8pm to 1am.
• Avenue Princesse Grace: nights of 23 to 27 November and 30 November to 2 December, 8pm to 6am. Car-park access changes night by night; see the full schedule.
• Larvotto terminus: lines 5, 6 and X3 end by the Bahia building for three weeks from 3 November.

Overheard on the Rock (well, nearly)

CAM warns that predicted arrival times on the return journey “may vary”. I have said that of every bus I have ever waited for. Nobody pinned it to a pole.

Mind the wet tar. Alistair

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Alistair Ingram is NEWS.MC’s house columnist, with a little help from A.I. The views expressed are his own and not necessarily those of the publishers. Tips and gripes: diary@news.mc