LUNCHTIME IN THE CITYOF NICE-FRANCE

I have paid the City of Nice a holiday visit for at least ten years because I love the city. At midday I have heard the shot of a cannon telling me that the time is 12.00. But I did not know the story of the event until some days ago when I found an outdoor presentation of the history of the City of Nice set up close to the beach. A splendid presentation of the history!

I had believed that a real cannon was fired at the Chateau de Nice. No. But the reason for making a loud bang at midday was an interesting story. The Scottish Lord Thomas Coventry-More was spending the winter in Nice with wife. He did not want to have lunch by himself without his wife. The problem was that his wife forgot to come home for lunch at the time decided. She loved to talk to her friends and to walk along the beach of the city. Lord Thomas Coventry-More was a former British officer. He was a punctual man too. The lunch should be eaten at a specified hour every day. His wife forgot about the time for the lunch. The Nice city council was contacted by the Scottish lord about a plan he wanted to put in action. A firing of a cannon every day at 12.00 –a loud bang- was the aim of his plan.

He should pay all costs- even the cost of the cannon. The Nice city council accepted his plan: A bang at 12.00 precisely. The cannon was placed on the lower terrace of the Chateau de Nice. The year was 1861.When Thomas and his wife stopped coming to Nice, the council put an end to the firing of the cannon. But people of Nice had got used the sound of the cannon at 12.00. In 1876 the Nice city council decided the reinstate the midday signal.

You do not hear the firing of a cannon today, but the sound of a large firework from the Chateau de Nice.