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By Jeff and Judy

If this is August

Way back in the distant murky and swirling annals of almost-forgotten Sellers family history - I'll hazard a guess and say it was in 1969 - a minor Hollywood comedy came out and etched itself forever in our collective memories.

But not for anything that happened on screen and certainly not for its stars because I asked Judy who remembers important things like this and she can't recall a single name either.

No, it was the title, "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium" that captured perfectly the then-prevailing tourism mood. As giant Boeings made trans-Atlantic crossings easy for travel-starved Americans who climbed on- and off- planes, trains and busses - especially busses - to snap shots of as many European capitals, museums, cathedrals and bull-fights as possible inside a two-week vacation.

And before the serious business at hand today, more tourism trivia.

Did you know that more people visit France each year than the United States and Great Britain combined? It's true - France welcomed 75.9 million tourists in 2000 while the USA and UK scraped-together only a paltry 75.2 million between them.

So, once again, Judy and I find ourselves in late August. And if this is August then we must be in France. And if we're in France in August we must be in St. Tropez.

Why do we come back every year at the height of the tourist season? Certainly not for the most expensive beach mattress rentals anywhere or the haughtiest of rejections after pleading for quayside café tiny sidewalk tables.

And not because of St. Tropez' two unmistakeable airs.

The famed beaches daytime air filled with the aroma of barrelsful of maximum sun protection lotions applied on more exposed skin than you'll see anywhere else on earth in one place at any one time.

And at night - as totally-unruffled true St. Tropeziennes drink their absinthes and play "boules" - more after-shaves and expensive perfumes evaporating and wafting in air than sold annually in all airport shops within the entire Duty-Free European Union.

These irritants notwithstanding, in that unique and strangely-sophisticated French way St. Tropez is a colourful, noisy and brash massive outpouring of collective summer madness.

Which, frankly, makes Judy and myself feel even more frisky after sixty than ever.

So, pardon our French, but that's motivation enough for anyone to return every darned August as long as the famed Byblos Hotel will have us.

Excuses or apologies totally unnecessary.

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Just who are Jeff and Judy? Judy and Jeff Sellers are a US couple who love sunsets, world travel, fine wines, good food and each other. As often as possible and not necessarily in that order. They currently seek a congenial publisher for their "Frisky after Sixty" book ('A Good in Bed Read') and after many requests from friends all over the world waiting impatiently for their local newspapers to carry this column. To find out more go to Frisky After Sixty.




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