Thinking of women in general and Riviera women in particular, I came across the most unusual epitaph for a female. Without wishing to be in any way morbid, I wonder how you and I will be remembered.

The brief paragraph in the newspaper read "...of the French Riviera...was a lifelong agoraphobic traveller, coffee drinker, conversationalist and too marvellous for words,"

How I should loved to have met, and perhaps come to know this woman and also to know who penned such a unique tribute to her. We can all be known as of the Riviera, French or Italian. I think this has a certain ring to it. It seems much more glamorous than Wendy,  late of Dundee or Jill Bloggs, late of Scunthorpe.


I can certainly be said to be a coffee drinker, but that doesn't distinguish me. Maybe this Riviera Woman drank only pure Arabica brewed in one of the lovely old perculators that go on the top of a stove. Anna has one and I love the noise it makes. Or perhaps she drank it so black she could stand her spoon in it, or refused any other type of beverage on principle.

I can at times be a good conversationalist,  but I am no raconteur. I occasionally have something witty to say and I listen well. But would I be remembered for talking? I don't think so. Maybe for writing, may my sins be scarlet, but my books read!

And to be an agrophobic traveller, not only one, but a lifelong one. Was our Riviera woman an armchair traveller? Did she cope with desert trails, but not city breaks? Did she visit places to view the architecture as I do, but become fraught by all the other tourists. I wonder if I'll ever know!

The last compliment surpasses all the others " too marvellous for words". It is all-encompassing. She may well have been beloved daughter, sister, mother, wife, aunt etc. She may have been a wonderful friend, I'm sure she was, whoever wrote this implies it. And so much more... We can make our own  guesses as to why words fail to describe this Riviera woman.

Whoever she was and whatever she did, we too can celebrate her life and strive to be " too marvellous for words".