Back in Cannes for the first time in 24 days, essentially because of my trip to North Carolina and the fact that I was still getting over a pretty bad cold last weekend. The year-end tourists have not arrived yet, and though the stores are getting crowded, the lines in front of the cash registers are still manageable: the Christmas shopping frenzy is not in full swing yet. The merchants that are not doing great around this time of year are those who cater to summer visitors, the ones who buy bathing suits and beach toys, sunscreen, sunglasses, colorful towels, and of course postcards. I do wonder how the postcard industry is doing; in these days of cell phones, cameras, and email, there seems less and less of a reason to buy postcards. We haven’t written any in years...