Just thought that I would just let you know what I’m up to at the moment, as I’m lucky enough to be sat on a boat in Monaco Harbour, working of course, you all know me better than that!!!

Thursday afternoon…

The boat is moored up between Tabac Corner and The Swimming Pool Complex and I’m sat about 30ft away from the track with F1 cars screaming past me. The noise is unbelievable, it just echoes off the buildings all around.

F1 second practice is going on and there is a small sprinkling of rain, hence I’m sat on the back of the boat under cover!! I’m no fool!! This is as opposed to this morning when I watched F1 first practice from the front of the boat in glorious sunshine.

Oh and in between, I did manage to prepare and serve lunch.

I should say, that it’s not my boat as you may have thought, but Walter Grubmuller’s ,the owner of the Renault World Series Team that I work for.

Most of the cars are going round, despite the slightly damp conditions. It’s Button, Grojean, Massa, Alonso, Maldonado and Rosberg as the top 6 for now with 15 mins of the session to go.

I knew you would be interested in that !!! Not!!!

The team are coming onto the boat tonight for drinks and dinner, so I will have to do something later on, that will make it about 20 for dinner, a bit of a change from the 120 for TRS in NZ !!

Some of you may be aware that my mode of transport around the streets of Monaco is my trusty scooter. It’s quite amazing just how much shopping you can get between your legs on a scooter!!!

I’m staying with the team in a hotel in Menton, just down the coast, probably about 6-7miles away or 20 mins with the wind behind me!!

The scooters by far and away the best form of transport, especially when you go sailing by the cueing cars.

My day starts reasonably early as they close the circuit at 7am and so I must be on the harbour wall with my scooter by 6.30am or else the only way onto the boat is by tender boat.

That’s what will happen tomorrow and Saturday as they close the circuit at 6am. I will go round to the next harbour, Fontville and leave my scooter there and then the captain of the boat will meet me and we will make our way by tender boat around the coast and through Monaco harbour to the main boat.

I did this last year and I can tell you it’s quite surreal, going to work via scooter and then a small boat through the harbour!!

On my way in each morning, I pick up the bread and pastries from the little Boulangere that I found on my way in last year. The owner recognised me like an old friend when I popped in to see him yesterday to give him my order for the week.

I was too early for the pain aux chocolates this morning, so the bakery owner and myself had a coffee and put the world to rights while we waited for them to finish baking. You can just imagine that can’t you, me in my best French and him in his almost non existent English !!!

Still its all good for the entant cordail!! or something like that!!!

I drop some of the pastries off with the team on my way in and then it’s onto the boat with the rest in time for breakfast.

The F1 practice has just finished, I know that because I have just taken my ear defenders off at last. They have just taken a caterham by on a low loader, not too much damage by the looks of it.

It’s brightening up again now and it’s stopped spitting with rain, thank goodness, though it’s forecasting rain Friday night/Saturday morning.

Just served up some of Julie’s cakes (brought over from England, she’s not down below in the galley, though I think she wanted to come) and shortbread for afternoon tea, they went down a treat as anyone who’s sampled Jules’s cakes will know.

The suns out again and it’s ear defenders on as the Porsche’s are out and they seem almost as loud round here.

Anyway I better end here and pretend that I’m going to do something about getting dinner prepared.

It’s a bit hectic at nights as I have to get dinner ready, serve it, clear and wash up and then go shopping as once the circuit is closed during the day you can’t get off the boat to go shopping and so have to wait until they open the circuit at night. Luckily there is a supermarket right opposite just across the pit straight.

The trials and tribulations of being me!!!!!!

Well take care all and I hope that I haven’t bored you all too much, you can always throw it in the junk mail box.

All the best for now from your Monaco F1 correspondant, chef, cleaner and washer up, ME!!!!!!

ps. Will email this later to you all. pps. Mitch Evans quickest by 0.7 secs in GP3 Practice ahead of tomorrows qualifying session.

Gary Timms
(aka TRS Chef)