Methinks all this talk of cancelled parties and an empty Croisette may turn out to be a case of agencies which doth protest too much.
In a year of mass redundancies, most have been keen to show that they are acting with sobriety and cutting back on the expense of jetting a whole load of people out to Cannes and keeping them fuelled with a continuous supply of drink, parties and, less importantly, food.
The only party I know of is the Massive Music "No Party" on Noga Beach on Wednesday night and it's true that, while our Cannes Week diaries at Campaign are usually rammed with invitations before June has begun, this year we have been quite concerned that we might actually have to buy dinner for ourselves at some point.
But I just wonder if there may be a rush on last minute flights to Nice later this week. All of a sudden, up will pop the chance to meet with a client or a prospect out here or - hope upon hope - the possibility of picking up a prize, and execs will find themselves supplied with an entirely plausible justification for a trip down to the Cote d'Azur after all.
And, yes, our diaries are now full to overflowing, with late invitations still coming in this week-end.
So, sitting in my credit-crunch bedroom tonight, having seen nothing yet of Cannes except the rain, I predict a quiet start to the week and a pretty packed finale. I hope I'm right.
