Hommes and femmes, both.

Men and women on the high side of retirement age appear to have have clustered along the Cote d’Azur, also known as the French Riviera.

It seems a fine place to retire, with mostly nice weather, lots of light and the “300 days of sun” which seems to be the standard boast, from Nice to Toulon. With sea views pretty much standard at all pieces of property hacked into the hills rising from the Mediterranean.

The influx of the mature masses, however, makes the towns in the area a little unusual, demographically.

Maybe if we were living in Florida or Palm Springs, areas known for attracting retirees, the surplus of the silver-haired wouldn’t be so noticeable. But we spent the previous six years in Abu Dhabi, where pretty much no one is in their golden years.

That is a function of the government not extending the visas of expatriates over 65 (and often not to those over 60), meaning a person can go weeks without seeing a senior citizen on the high side of 70 … in addition to  a native population that skews young because of improved healthcare and a high birthrate.

So, when we were shopping at the hypermarche in Sainte Maxime the other day, in a town just down the coast, the number of oldsters going up and down the aisles seemed particularly obvious.

And that can be a good thing, for an economy. Lots of people around who arrive with the savings of a lifetime, who don’t need jobs, who buy locally and generate jobs in the service sector.

People who are unlikely to commit crimes or flee debt or party late in public places.

Perpetual tourists, almost.

But they do soak up much of the best real estate, and presumably drive up prices in the region.

And they do stick out.

“They”. The gentry of the Cote d’Azur. Mostly other Europeans who arrived here after their 55th birthdays.

We are coming to grips with the idea that we are part of them, even if we prefer, in our first week here, to feel as if we are not.

We probably will address that notion, in the coming weeks, and shift to an area of France where the “mature magnet” is not as overpowering.