11. Jun, 2022

11. Jun, 2022

11. Jun, 2022

SATURDAY 11-06-22

Well, that was a lovely peaceful night. Much nicer and cheaper than being rammed in tightly with other motorhomes. We had the car park to ourselves.

We were up in good time because I was having a shower and change of clothes for the journey home, and we wanted to be clear of Auchan's car park before they opened.

It was only a half hour journey to the Citi Europe car park (N50.932880° E1.811049°) where we'll wait for our 14:50 Le Shuttle crossing.

It was odd in that apart from the large Carrefour supermarket, almost all shops were closed until 10:00. I would have thought today being the weekend would be their busiest day. But maybe the French have a lie in on Saturday's before going shopping.

Our shopping list was very short, yet we came away almost empty handed. I chickened out of buying any European data SIM cards because I feel I should research it a bit before buying. I don't want to get it wrong again. I would also have liked to buy some antibiotic ear drops, like those I bought over the counter in Spain when I had ear ache. I took the box along but was told by the 'pharmacist' in the pharmacy within Carrefour, that they were not a 'proper' pharmacy, and I would have to go in to one of the local town's or villages. There being no 'proper' pharmacies in Citi Europe. Well at least that saved me the trouble of wandering around looking for one. Of course in the 'good old days' I could have made an appointment to see a GP for a prescription back home, but they're still spending most of their time hiding under their desks whilst raking in their £100,000+ a year. I wonder how many patients died during the pandemic from not getting an early diagnosis and treatment for all manner of illnesses. Meanwhile our brilliant dentist, Damian Rattigan,at the Histon Dental Clinic near Cambridge, carried on treating his patients, despite being gowned and masked up like Darth Vader, and being hot and uncomfortable whilst doing so. So hats off to Damian and those like him. Let's face it a dentist gets about as close to a human Orifice as is possible, excluding I suppose a Gynaecologist, but then they wouldn't expect to catch covid down there would they?

To top it all, whilst all these work-shy people hid behind the 'risks' to themselves during the pandemic the TRULY important people within our society, like binmen, postmen, NHS staff and supermarket shopworkers continued working through it all as normal. They didn't even get an invitation to one of Boris Johnson's illegal parties by way of a thank you. What a pathological liar that man is. The trouble is the buffoon may be the best we've got, which is deeply disturbing. Even Labour's leaders, Smarmer Starmer and his side-kick 'Legs Eleven', can't decide between them, if a woman can have a penis. What a dreadful state we're in as a nation. We really are going down the pan. I think that's why it was uplifting touring along the Normandy coastline. The various memorials and battle sites are a reminder of how great a nation we once were.

As for this trip, and we call them trips rather than holidays because on a holiday you get to enjoy yourself all day being waited on hand and foot, and the sun always shines. Even if you find yourself spending half your holiday sleeping on the floor of a crowded airport departure lounge.

No, we call them trips, because we're happy lots of the time as well as occasionally being frustrated and lost. Situations arise which test us, and which must be dealt with and overcome, and that's where the satisfaction comes (says he through gritted teeth). Yes, we too could go away and lay on an airport departure lounge floor, and have people waiting on us hand and foot, but where's the fun in that?

Looking back over the past five weeks and more, the 'happiness' graph would have risen sharply during the first part of the trip, then levelled off as we enjoyed our tour along the River Dordogne, then started a downward trajectory as we headed north, with things costing more including fuel, the service worse and our facilities almost non-existent. Having checked the blog entries it looks as if we've only spent one night on a campsite (Bayeux) since the end of May, and that wasn't intentional. Car parks and camperstops have a part to play in touring around, but we find we want campsite facilities every third or fourth day, just so that we have some grass under our feet, some personal space and the chance to properly relax, maybe with the awning wound out and a bit of a barbie.

As always we would have got more out of the trip if we'd had bikes with us. I would think up to half of all motorhomes these days have bike racks on the back, and for good reason. There are often opportunities to hire them, but it's not the same and can work out quite expensive.

I shall post the amended Travelscript in a week or so, you will see there are far more intended destinations listed than w actually visited, and the spreadsheet showing our costs in about a month. The reason for that is we have to wait for the bills to come in for our Emovis toll-road account. May's bill arrived online this morning, so I guess this time next month we'll have June's

Our next planned trip is at the beginning of September when we'll travel through Switzerland to the South of France etc. I may even treat myself to a few boxes of decent wine down in Chusclan as we pass through. So that's one thing for me to look forward to.

As always I could not, and would not, have made this trip without the support of my darling Rosina, who does the clever side of things like conversing with the natives as best she can, paying for stuff including doing battle with car park ticket machines, oh, and keeping an eye on me.

God willing, and fuel being affordable, we'll see you again in September.

In the meantime the deadful war in Ukraine goes on. The British people have been very generous in their offers of help towards the Ukranian people by way of offering accommodation. Unfortunately our woeful government are doing their best to slow the flow down to a trickle, after all they have to leave plenty of free accomodation to those who illegally turn up on our shores every day in rubber boats. Their illegality being rewarded with a four star hotel room, a mobile phone and pocket money.

The world's richest lunatic, Vladimir Putin intends to copy 'Peter the Great' and go down in Russia's history books. What this deluded, evil  loon doesn't realise is that he'll just be remembered as 'Vladimir the Small'.

Stay safe, and try to stay positive during all that is happening right now. It's not easy, but remember, it's the little people like us who do the important stuff to keep socety functioning, and by supporting each other we'll get through it.

Just like our trips, you do the best you can. Nobody can ask more of someone.

10. Jun, 2022

10. Jun, 2022