Back from Blighty

I must be getting old. The word 'Blighty' came to mind immediately as I considered a title for this post. Click on it to read Wiki's explanation of its derivation..

In fact we arrived back here last week. I tapped out the gist of this blog on my new Ipod-touch while we were there - I've been longing to get my hands on one for some time and the current exchange rate between the pound and the euro finally tipped the balance. Apple, in their wisdom, have not changed the euro price of them since there were 1.5 euros to the pound and now the two are practically at parity giving a 50 euro saving. Not a great excuse I suppose - I ought to be able to justify it in some other way and I think I can (to myself). Suffice to say here that it's a lot, lot better than sliced bread.

Cultural difference noted on the return journey: Notice in gents toilet at Portsmouth ferry terminal: "Please note. These toilets may be cleaned by male or female cleaners". Equivalent in France - female mopping around your feet while you pee.

'Bt openzone' was active at the motorway service station - free, thanks to 'Roadchef' as a 'special' for their customers. Great! I can blog a bit while drinking my coffee. Not to be - supposed to be free after registering name and email address etc. but I couldn't log in, even after using my father's UK address. It didn't like something. Possibly French email Address?

Sailed from Portsmouth dead on time at 2:30. Perfect April day. Fluffy cumulus stretching out eastwards, gathering into a jumbling roll over the South Downs. At first the Isle of Wight sheltered the ship from the south-westerly swell. After a couple of hours the swell rapidly settled into an almost flat calm. Learned to play Canasta with Liz. Good game, deserves more exposure.

8:30 pm-sunset with an almost full moon over the french coast and a short stub of a rainbow rising out of the razor-edge horizon, somewhere near LeHavre. One hour to go, then the 'Hotel de la Phare' at Ouistreham. We're back on what is now our home soil.

Mapmaker

Apocalypse 2009

The holiday season seems to have made an even briefer appearance than any other that I can remember. The Christmas decorations are still up, but will be confined to their dark drawer dungeons by the end of tomorrow; the desiccated mistletoe will be thrown out and the 80 or so cards pinned to the kitchen ceiling beams will be prised off once again and banished to the appropriate waste recycling container. It seems a shame, particularly the fate of the greetings cards but what else can you do with them? Those with new addresses have already been copied into the address book and the one or two 'unknowns' will have to stay that way.

Simon came over from Italy with the family on the 29th December. He hit a blizzard on the A89 motorway when he was less than one hour from us and spent more than three hours trapped there, finally escaping out onto the old National Route highway by means of a service road. 

We exchanged a few anxious mobile 'phone calls during this episode while we waited and the dinner was put on hold. We didn't get a single snowflake during this time, 40 kilometres away but more than 500 metres lower down the valley.

And so, on into 2009...

Will life as we know it come to an end? Will it be worth making a few new years' resolutions? Will the pound fall so much against the euro that my weekly UK pension amount will be totally blown every time I go to the baker?

We'll see.

Happy New Year

Mapmaker