Relax!

Not a relaxing day.

Up early and visiting Mrs B senior.  Including long discussions about how we should take all the cameras because she would never use them (I mention that because subsequent phone calls have requested the return of the decent camera...)  Mr B took the train to Newcastle (there not being room for him in our tiny car) while the kids and I drove.

In retrospect it should have been obvious that there was a further chapter to play out in the bad car hire situation.  The office was closed when we showed up.  The customer service office is closed at the weekend.  The only number we could get through to was no help, save to say that I should have dropped it off in Gateshead even though he could see my contract didn't say that, but that Gateshead was closed anyway.

Many further conversations on the train with people who didn't have a clue what 'customer service' means.  All I needed was for someone to apologise for the mistake, thank me for leaving the car safe.  But nothing of the sort.

Later, a little work on the train, then a long change at St Pancras and - finally - we were back on the south coast with a new (to us) car.  On to the tunnel where, as on the way across, we drove straight through and yet still somehow missed our 'sailing'.

After a bit of phoning around (at midnight) I managed to find us a hotel where they were prepared to answer the phone and give us a couple of rooms.  Exhausting day.