plans

“the best-laid schemes o' mice an’ men gang aft agley ……..”  
                                                                                                   Robert Burns.

Back in September 2023 we had plans to take the train from London to Turin.  On his train travel website, The Man in Seat 61 writes; “breakfast in London, lunch in Paris and dinner in Turin”. Sounds good.  So we go for it.  

Three days before our departure date, Mother Nature intervenes and an avalanche in the French Alps blocks the railway line, resulting in cancellation of all trains between France and Italy.  We get a refund immediately for that part of the journey.  But the London - Paris leg is not so straight forward.  

Eurostar offer free ticket exchanges up to 5 days from departure, but we missed that by 2 days.  And we were not eligible for a refund, because their trains had not been cancelled…..  

They came up with a compromise - for a fee of £60 we could exchange our tickets for a future date - and change it as many times as we liked - as long as we met the 5 day criteria.  And at no extra cost.  

Or we could claim on our travel insurance and get a refund.  The excess on the insurance was £100, so we coughed up the £60, stuck a pin in the calendar and picked a future date to travel. 

Since then we’ve done this four times.  Each time we come close to travelling (but not too close) something crops up; the railway line is still blocked, then weddings, unexpected scans for me and the onset of Anniemay’s knee problem.  So we think about a few days in Paris rather than the Italian Job.

A few days ago I read about David Hockney’s recent move to France and this points me to a new exhibition of his work in Paris over the Summer.  It’s the largest ever display of his work. Hmm…

We plan to go in early June, so I check Eurostar website - lots of convenient trains available - then the exhibition website - pick a time slot and bingo; two tickets whizz to my phone.

Of course it’s still a risk, but Anniemay is making good progress.  So we stick to the plan.