Creature Comforts

Back-blip 1 of 4

What a day. Myself and a colleague are attending a meeting in the south of France, which sounds great but there are fewer direct flights out of season so we had to drive from Bristol to Birmingham, fly to Paris Charles de Gaulle then get the train across the city to Orly for our next flight. This is where the fun started.

Absorbed by work discussions and phone conversation we missed our stop. Well, not one but three stops!! Off the train, under the subway to the other platform to jump on the return train. Luckily it wasn't long to wait. Fully focused this time we got off at the right station to jump on the OrlyVal. Unfortunately our travel documents weren't clear which of the two terminals we needed and, guess what? Well it was a 50/50. Back on the return train and finally through security to the departure gate with time to spare.

A short flight down to Biarritz, picked up the hire and off to find the hotel. The car's Sat-Nav wasn't very straightforward but it did get us to the vicinity, which would have be ok during daylight. Having missed two significant turnings we did eventually get to our destination and what a pleasant surprise. It's a 16th Century Basque-style Farmhouse conversion which was much more impressive in reality than the web site pictures. While I could have led down on the very comfy bed for a nap we'd yet to have a substantial meal so we headed for a local restaurant (the hotel serves to pre-bookings only).

Now, one bit of information I hadn't shared previously was that my work colleague had received a call from his wife to say that they'd got a water leak at home running down the walls from under the upstairs floorboards! He was making numerous calls through the evening with neighbours helping his wife isolate the water supply, dealing with the insurance company etc. etc. All I could do was to calmly enjoy my beer of course.

It turns out that the leak was stopped and his wife got to bed in the early hours. In the mean-time we had a very good meal and were both relieved to get back to our full-of-character rooms for the night. Mine also had an upstairs with two children's beds, which is where I captured this image.

As I said, what a day.

Good-night.