We were up at 6am again and on the road with no breakfast, again. The sun doesn’t rise in France until 8.30 at this time of year and they don’t seem to do street lighting at all when you want to hit the Autoroute. Coupled with that, you realise that our ‘cat’s eyes’ are really good. Hooray for the UK we got something right. They don’t have ‘em. Merde! On the Autoroute when a car comes towards you at night, in the rain, you just can’t see where the road goes. The oncoming light’s silhouette everything and you just have to punt into the pitch black. Just in case anything happened I slowed down a bit but concluded it was like jumping out of the 32nd floor of a tower block instead of jumping out of the 52nd floor and still hoping to survive. If anything was in the road it would be messy. Fortunately the traffic was light at that time of the morning on a Sunday because all Frenchmen are still in bed with their mistress’s. Who can blame them. In future I’ll avoid doing French autoroute’s in the dark when it’s raining. 8.30 came around and oh look, the sun didn’t actually come up, because once again God was crying at man’s stupidity. Il pleut. Yes it was lashing down with rain, again. We made it to the shuttle and guess what. I had to pay, again!
Just finished fixing the fence panels blown down and broken by last nights bastard wind. Well that's not strictly true, some of the wood is a bit or a lot rotten and the wind just finished off the job. Anyhow, due to the miracle of powered screwdrivers and saws, the outer keep is now back in place, to repel the rebel hordes.
Made some Yorkshire puddings for the first time ever. The Mrs didn't have any packet mix so I piped up that I knew a recipe off a bloke at work. Ok Mr smart arse, you make them then. We've just picked ourselves up off the floor with amazement at the results!. Dad's coming round for a roast later and won't believe me . Looks like I've got yet another job for life .
Family Christmas dinner as Son is off the Japan tomorrow, popped out and bought him a Pixel 8 Pro as his Mom said he ‘needed’ a new phone. He also needed another iPad………if he needs anything else he can buy it in Japan.
Helped Doris get her Xmas decs out of the loft before she dropped something onto my head and split it open…..claret everywhere!
We’re now back and trying to warm the house up. Worst bit of the journey without any shadow of doubt was the leg north from Folkestone. Pissing rain, again. Heaviest traffic of the whole journey. Suicidal nutters blatting by into a wall of spray. Cretins passing on the inside and pulling out into the space that anyone with half a brain left between cars in those conditions. The potholes in the M11 are atrocious. On the upside, the cats eyes are a great and the UK signage is absolutely head and shoulders above anything I’ve seen in Europe. It’s clear and simple even in those atrocious conditions. So it’s not all bad back here
Had our usual Christmas party with the neighbours yesterday. I did the turkey, pigs in blankets, gravy, and a boozy chocolate trifle for pud, they did the rest. Not sure how much red wine I had, as my glass kept getting topped up, but I'm feeling a little delicate today, so my guess is a lot!
Repaired the greenhouse panels that blew out, picked up a pile of logs that were left at the road side from a tree that came down just up the road from me, checked on boat and amazingly it survived the storm, gave the boat a good wash as a thank you .
Found this curio in the garage, looks like it belongs on the bonnet of a car from way back when pedestrian mutilation was something not to bother about. But which car?
