April 30

Well I might as well tell you that I am not going to be staying in England for three months as I had originally planned. This is because the concept was that Carol would come over for a few weeks in the middle and that would give me my fix that I need from her. As it turns out, she is not able to come for a variety of reasons and I am unwilling to stay here that long without her. Therefore on May 6 I will be flying home. With yesterday my last day at the gardens, I am taking a week for travel. My first destination is to France. Four and a half years ago when we were here with Richard and Margan we spent a day and night at Bayeux visiting all the D-Day museums and beaches including Juno Beach. We didn’t have time to see the tapestry and I always said I was going to go back to see it. So I caught the 8:15 bus to Chichester, the 9:10 to Portsmouth and arrived at the Brittany Ferry Terminals at 10:00. My intention was to take the Fast Ferry across to Ouistreham outside Caen but would you believe it only travels on Friday to Sunday. Not to be put off I booked on the 2:30 traditional Ferry to Ouistreham and the Ferry folks were able to book a hotel right next to the arrival destination as I get in at 9:30 tonight and don’t want to bother travelling anywhere that late. I also booked a return trip on the Fast Ferry for Saturday getting back here for 3:00. I love the fact that everything can be booked in one place and the total cost was only 86 pounds, all taxes included. By 10:30 all was arranged and paid for. Nothing more to do but wait for the sailing.

I walked back a way into the city and picked up a few things to munch on; cheese, biscuits and allsorts, my favourite candy. Back to the terminal and bought a copy of the Times. Also had lunch from a cafeteria there – beef bolognaise and a Guinness. There must be lots of nutrition in that combination. We boarded for the ferry at 1:45 and the security check is nothing like the airport but that’s fine with me. There is a light mist in the air but as we were at sea about 3 and ½ hours, the sun started to shine. You know the English say I bring the good weather with me. Maybe the French will think the same thing. The crossing has been extremely comfortable, unlike the last time we crossed and the voyage is very comfortable. There are a lot of French students, junior high age, on board and they are having a great time, a lot of laughter and what appears to be good camaraderie and it is pleasant to see the youth enjoying themselves. There are lots of deals in the Duty Free shop but so far I have resisted. I will likely pick up a bottle of wine for the room tonight. I brought a corkscrew Alan.

I strolled the boat not really wanting a drink but did inquire about having access to a power source to charge my computer. After leaving my passport I was able to get an adaptor that the English adaptor that my computer was plugged into was able to fit. From then on I was able to download and arrange all the pictures I had taken. About 6:00 I was feeling a little peckish and walked down to the self serve cafeteria. The only substantial meal they had was roast chicken and I opted for it with fries. This was a far cry from last night and too soon to compare to Sarah’s. At any rate I drenched the fries with vinegar and salt; they were not home cut. The best part of the meal was the 250ml bottle of white wine from the Cellier des Dauphins, Cote du Rhone. Altogether the meal was 9.10 pounds and after I finished eating with the noisy kids outside the cafeteria, I took my glass and remaining wine to a lovely seating area on deck 8 and proceeded to have wine and cheese for dessert while I wrote this up. I also started the book “Les Girls” by Constance Tompkinson, Jane Riley’s Mother and it is well written and very amusing.

By 7:30 I could see France and we land in one hour. Now you know there is a first class on airlines and also on ferries. Apparently if you pay an extra fee you can sit in the front of the ship and actually see where you are going. Oh yes, they have large comfortable reclining seats. Well I found this just after 7:30 and opened the door and since no asked me for a ticket I sort of just walked in, found a nice seat two rows back and watched the rest of the trip. We landed a little early and it was no trouble getting off and then taking a shuttle to the ferry terminal. I stopped at the Tourist Bureau to ask directions to my hotel and discovered it was just across the street. I also discovered that tomorrow is a Bank Holiday in France. Who knew? What that means is that there is only one bus going to Caen in the morning and from there I catch the train to Bayeux, maybe. The only bus leaves at 7:00 am and I have already put in my wake up call. Every place I go has Bank Holidays. Even England has another one on Monday. I was able to connect to the WIFI at the hotel and update this blog tonight. You may not hear from me for a day or two if I don’t have further access or find another adaptor to charge my computer. So stay tuned for France. Good night.