Arrived late for lunch, but recognized the dove cote immediately we came round the corner. There was my Cousin standing in the drive looking for us. We sat down to a sumptuous feast, I am sure that my Aunt wanted to make sure we wouldn't starve for a few days. Kids played with the pond, taking weed out. We took photo's and video. Uncle S and Aunty D both seemed very well and Cousin A is part way through his teaching degree. Getting great results and really loving it. We discussed the amount of security they had. They had suffered from a number of burglaries, including one where they had taken a gazebo. Aunty D said it took about 10 minutes to turn everything on before going to bed or going out. They also had the ride on mower bolted down.
Aunty D is still mad about animals and the bird (sorry forgot what sort) that they had when I was a child there, had only died recently - lived to 43 and they still miss it. They also have a dog, who is easily spooked, so was locked up. The kids found it hard to see the dog and not touch it, but as we all said, wedid not want anyone to get bitten!Aunty D drove with us through Scunthorpe, to send us on our way south to Ashford. Thank you so much. We had a booking at the Premier Inn, which is very close to the railway station where we will catch the train to Paris. We got in about 8pm and went straight to the Woolpack Beefeater restaurant next door. Here they had colouring in books for the kids, as well as a playground and great meals. J and I sat and talked and relaxed, it was a lovely last evening in England.
Next day we took the car to the petrol station and filled up - the petrol station was on a very busy round about, but I am quite good at pushing in now. We parked the car in the multistory attached to the railway station and were met by a rep of Avis who took our keys and agreed with us that the set up of the handbrake was stupid. Off to the waiting area for our train. If you are interested, click on the link for more information about the Channel Tunnel. We had premium seats, which entitled us to breakfast, not cattle and not first class. Unfortunately at Ashford station the ticket person reassigned our seats so that we had four facing each other. However those seats had been reassigned in London and had not shown up on the database at Ashford, so we spent the first 20 minutes on the train arguing about the seats. We sat in our original seats and enjoyed a great breakfast. Suddenly we were in France and the train sped up. A blurr of green, brown and blobs flew passed our windows. It is a fantastic way to travel. Before we knew it we had arrived in Paris. Stood in a long queue for the taxi, we had to be at the apartment by a certain time and we were running out of time. Eventually we got to the front of the queue, J had fended off a beggar or two and then flying through the streets of Paris. Did I mention that I love Paris? Found our apartment, but then had to get change to give the driver, so I bought an English language paper and J bought batteries. I took the tiny lift to the fourth floor and then stood there, as I was not sure which of the two doors I was looking for. Then the door on the right opened and a lovely lady welcomed me in her excellent English. Her English is most certainly better than my French. If you have not seen the apartment before, then check it out here. We immediately felt at home.
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