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skyringMy day off work. Well, I have two days off work, ending my shift on Sunday morning and not starting again until Tuesday arvo, but Monday is the only full day off.
In theory, I use it to catch up on things I should have done, but in practice, I sleep.
And bum around on the internet. Catch up on LJ etc.
I may have found an ideal solution to one longstanding task. I hope I can make it work.
I got stuck into my todo list for the trip. In France, I'm basically planning on retracing my 2006 trip, but in reverse, at a more leisurely pace, and with Kerri, so I can show her some of the places that thrilled me last time.
Last year I drove a tiny little grey Opel from Caen to Bayeuex to St Malo where I took the ferry to Guernsey.
This time we'll spend three nights on Guernsey (where Jenny Kendall-Tobias has promised to have dinner with us, so long as it involves Tim-Tams), take the ferry to St Malo, where we'll have two nights there. Last year I only had an afternoon, but the old walled town, the Intramuros, absolutely charmed me. It was a beautiful spring afternoon, and here I was in this ancient port, narrow streets of high stone houses peeping over the great walls, golden beaches, a bay full of islands, an ice cream cone and a half baguette taking the last of my Euros. It was glorious.
Kerri will love it.
And then we're to hire a car, look in at nearby Mont St Michel, then take the motorway to Bayeux, where we have two nights - and this time I promise we'll look at the tapestry - and off to Paris for five nights.
I booked the rental car today. After the trauma of last time, when I not only had to navigate unfamiliar streets and drive on the right, but also quickly relearn how to drive a manual, I gritted my credit card and ordered an automatique. Kerri and I will both be driving, and though we both learnt to drive on manuals, it was about twenty years ago that we last drove them on a daily basis.
I mean, I was okay with it by about the second or third day, but it's that initial few hours when you are likely to make expensive mistakes. I'm likely to spend a fair bit of time navigating with Kerri driving (trust me, the reverse combination doesn't work well at all) and I'd rather she was concentrating on the road and not the gearbox.
It works out to about $200 difference over the three days. We'll spend a bit more on fuel because it's a bigger car, but probably gain a bit by having a diesel. Never driven a diesel before. I'm hoping to be able to drive just in front of a huge semi-trailer and pour out clouds of evil black smoke, by way of revenge on random truckies.
Picking up the car at the ferry terminal will be no hassle at all. I know where it is. Dropping the car off in Paris might be a bit of a problem. I pored over the map and found a depot on the correct side of the city, at a train station where we can go all the way (well all but a few blocks) to our hotel. Porte Mallot Railway Station on the Avenue Charles de Gaulle. If we miss the exit, we get swept on to the Arc de Triomphe and its horrendous maelstrom, and that will be the last you ever hear of us.
There. Another task checked off. And more daydreaming, this time of angst on the autoroutes.
In theory, I use it to catch up on things I should have done, but in practice, I sleep.
And bum around on the internet. Catch up on LJ etc.
I may have found an ideal solution to one longstanding task. I hope I can make it work.
I got stuck into my todo list for the trip. In France, I'm basically planning on retracing my 2006 trip, but in reverse, at a more leisurely pace, and with Kerri, so I can show her some of the places that thrilled me last time.
Last year I drove a tiny little grey Opel from Caen to Bayeuex to St Malo where I took the ferry to Guernsey.
This time we'll spend three nights on Guernsey (where Jenny Kendall-Tobias has promised to have dinner with us, so long as it involves Tim-Tams), take the ferry to St Malo, where we'll have two nights there. Last year I only had an afternoon, but the old walled town, the Intramuros, absolutely charmed me. It was a beautiful spring afternoon, and here I was in this ancient port, narrow streets of high stone houses peeping over the great walls, golden beaches, a bay full of islands, an ice cream cone and a half baguette taking the last of my Euros. It was glorious.
Kerri will love it.
And then we're to hire a car, look in at nearby Mont St Michel, then take the motorway to Bayeux, where we have two nights - and this time I promise we'll look at the tapestry - and off to Paris for five nights.
I booked the rental car today. After the trauma of last time, when I not only had to navigate unfamiliar streets and drive on the right, but also quickly relearn how to drive a manual, I gritted my credit card and ordered an automatique. Kerri and I will both be driving, and though we both learnt to drive on manuals, it was about twenty years ago that we last drove them on a daily basis.
I mean, I was okay with it by about the second or third day, but it's that initial few hours when you are likely to make expensive mistakes. I'm likely to spend a fair bit of time navigating with Kerri driving (trust me, the reverse combination doesn't work well at all) and I'd rather she was concentrating on the road and not the gearbox.
It works out to about $200 difference over the three days. We'll spend a bit more on fuel because it's a bigger car, but probably gain a bit by having a diesel. Never driven a diesel before. I'm hoping to be able to drive just in front of a huge semi-trailer and pour out clouds of evil black smoke, by way of revenge on random truckies.
Picking up the car at the ferry terminal will be no hassle at all. I know where it is. Dropping the car off in Paris might be a bit of a problem. I pored over the map and found a depot on the correct side of the city, at a train station where we can go all the way (well all but a few blocks) to our hotel. Porte Mallot Railway Station on the Avenue Charles de Gaulle. If we miss the exit, we get swept on to the Arc de Triomphe and its horrendous maelstrom, and that will be the last you ever hear of us.
There. Another task checked off. And more daydreaming, this time of angst on the autoroutes.
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-10 07:50 pm (UTC)*jealous*
Date: 2007-12-11 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-11 01:08 am (UTC)Don't you know that a well maintained diesel car shouldn't have any visible emissions? However, having travelled behind many a stock trucking emitting noxious almost everything, I emphathise with your ambition for revenge.
Sounds like your time off is being very productive.
Hugs
gps
Date: 2007-12-11 03:44 am (UTC)