First week in France

Well, it is certainly time for a BLOG update!

We arrived in France eight days ago. We had a good flight to Singapore and boarded the next 'plane to Paris. We roared down the runway, but about halfway down, the pilot put the engines into reverse and hit the brakes.

There was a problem with two of the engines which showed overheating. We were deplaned and put into a large area normally reserved for four Airbus 380s. There was plenty of room and they supplied free food and drinks plus updates every 15 minutes. It turned out that the engine temperature sensors had been damaged by insects.

We took off again 3hrs30mins late and Christian Collet kindly phoned Europcar Joigny to tell them we would be late.

We had a good trip on the trains from Paris to Joigny where our rental car awaited. Then it was on to the Chambre d'Hote “Les Chouettes” where our friends Chantal and Christian greeted us warmly.

We did several days work on Anja before Penny headed off on a planned one week visit to Liz and new son Noah in Guernsey. The visit had been planned many months before but proved to be very timely because Liz developed a large embolism in the leg and was hospitalised as a result. So, Penny's visit has not been as originally envisaged but certainly very helpful as she also had had problems with a pulmonary embolism after the birth of our daughter number three. So, Penny is very experienced in these matters. A good time for mum/grandma to be around.

The day before Penny left, we had a pleasant and relaxing day. This included a trip to a “vide grenier” which literally means “empty attic”. It was in the local village of Saint Georges and there were 350 stalls set up along several streets which had been closed for the annual event. We bought children's' clothes, books and toys for Noah plus Grace and Mary who are visiting us later in the year. Sorry James, none of these French things are for you but we will make up for it when we return to Australia. We had a very pleasant lunch in a local restaurant, complete with a very accomplished singer who accompanied himself on guitar and piano.

Penny left for Guernsey on Monday morning and gets back next Monday. We got up at 4am ready to drive to the railway station (which is 30mins away). We were astonished to receive a text message from Christian at 4.10 saying “your coffee is ready”. Christian and Chantal were fully dressed downstairs with breakfast prepared as well as a “travel package” for Penny to take on the trains/metro/ferry to Guernsey! What an unexpected surprise and at 4.15am in the morning. I ended up having two breakfasts that morning.

Hopefully Liz will get out of hospital tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I have been working on the boat 9-10hrs per day. There are 37 things on the list and I have completed seven. So, thirty more to complete in the next week. I have started many of the 30. Whereas the weather has been very mild with pleasant temperatures, there have been rain showers every day. This makes painting and varnishing difficult. We understand that the rain came with us and that there had been almost no rain for the month before. Here is one of the jobs- sanding and varnishing the front of the wheelhouse.

Best Regards,
Dave (and Penny in absentia).