The Swan Whisperer had to get up at 05:30 this morning to open up the Youth Club to be a polling station. I had had every intention of getting up then, but I must have fallen asleep straight away, as it was 06:45 next time I looked at my clock! This meant, of course, that it was after 08:30 before we got away, and we didn't get to Sussex until nearly 11:00.
We decided it wasn't worth filling up with water, as we would have services this evening, so only put a few litres in, to get us there. Spoiler alert: Big Mistake.
We made good time to Folkestone, stopping at Clackett Lane services to eat our sandwiches, and were pleased to be offered a crossing at 16:16 rather than the 16:46 we had been booked on. I discovered I had forgotten to enter our API, and had a bit of trouble finding out how to do it, although the man in the customer services seemed to think it wasn't necessary (I don't think he was right. Plus he gave me some extremely dubious information about what to do next time. I do think customer service reps ought to know what they are talking about; they very often don't, though!). Anyway, I found the correct login in the end, and was able to enter the info before we went through passport control.
We were well on time for our crossing, but they suddenly said the next crossing was at 16:46 and they apologised for the delay, which wasn't very nice of them. I do wish they wouldn't do that! I don't at all mind going on our booked crossing; I do mind when they muck us about.
Anyway, once we got going, that was fine. We stopped at the Cité Europe for me to shop and the SW to get diesel, which was horrendously expensive. And then a smooth run to Saint-Omer.
But the services have broken down! We tried and tried to get them to work, but they wouldn't, and when the SW rang up they told him there was a fault and "they were working on it", but couldn't tell him when they would be mended. So we have almost no water, and I have no idea where we can get some. And we have booked here for two nights; I assume they will refund me if we can't stay the second night! They would have need to!
There is a cemetery up the road, and that may well have running water; they often do. Otherwise we'll have to buy water from the local Lidl, which is just round the corner.
I had made a big vegetable stew for supper, which we had with rice and an egg poached in it, but it wasn't very nice....
We have, by and large, had better starts to our holiday!
