Bisecting the Hexagon, 19 March

Not a good day! Started off fine - we got a tram into town and had a very pleasant walk round, including a visit to the Cathedral, and then a cup of coffee in a random cafe which had free WiFi so we downloaded updates to all our apps, and then we got cash out of a bank nearby and walked back to the tram stop.

There was an ominous sign saying "Service Terminé", and a notice saying the parent  company was having industrial action. We did not know when or whether the service would resume so there was nothing for it but to walk back to the motor home. It was less than 2 miles, but an awful lot of uphill and I am still hopeless at walking uphill, so it took ages. We saw the demo en route, but by the time we got there the service was beginning to start up again! 

So we had lunch and then set off to drive to a place called Laguiolles, I think, but half-way there, at a town called St-Flour, we saw a sign for a supermarket and the SW remembered we needed gas. We missed the turnoff, and pulled up on the wrong side of the road so I could programme the detour into the Sat-nav, but when the SW pulled the van across the road to turn round in a private car park opposite, there was an ominous crunch, and someone had run into us! Fortunately minimal damage - a tiny dent and some scratches for us and similar for him, but of course exchanging details etc took ages, and then the SW had to ring up our insurance to report it, so what with one thing and another it was getting to late to go on. Plus it was a France Passion place and neither of us felt like being sociable, which you have to be there. So I looked on Park4Night, and lo and behold, the first place that came up was this very supermarket car park! So I bought a rather extravagant meal (kidneys, Aligot, spinach, peas and a patisserie) and some whisky, which I was badly needing by then, and we battened down the hatches and are here for the night. Very useful for shopping again in the morning!

Bisecting the Hexagon, 18 March

The Swan Whisperer went for a run this morning, and after breakfast I walked over to the Lidl which was about as far away as at home and did a shopping. I was annoyed because they had some interesting-looking yogurts but only in packs of 12, which a) we don't have room for in the fridge and b) what if we didn't like them? And they didn't have the Nurenberg sausages that they've stopped doing at home, either! But I got some choucroute garni for tonight's supper, and one of two other things we needed.

We spent the rest of the morning looking for water - the first two places we tried were a bust, but third time proved lucky. Then we drove across country to Clermont-Ferrand, stopping for lunch in a village called Culan. It was a lovely drive, but I had slept badly the previous night and napped quite a lot of the way.

Now we are parked up in the University car park and in the morning will get a tram into CF and have a nice walk round there.

Bisecting the Hexagon, 17 March

It rained in the night, but the wind had dropped so it was very comforting just to lie there and listen to it. By the time we got up, it had cleared up, although the day remained showery, with hail at times. But before we got up, we heard a cuckoo!

We drove across country to the town of Beaugency, where we parked beside the Loire and had lunch, and then went for a short walk around the town.

Then we drove on to Bourges, which I believe is in the centre of France. We have been here before, but they have moved the aire to the outskirts of town, not nearly so convenient, although I believe there is a shuttle-bus. We are not sure whether the water is working at the services, although I believe the emptying is. But we need water....

Bisecting the Hexagon, 16 March

The alarm went this morning at 06:15 French time, 05:15 UK time. Horribly early, but at least I didn't have to get dressed, just wrapped up in my dressing-gown and a rug. The Swan Whisperer put on his running kit and we drove the 75 minutes or so to Rouen, where a parkrun was to happen. We were able to park almost at the start of the run, and the Swan Whisperer went off to do that while I showered, dressed and got breakfast. Which didn't happen until after 10, by the time the SW had finished running, showered, dressed and fielded phone calls about the whereabouts of Church keys. So it was quite late by the time we set off again, but then as we had already done the first half of the day's drive, it didn't matter.

First port of call was a hypermarket. I was wandering around, desperately wishing I'd taken a trolley as my basket was horribly heavy and giving me backache when the SW rang up to say he had been inspecting a wheel and bumped his head on the wing mirror which had broken. There was a NordAuto there, which wasn't able to help, but such have him the name of a Fiat commercial place which probably could. However, was now closed until Monday. As we didn't really fancy spending the weekend in the car park of the commercial centre, the SW decided to try to jury-rig repairs so we could get somewhere rather nicer. In fact when he had finished, he said it was decide enough that we could go on anyway although it did work loose when he tried to adjust it but he tied it up again and has reinforced it with duct tape.

While this was happening, I lay on the bed reading and enjoying the sunshine, as the sun had come out and it was lovely and warm.

So eventually we drove on to our planned stopping-place at Evreux, but when we got there it was rather in the middle of nowhere and expensive too. And as it is a long drive to Bourges tomorrow, a bit of detective work found us this rather nice car-park outside a cemetery in a place called Abondant. And so we have stopped for the night, and the SW has done an explore, and now it is dark again and he is getting supper - Saturday sausages, but with bread and mushrooms and spinach...

Bisecting the Hexagon, 15 March

If you look at a map of France, it is shaped more or less like a hexagon, and when I looked at our route on Google Maps, I notice it tidily bisects it, from Calais in the north to Saleilles, near Perpignan, in the south. We will be coming back a slightly different way, of course but still bisecting it!

Today, however, we have only come as far as the Baie de Somme, having crossed at 17:51 UK time. Its now nearly 21:30 French time, very windy, and we are having a meal before an early night. I am wondering whether I should have packed my warm pyjamas rather than my nighties, but bed is very warm once you are in it. And it won't be long before I am!

A visit to the Emirates

The Boys are "fitba' mad" at the moment, so we thought that, for their half-term treat, we would take them on a stadium tour. Mind you, had we known how much it was going to cost, we might have kept it for one of their birthdays, but we don't grudge it! They are - well, the elder one is - a staunch Spurs supporter, but Spurs' new stadium isn't ready for visitors yet, and Arsenal is. So we decided to go and visit the Emirates stadium.

Before then, however, we stopped off at King's Cross station to visit the engines from the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland railways that were visiting London. Although the Boy isn't as mad on railways and trains as he was a few years ago, he still enjoys them and both of them spent a happy quarter-hour investigating the engines and the carriage that had come with them. 

Then we headed on up the Piccadilly line to Arsenal, although with hindsight Holloway Road would have been better, as it was on the side of the stadium where the tours began.  And it had lifts!  Arsenal just had steps, although to be fair, the Piccadilly Line is fairly near the surface there, but even still, my knees were beginning to complain.  We then had to walk quite a long way around the stadium before we found the museum entrance, and once we had, there were even more stairs!  But once we were up there, it was quite interesting, although rather too hot.  Mostly about the early history of Arsenal, and then, thankfully, a film screening where one could at least sit down, and a bit about more recent history.  All the familiar names....  I don't follow football at all, but it is quite difficult not to have heard of Arsene Wenger, etc.

Once we had finished with the museum, it was time for the stadium tour.  You go in at the Holloway Road side of the stadium, and walk underneath it until you get to the stairs to the Directors' Lounge - there is, fortunately, a lift.  When you get there, you can go out and sit in their chairs and look at the pitch and listen to stories about it on your audio guide:

Then you went up another flight to the Diamond Lounge, which is the posh restaurant where the "prawn sandwich brigade" sit and watch and have their expensive meals.  This was rather lovely Art Deco, reflecting the old Highbury stadium which apparently was all like that.

Then you took the lift right down to the ground floor where you visited the Home changing rooms (very lush indeed), and the Away ones (less so, but still a lot nicer than you get in the average ice rink), and then went through the tunnel out to the pitch itself.  You couldn't go on the pitch, of course, but you could sit in the dugout (although we didn't, as it was raining).  We did chat to the assistant who was wielding an umbrella with more enthusiasm than accuracy - all the assistants were charming, and very helpful, even though they all teased the poor Boy who was using his Spurs rucksack.  Serves him right - he does have others!

Anyway, after that, that was nearly the end of the tour, but you went out past the interview rooms, the press rooms, which were rather amazing, and the press conference venue.  And so back out to the main exit, being allowed to keep the headphones, although the audio guides had to be given back.  Boy Two had found them rather awkward to cope with on the move and had, I think, listened to all the audio clips while we were sitting in the Directors' Lounge!

By which time, the Boys were so hungry their bellies quite thought their throats had been cut, but it wasn't quite lunchtime so we meanly made them go back to Walthamstow.  The Boy asked if we could try the Chinese restaurant Yum, Yum in the mall there, but it was closed, so we went to Nando's instead.  And then back to theirs for a quieter afternoon!

A Pirate's Life for Me

That was the title of the exhibition we decided to take the boys to see at the V&A Museum of Childhood. However.....

The day started out badly, as on the way out of the door I knocked one of our photos on to the floor and, needless to say, the glass in its frame smashed.  We had no time to do anything about it, other than quickly sweep up the glass, as we wanted (I wanted!) to take the bus to Russell Square as we were picking up the boys at Senate House today.

We got to the Museum all right - only to discover that the Boy had been and gone and left his rucksack on the Tube.  He was very upset, poor child,  but I looked up what you had to do about it, and gather there is a form to fill in on the TfL website, so I have left it with his father to do that, and they will email him if they find it.  I hope they will - one of the books in it was mine, and the other was a library book!

Neither boy was at all impressed by the Pirate exhibition, although they did like the passage you had to go through to get there, lit by ultra-violet light, which made their teeth glitter and Boy Two's rucksack look really magical (it was an owl, with each petal made of different material).  Other than that, there was basically a large pirate-ship, heaven for 3-year-olds to clamber about on, but the Boy exhausted its resources in 2 minutes, and his brother didn't take much longer!  So we headed on, and both boys made a beeline for the "sensory pod", with its light shows and changing colours, but sadly there was a projection on to the floor which revolved, and did my vertigo a great deal of no good!

So we came away.  But both children were fascinated by the Museum, I've never known them so engrossed in things.  After a trip to the loo, they got into building with flat blocks.  It was noticeable that the Boy had learnt about staggering the layers to make them more stable, but his brother hasn't grasped that concept yet!

Then it was time for coffee and cakes, which we took in the rather expensive museum café.  And then they wanted to see the rest of the museum, which took even longer!  They loved the dolls houses, especially the Rachel Whateread exhibition of 150 of them, all empty. 

The Boy took this overview of the museum which he thought, rightly, would make a lovely photo:

Then they rode on rocking-horses:

played with giant versions of those faces with beards made out of iron filings, and a magnet to move them around with, watched a wave machine with fascination (straw waves, they were amazing), were not very impressed by the model railway - at least, they liked it, but you didn't get much for your 20p in the slot, and finally spent ages with the magic lanterns.  It was noticeable that the Boy was fascinated by the mechanism and how it works, and Boy Two was more interested in how fast he could make the images move!

And we finally came away, to catch a bus over to Spitalfields and the promised lunch in Wagamama, which was delicious and copious.  The boys loved the various pieces of public art in the area, and we went downstairs to see the foundations of the Spitalfields Charnel House from the St Mary's hospital that gave the region its name (I could have sworn I'd taken a photo, but maybe not).  And a train to Wood Street and a W13 bus back to theirs.

At about 5:00 pm, we got ourselves organised to go home, but when we got to Walthamstow Central we found that the Victoria Line was closed, so we had to catch the train back to Liverpool Street.  I was totally not going to brave the Northern Line at that time of night, so went to catch a 133, but found the bus station is closed for renovation, so got a 35 instead.  This took ages, as it always does, but I eventually got home.... only to have to dash into Lidl to get orange juice and bread, as we were nearly out of both, and then realised I hadn't a shopping bag with me, so had to buy one.  Oh well....