18th April 2016

Just returned from a breathless trip to N.W. England. Visited a lovely place called St. Annes. On the outward route Gaillac to Toulouse, the final access road to Blagnac airport was blocked off. There was a yellow Diversion sign, but it only indicated 'Peripherique' - no mention of the airport. Typical.  Anyway, just about managed to reach the airport in time. We arrived in Bristol, being the only non-stop flight we could get from Toulouse, then hired a car. Big mistake. Knowing our frailties, the only car they had with a GPS system was an expensive BMW, so we took it. However: no driver manual at all, no handbrake, no key slot (you had to just drop the key into a hole before pressing the start button), internal door handles had to be pressed twice to open and the GPS was in German! Complicated locking system: the front doors would lock, but the back doors were still open! Eventually we set off, but soon discovered the sound system was so low we couldn't hear the voice at all! 8h later (on a 4h journey), even a sympathetic techno-friend took one hour to adjust the sound. The only word Him indoors knows in German is Schadenfreude - somehow think the Germans were taking a certain pleasure in our misfortune. How to get my own back? Read Vichyssoise - now available for pre-order from Amazon. That should do it.