Normal Service Resumed

Do not adjust your set. Normal service has resumed after a pause filled by a grand tour around part of western Europe (Italy, Austria, Germany, France). The one thing in common about these countries was the propensity for rain, which seemed to follow us wherever we went.

What was nice, though, was to catch up with family and friends. This involved quite a few aperitifs and beers, which were welcome after all the driving.

Italy and Germany shone in the cycle-friendliness and pedestrian-friendliness leagues. Austria may have been up there, too, but there was so much damned rain and clouds that we never got to see. We knew we were back in France, though, the moment the car became king and crossing the road became a not unrisky business.

Various photos need to be put up on the blog, but I need to sort out the software to upload them from the camera. Watch this space...

On return, I was re-issued with a beeper for the lifeboat, which beeped twice today - both false alarms, but we turned out all the same. This precipitate arrival of all and sundry at the lifeboat provided convenient, orange-shirted extras for a film being put together by the France 3 TV chain, who had a camera crew at the station.