Not Ventimiglia

Today was a day we had set aside for going to Ventimiglia, just over the border with Italy. Our reason for going there, apart from the fun of the outing, was to stock up at the market (better and far cheaper than Antibes) and bring back bottles of strong neutral alcohol for making limoncello. For some reason, in France such hooch of the appropriate strength is only available from pharmacies, in medicinal doses, and chemists are now very reluctant to sell even those minute amounts.

So this morning, dressed in warm and waterproof clothes, we braved the rain and headed for the station. The St Valentine's deal offering a cheap return for the BH on the back of my OAP railcard turned out not to be valid, which was just the first thing to get us annoyed.

Armed with the full price tickets, we rushed to the platform, thinking we would only just catch (or miss) the train. But this was without taking into account the systematic delays on the coast railway line. Just as we surfaced onto the platform, the first announcement came over the tannoy: ten minutes' delay. We waited twenty minutes, and then some. Now the tannoy announced twenty minutes: we could have told them that ourselves.

After thirty five minutes, and a train which, unexplained, turned up, but destined for a different town, much to the confusion of passengers, there was at last an honest announcement. Our train to Ventimiglia was "subject to delays which the SNCF were presently incapable of evaluating".

That was it: no point in hanging around. Trains like that get cancelled, invariably, along with the next three. Down through the subway, up the other side, and back to the ticket office for a refund.

The tickets were refunded, minus a surcharge because "we had changed our mind". If we had changed our minds, what had they done with their train? Had they changed their mind about when (or indeed if) it was running? The BH asked for a complaints form, which was duly handed over with a shrug.

So no Ventimiglia today, and the limoncello is on hold.