Bulletin 041 - Back to the Future
November 2005
(yes, still talking about April 2005!)
Bonjour encore une fois, chèr(e)s ami(e)s,
There we were, way back in early April 2005, trundling back through France on our journey back to yUK for the Summer Sojourn. Fairly briskly through France, 'tis true, but enjoying the journey nonetheless and one episode in particular, which was a real gem of an experience on our travels North.
En Famille
Cast your minds back thirty five or forty years (those of you who are old enough), and imagine Jeni and her sister Jane in gymslips (those of you who know them, or those of you with startlingly vivid imaginations and strong constitutions!). Yes, indeed, around forty years ago Jane set out on one of those cross-channel, exchange-visit, pen-pal correspondences once dear to the hearts of language teachers. And, Jane being Jane, this close association with a huge and particularly wonderful French family flourishes to this day.
Jane and Jeni spent many happy times over the years with various permutations of the family, both in France and England, and have been welcomed into all sorts of celebrations and get-togethers with a warmth that is impossible to exaggerate. There were six siblings in the generation with which Jane and Jeni have been most closely associated, all of whom have gone on to have children of their own - some of whom are now marrying and …. You get the picture. Let's just say that these days when the whole family get together, it's definitely hire-the-village-hall time!
Thus it was that a small portion of the family was selected for a Fruitbatting - or was it that the Fruitbats were delightfully and thoroughly Joignaud-ed?! Yes, the latter, certainly. Jeni hadn't seen Alain and Sylvianne for 22 years (photographic evidence of the last meet-up depicting a slender, perm-haired, youthful Jeni, scarcely recognisable to Dave!). Yet it was amazing that we all just fell into great fun and jollity as though it was a month ago when we were all last together (with Dave being scooped in with great vigour, of course). Alain's sister Josianne, with her husband Christian and two of her three boys, François and Bastian, were also involved in the welcome, and with a pan-European range of languages in full flow round the meal table, communication was pas de problème!
Jeni now realises the true value of the solid grounding at Portsmouth Southern Grammar School for Gals. All those school years of rote-learning French verbs, hours in the then-new-fangled language lab with experimental audio-visual teaching and of course, best of all, the chaotic and happy times, en famille with the Joignauds, struggling to understand and be understood.
There's definitely been a change in approach to using her languages since we've been travelling Fruitbat-style - now she hurls herself in, not worrying about mistakes and wrong tenses and whether it sounds perfect. As long as it's good enough to communicate, that'll do! (Dave cheekily speculates, too, on whether it's an age thing, that Jeni can apparently so effortlessly access what is in her long-term memory whilst finding it difficult to remember where she put the keys ten minutes ago!) Dave resorted to his usual 'Esperanto' method of communication - drawing little cartoons of anything that needed a more detailed explanation! This, naturally, went down very well indeed.
Our interlude at Alain and Sylvianne's was truly a highlight of our journey back through France, and many were the promises of revisits when other members of the family are also around. What fantastic people! Dave was completely bowled over by the visit. He was made an honorary French person once he'd picked up a few words and was nonchalantly nodding and saying 'D'accord!' and 'C'est ça!' as though born to it. (Trouble is, he's now taken to talking in a Monty Python-esque French accent!)
Ne Stuck-In-The-Mud Pas
After previous boggy experiences coming back through France in early autumn and spring in previous years, we were determined to avoid further stuck-in-the-mud situations, so were being very careful when choosing our overnight stops. Chalons sur Champagne, a large and beautifully maintained municipal campsite on the edge of an interesting town (though the Champers is still fairly pricey!) provided us with both hard-standing and a laundry opportunity. You have to keep up with it! The night brought a huge thunderstorm and heavy rain, and by the time morning came there was a cold, strong northerly wind. Oh, it was chilly! We spoke with a couple of other folk who were about to jump on the autoroute to Calais to head over the channel to yUK - and they were already somewhat green round the gills at the thought of the crossing in those high winds.
We too were having to head North more quickly now, having been diverted by a family emergency from our original mission of a leisurely dalliance across France to Holland, to meet some friends at the end of April. The Patriarch was due to go into hospital and wanted to postpone it until our return, originally scheduled for early May. Under the circumstances we felt this was unwise, so despite our disappointment about missing our get-together in Delft, and our concern about letting friends down, we felt that an earlier return to yUK was essential. Flexible Fruitbatting rules!
Project Planning
So we hopped onto the autoroute at Reims (having had just a quick glimpse of the magnificent cathedral) - our first blat on a toll road during this trip. We wanted to get some miles under the wheels so that we were ready to cross the channel as quickly as possible. We knew that we had to get to a vet, as Dave had had conditions imposed on his re-entry into yUK … no, no, sorry, slip of the keyboard there (says Jeni). No, it was poor little Chip who had to suffer the indignity of a visit to the vet for worm and tick treatments to validate his passport for his return to yUK.
There are rules and regulations about having the injections not less than 24 hours and not more than 48 hours prior to arriving in England, so we knew we'd have to find a vet, check on the ferries and work out our timetable from there. Yet another aspect of project management and implementation in the Fruitbat lifestyle. (And you thought it was all dossing around, didn't you?!)
As it turned out, we arrived near Calais on a Thursday, when the high winds had got even higher (and colder) and the forecast (according to people we asked) was for the winds to remain strong for at least a couple more days. It didn't seem worth risking weather-related delays on the ferry (which might mean poor Chip having to go through the treatments again if we missed our 24 hour 'window' for travelling - oh, and us having to fork out for the vet's fees twice!), so we made an appointment for Pervy Dog to see a vet on the Monday. We'd decided to hunker down for the weekend, relax for a bit after all the travelling and mentally prepare ourselves for re-entry into the UK's atmosphere the following week. The fact that we got reports of snow back over the channel was the clincher! Actually we did get a couple of bright sunny days, one of which we spent exploring the beautiful coast further West towards Boulogne.
All Targets Met
As it turned out, everything went very smoothly. The vet in Ardres, a small town South of Calais, was completely charming, extremely helpful - and very handsome, adds Madame! Chip was stoical in the surgery and un-phased by the whole thing, including the crossing of the channel (snuggled down in his little travel cage with his comfort-blanket over him). Interesting, though, that it took 10 times as long for his paperwork to be checked when we were going through the ferry port, as it did for ours.
Then it was back to the wind and rain of the East Sussex coast in time for The Patriarch's admission to hospital for a small operation. So we ensconced ourselves at the Camping at Norman's Bay, a few miles from the Patriarchal residence, and readied ourselves to administer a little TLC to Jeni's Dad over the next few weeks and catch up properly with other members of the family and lots of friends.
And so the late Spring and Summer programme commenced for us all. This was Chip's first introduction to most of our friends and family, and it is appropriate that he should want to give you his account of the following few months. Actually it's just as well that he's so proficient in the laptop/typing department, since we were so busy over the whole period, that if he hadn't got round to writing the Summer Bulletin, it might never have got written. So, we'll leave you here and hand over to Sir Chippy McPervster for the next episode, 042 Summer Squiddles.
Love to you all,
Jeni, Dave and Himself, The Chipsta
xxx
Text Version