Homeward Bound

Posted on by Ark

Sitting in the departure lounge at Charles de Gaulle, waiting to board our flight to Zurich then on to Jo’burg.

Been a hectic and enjoyable two weeks but will be nice to get home.

Ark…

37 thoughts on “Homeward Bound”

      1. As much as I love you to bits some things between us should remain secret.
        😉

        Oh, and sorry about the Gunners. I was genuinely rooting for them.

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    2. Non, monsieur.
      England for my father’s 90th et la France avec ma soeur.
      I have some nice shots of cows that live in the field at the bottom of my sister’s garden.

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  6. Your dad turned 90? What a reason to celebrate! Glad you could get back for the ‘festivities’. .. have a good flight! Nothing like sleeping in one’s own bed after being away for awhile!

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    1. It was fantastic. We had the party at my nephew’s restaurant in Chester.

      The whole family turned up including my brother who flew in from Australia.

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    1. Thanks, Brian.

      My sister organized it for dad.

      It was also great to see nieces and nephews, one I hadn’t seen since he was a newborn!

      And it was fantastic to visit my sister in France and meet my new BIL.

      We drove from Chester to her home in Montaudin in their large camper van taking the ferry from Portsmouth.

      Her place is marvelous, an old farmhouse / bakery they are renovating. It is surrounded by open fields, lots of cows and plenty of fresh air.

      There are a number of small towns and villages a short drive away and the outstanding feature is how clean they all are.

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      1. It must have been fantastic. To see your dad and meet ex-toddlers…
        I looked Montaudin up. Very close to brittany, Fougères, Vitré. My maternal grandfather came form a little village south of Vitré, no more than 50 kms form Montaudin I would say…
        Yes, villages around there have become very clean, houses well taken care of. Very nice region…
        Does your new BIL speak/mumble English or did you have to practice your “Frog”?
        🙏🏻

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        1. Went to both Vitre and Fougeres. Beautiful places. I shall post photos in due course.
          My BIL leaves all the French to my sister who manages quite well.
          In my occasional interactions with locals I kept on inserting Portuguese words among my very rusty French invariably confusing everyone!
          But people were gracious and most situations were navigated with apologies on my part and a smile or two.
          I just loved the opportunity to dialogue in French, even in the most simple of terms.

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          1. Look forward to the photos. I know Vitré, not Fougères. (Crazy I know)
            You’re not that far off, Portuguese is closer to French than Spanish is strangely enough.
            My point in any language, it doesn’t matter how many words you speak, or how simple, it’s just the fact of trying…
            Ravi que tu aies pu exercer ton Français. Welcome back home…

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  11. Sorry the meet-up didn’t come off, Ark. But glad to hear you had a good trip. Was a bit worried when you said you’d had a v. nasty bug just before setting off.

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    1. I was cleared for travel by my GP but picked up a dose of Covid while I was there, would you believe it?
      Could have been on the plane or someone at Dad’s birthday bash.
      My wishes to visit you were sadly thwarted by a very tight schedule.
      Our passage on the ferry was pre-booked so it was an early rise, and off to Portsmouth.
      Next time?

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      1. Gosh, that was a bummer – getting another nasty bug. I really didn’t think meeting up would work. Long ago I’ve had to do that ferry dash, and it’s a trip you need to concentrate on! And UK roads/traffic can be a complete pain.

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        1. It was quite an easy trip all the way down.
          We skirted Birmingham and made the ferry in good time.

          The dreaded lurgy just made me so darned tired, but didn’t put too much of a mocker on the holiday.

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