The Fridays tour - Normandy 15th-22nd June

[ianmac62]

Wot I said about Greg +1

 

[Andrew Br]

Shame to hear about the drop-outs.

We've made it across (well under) the Manche and we're about to head off down south.
The weather is better in Manchester than in Paris. Which is a bugger.


<Charlie Croker>Just remember this - in this country they drive on the wrong side of the road<Charlie Croker>

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[wanda2010]

GregC and ABV +1. A real shame

 

[mmmmartin]

That little lot sits at the other end of The Pleasure Spectrum from a trip to the boulangerie to see madame. Who allegedly greeted Dell and Gordon dressed only in a light dusting of flour. See posts passim. Gordon did mutter something about a gold choker though. Not exactly sure what he meant by that.
I meant she was dressed only in a light dusting of flour. Not Dell or Gordon. Obvs.

 

[SaLQ83]

I have to advise that I can no longer make my appointment with fun in France this month.

The great leader has been told via email.

Oh that's a shame Greg. I have been looking forward to seeing more banter from the 4 Muskeeters on the equivalent of "Hell of the North"a la Normandie.

 

[StuAff]

That little lot sits at the other end of The Pleasure Spectrum from

anything vaguely resembling a decent breakfast. False porridge, breakfast biscuits (?!!!), Nutri-grain (sweets in all but name). Yuck!

 

[ianmac62]

Good grief! What a lot of dropouts! Almost (but not quite) feel bound to offer myself as a replacement to keep up the numbers.
Just a bit of drunken advice from one who can now rarely afford the snobbery of Waitrose shopping - check out the local Lidl (or the one in Cherbourg) for wine bargains. Last September they had a rather nice Cote du Rhone Villages on offer (6 for the price of 4) which worked out at just under 2 euros per bottle - our local Lidl had it a couple of months ago at ~£5.99, and still a bargain at that!

Yep. I returned to Dieppe / Saint-Saens in October. The Auchan "Foire des Vins" was in full flood. Purchased 3 * 12 bottles of Touraine (Sauvignon Blanc) and 6 * 12 of Côtes de Blaye (Bordeaux red) and, with all the discounts, this worked out at €1.49 a bottle. Same stuff in my local Waitrose = £5.99+ a bottle. Local Aldi in Northampton once had Pessac-Leognan at one-third of Waitrose price. Ditto, for what it's worth, often has identical Parma ham. My answer: buy it in Aldi, carry it home in Waitrose bags.

 

[StuAff]

A little reminder for everyone, as I've just got round to doing this myself: amend numbers on your phones to the international format, if you haven't done so already. i.e. if the number in question is 023 926... it should read +44 23 926... (don't forget the + sign, it's required).

 

[wanda2010]

@ AnythingButVanilla PM sent.

 

[wanda2010]

I have a slight problem. Apparently I can't get rail tickets to go to Portsmouth on Friday cos of the London to Brighton bike race this weekend. Shall I panic now or later?

 

[StuAff]

I have a slight problem. Apparently I can't get rail tickets to go to Portsmouth on Friday cos of the London to Brighton bike race this weekend. Shall I panic now or later?

Nothing showing on the National Rail website or Southern's. The BHF ride is on Sunday. And why would Portsmouth services be affected?

If this was a guy at a ticket office, he was giving you bull manure....

 

[wanda2010]

I did wonder about that but I've not been able to find a train with a bike spot for Friday evening/night. Will continue the search but might have to bribe a nephew for a lift cos I ain't riding to Portsmouth!

 

[wanda2010]

TMN, you may well be right. I've just spoken with another person at Southern (Nicola, very friendly and made me laugh) and she assures me I will be fine to travel outside of peak hours. She did say if there are any problems with the trains I might have to wait for the next available one, but that was it.

I'm still going to worry until I actually get on the train on Friday.

 

[AnythingButVanilla]

@ AnythingButVanilla PM sent.

And replied to.

 

[StuAff]

Neither Southern nor SWT have bike reservations on the lines down to here, it's turn up and go (subject to available space & cycle policies in both cases). I'm pretty sure I've taken a bike on a train out of Waterloo on a weekday evening during the 'curfew' without problems. Nobber fellow passengers putting luggage or themselves in the bike spaces for no reason are a whole other matter....