Blogfromthebarn

blogfromthebarn on tour - Monday
After a long drive down*, trying to reconcile my innate sense of direction, a persistent nausea as a result of the finest cuisine that P&O could offer, an ongoing argument twixt myself, a 1999 map of France and my sat-nav (I find it really difficult to argue with the satnav since installing Joanna Lumley's voice) we arrived in the Dordogne in the wee hours. Everyone else set about enjoying the sunshine and pool and I crawled into the dark of the cave (delightfully converted into a lovely chambre) and did sleeping. A gentle day, a light supper, a glass or many and back to the sleeping thing.

*(Diversion - I discovered en route that the jeep has an alarming, bright yellow, warning light, a lovely little dashboard icon in the style of an exploding engine which comes on (at 2 in the morning) to tell you that there is 'something indefinable in the engine management system' wrong, it's still ok to drive unless it starts flashing , What the flip is the point of that ? Can you imagine how relaxing that is ? Also it may only be turned off by a jeep dealer armed with a jeep computer charging jeep dealer prices. I foresee a tense conversation with Mr Jeep next week.)

Blogfromthebarn on tour - Tuesday

Up relatively early and off with the Papa of Mrs Stuffy for a round of le golf, something at which he excels and I strive, occasionally, invariably with dire results. A beautiful course though and the scenery made the embarrasment and pain almost worthwhile.




Tuesday evening saw us all enjoying a lovely meal in the village of Collonges la Rouge, (clue in the name, it's called Collonges and is built out of red stone), a beautiful little place, very touristed but in a 'Lacock' rather than a 'Blackpool' way if you know what I mean. It was apparently built as a resort for the wealthy and has that 'folly' feeling about it. Here's a little shot of Cha enjoying an aperitif.

Blogfromthebarn on tour - Wednesday


Drove to Disneyland Paris , here's a summary

Hotel (Cheyenne) - A TraveLodge with cowboy boot motif
Breakfast - appalling, we met battery chickens on their summer break who refused to eat there
Rides - not bad, Space Mountain is fast and furious, Thunder mountain has great views at night, Indiana Jones hurts, Buzz Lightyear brings out the competitive even in such well balanced souls as Mrs Stuffy.
Queueing - relatively small queues, on the Wednesday and Thursday, intelligent use of fastrack makes a real difference, luckily the majority of punters seem to suspect intelligence, (well, we all fear the unfamiliar) so assumed that getting a scheduled slot involved some sort of soul exchange with the forces of darkness and preferred to graze in the punter processing compounds for an hour or two.
Dining - I've always fancied eating in the restaurant that the Pirates of the Caribean river passes through, well now I have, so that's that done then...
Weather - occasional slight showers, Now you'd think if you were going to buy Disney plastic bags to keep the wetness off you'd do it some considerable time before departure in order to reap the benefit of plasticky dryness, but that would interfere with the Mrs Stuffy code of shopping ("Well if he says it's a waste of money, I'll do it now and use his money so that none gets wasted") Check out my ebay auction of unused yellow ponchos!
Buffallo Bill wild west show - excellent fun and for at least 75% of our group involved no risk of food poisoning. Still I can always afford to lose a kilo or two.

Blogfromthebarn on tour - Friday
After a pleasant lunch at Annettes Diner* for all but one of us, ("oh and a plain bread roll for the driver SVP") we set off for the tunnel and home,
A good time had by all. Who could ask for more?

*(Diversion - I love the American Diner thing, pastel pinks and blues, rollerskating waitresses with their hair up, juke boxes in each booth, it must be the American Graffiti, Happy Days, Pulp fiction input during my formative impressionable years 1956-2006, " A five dollar shake !"
There's a good one under Bloomsbury Square at the All star lanes bowling alley, nice bar too.)

posted by Stuffy @ 4:09 pm