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Saturday, September 11, 2010

Big Sis in a Small World
Sunday morning saw P1 and I fighting over the paracetemol. But for different reasons. With pills popped, we then set off on a long, but sunny drive to Lyon...


As P1 said, you can tell we must be running out of things to say, when I turned to him about midway and asked him to name his five favourite nuts. I would challenge anyone who mocks that question, as it's not as easy as it sounds. About an hour of nut related discussion followed before we were both able to identify our top five. For the record, mine are (in order of nice nuttiness): Macademia, Pistachio, Cashew, Brazil and Almond. P1's are: Coconut (that created a lot of discussion - can it be classed as a nut?), Pistachio, Almond, Brazil and Pistachio (don't ask).


By the time we got to Lyon, I don't think either of us were in the party mood (again, for different reasons) so our last night on the town consisted of a quiet snack in a café, some liquid throat medication, and a very early night...


On Monday morning we bid each other a fond farewell. P1 headed to the airport to fly home and I set off on my merry way to Switzerland.

However, having become a connoisseur of French driving and French supermarkets, I decided that before leaving French soil, I should do a bit of shopping. Unfortunately every French person in Lyon seemed to have the same idea. After driving down a street on the wrong side of the road, and not realising until I almost played bumper cars with a Renault, I found the supermarket and proceeded to drive around the car park ten times before finding a space. It was a horrible experience, and my most important purchase (paracetamol for the French bug) wasn't even on sale.

So I finally escaped to the mountains. Unlike French, in which I'm virtually fluent, I don't know any German, so I decided I needed to get some pills before crossing the border. It's important to motivate yourself for such an endeavour, so as I entered a garage, I opened the door onto my foot and watched as half of my big toenail got stuck to the door. It gave me a renewed determination to find painkillers.

Which, naturally, they didn't stock. Apparently Le Pharmacie is the only place to find such items. Fortunately, the first aid kit I'd packed managed to stem the flow of blood from my foot, after which I decided I should leave France quickly while I could still drive.

As it turned out, P1 had been even less successful in his attempts to leave the country. With French air traffic controllers on strike, his plane was stuck on the tarmac for hours, and he arrived at Gatwick at 2am, where he had to sleep for three hours before catching the first train home to get back in time for work that morning. Suddenly, an injured toe didn't seem so bad.

2 comments:

Phil said...

Not for the bear.

Dave said...

QI did a thing about nuts.  Most of the things we call nuts aren't, they're seeds or fruits or something.