October 3

Today, Saturday, is the day that we embarked on the trip down to Paris. This is something that I had never done before and so I was excited aboutn the idea of travelling on Le Shuttle. When I was living in England they called it the Chunnel. Most people I said this to looked at me blankly, so I can only assume that the phrase is passe. We headed into Marlow for the last time and made a quick stop to pick up some gear. In particular, the sink in the caravan, hereafter called 'Daisy' (the caravan, not the sink ;), empties out through a whole in the bottom of the vehicle. Hopefully this is by design and not a particularly bad spot of rust. Anyway, we figured it would be better to put a bowl under the van to catch the debris. It was whilst attempting to leave one of Marlow's many carparks that we discovered the first, of what I am sure are many, foibles. She wouldn't start unless someone plays rough with her solenoids (like most women I've met, actually). Sean knew that these old VW engines tend to have a problem where the starter will jam and only a sharp 'thwack' to the unit will get it started. Oh well, c'est la vie as they say En France (Of course, we were still in England). So there we are in Marlow with Sean under the vehicle. 'Thwack', <sound of starter clicking>, 'No, try again', 'Thwack', <sound of starter clicking>, until finally a combination of Sean lying under the rear of the vehicle hitting at it with a wrench and me trying to start it will actually led to the thing starting up. Daisy is an awkward woman. From Marlow to Paris we had problems with this. It is something we are going to fix before we make the rest of our trip.

(I fell like I should add that the registration plate on Daisy is VGE666W, and the 666 was particularly disturbing. We attempted to pin the name 'Damien' on the VW, but Matthew rightfully acknowledged that we were probably cursed enough, so our VW is called Daisy now. Which results in Matthew spontaneously singing the song at, apparently, random moments.)

Here is the on-ramp for Le Shuttle which is the Long Thing on the right. We arrived at Folkstone after driving for 3 hrs. Daisy is not the fastest thing on 4 wheels.

(She probably isn't the fastest thing on three or two wheels, either. Maximum speed appears to be about 60 mph)

Here is the inside of the Long Thing on the right. The carriages are very tall and very long. We were the last ones on, which was very fortunate is we were going to discover.

The ride under the English Channel from Folkstone to Calais is about 35 minutes. With the Michelin map in hand, and with Sean now in the driving seat we were on our way, almost. Daisy wouldn't start when we were to disembark from the train. One of the train staff asked if we needed a mechnic, and with me in charge of the 'thawking' -- 'Dix minutes, si vous plait', I replied being very optimistic in how long it might actually take us to get this thing started. I pushed the van off of the train and then got underneath and after a couple of hard 'Thwacks' we were on our way again. The ride down to Paris is about nother 3 hrs. We arrived in some small French village at about eight that evening. I'll let Sean chime in.

(As we got closer and closer to my cousin's house, I started recognizing more and more. The last time I was actually at the house, was in '90, when I made a tour of France on my bicycle. So, it was very heart-warming to see some place I recognized as the sun was already down.

When we arrived dinner was almost ready, and I introduced Matthew to Didier (the father), Maria (his wife, she is from Spain), Joanna (their daughter, and the holder of my heart :-) ), Jeremy (the son of Didier from a previous marriage). New to me was also Danielle (Jeremy's fiance), and two visitors from Spain. I didn't get their names, as they only speak Spanish, and, sadly, I don't speak a lick of it.

We had a great dinner, and much wine was drunk as we talked and caught up on all the latest news. I have forgotten much of my French, and it was weird to speak it again. Hopefully things will come back to me quickly.)

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