Happy ‘Strayla Day

Bonjour

I know it’s a bit early but happy Australia Day to everyone. Good luck to those who are expecting a shout out on the Honours list.

As you would expect, it’s just another day in France. Except for some Australians working here, and then it’s a day off – Yay!! When it comes to public holidays, the usual Australian national ones will be recognised here on the day, but in cases of all those other local ones (e.g. Brisbane Ekka or Melbourne Cup Day), a schedule has been worked out to spread them through the year. So most months there will be a three day weekend.

So this weekend we are planning a trip to Le Mans – about 250 kms away. The car race is held in June but apparently the car museum is brilliant and the town is really pretty so stay tuned for the photos.

Our boxes arrived from Australia finally and it was good to unpack some familiar things, including our bikes. Lee is now riding to work every day which is only about 10 minutes, but it’s very dark when he leaves, usually raining and often gale force winds. The days are slowly getting longer and hopefully we will see a bit more sunshine. Even the locals think we have had more rain than usual.

I have just returned from a couple of days in England to visit my aunt in hospital (she’s fine and home now – thanks for asking). Anyway, one would think that, being just across the channel, it would be a quick easy journey. Nope! According to Google Maps, the distance is about 280 kms as the crow flies. Not being a crow, the way to get there is via ferry. Or rather, car (1.5 hours), ferry (7 hours), train (another 1.5 hours) and then another train to the hospital. Not much shorter than travelling to Australia really.

We are going to have another trip to London in a few weeks and this time we will try the Eurostar – train to Paris then about 5 hours on the Eurostar to London. So not much quicker and a lot longer distance wise.

And totally unrelated to the above but because we need a picture, here is a lovely little square tucked away in the heart of the old town.

Au revior pour le moment

L & M