Thursday 26 June 2014

Alternative World Cup

There is of course another World Cup going on at the moment and we join the action at the end of a thrilling final where as ever the adversaries are Germany and a tired England


Here's the ageing yet still debonair Sepp Maier




And a worn out Gazza


2-2 on penalties and Gazza can only watch and admire the grace and poise with which Sepp (Germany are that good they let the keeper take the penalties) strokes the ball past a lethargic Gascoine


3-2 Germany as the 'Silver Fox' takes to the line


Gazza flicks the ball top left corner, Sepp has it covered, but..


Oh No, some git in Row J of the England fans takes the brave German out with an accurately thrown pound coin and down he goes, 3-3

Sepp is temporarily blinded by the hooligan's action and quite understandably fires his penalty high over the bar and indeed out of the stadium..
Still 3-3


Next up Gazza toe pokes a feeble attempt


Straight at Clooney lookalikie Sepp, still 3-3

No photo now of Sepp stuffing it past Gurgle to make it 4-3 Germany as the camerawoman left to crack open more Vinho Tinto and she was sure he'd score anyway….


So to force sudden death, negate an obligatory England managerial sacking, and avoid total humiliation….AGAIN,  Gazza saunters up and loops a curving ball to Sepp's right

The crowd of one holds her breath….


and Catlike Sepp not only plucks the ball from the air but floats gracefully in to a semi-recumbant, almost restful position, looking back to see a tearful Gazza wondering how they lost 3-4 to zee glorious Germans..


Teutonic dancing celebrations are the order of the day as Sepp wonders how England ever got this far anyway…


Back at Mrs Miggins' Pie Shop international relations are restored as Sepp explains in detail the secret of eternal youth to a depressed Gazza








Dethick

On a really fine summer's sunday afternoon we board the P & O ferry at Calais and head across the great divide again back to the UK


The white cliffs of Dover seen from the harbour at Calais


Big bore exhausts


Always a sad sight, looking back to the continent


I have to say that we much prefer the Dunkerque-Dover route with DFDS
The P & O ferry was grotty to say the least and extremely busy so guess we'll give the Calais route a wide berth in future


A couple of days later and we are nicely settled in at Dethick
The spot could not be nicer and I would say it has a natural beauty factor of 10
The 4x4 you see is our runaround transport for the forthcoming weeks to enable us to go see my Mum without the hassle of driving around in the van
Massive thanks to Michael who's lent us his car for the duration



Views from the van door





The route past the church to the village



The future….



Info for tourists


Within minutes Martyn spots the holy grail
Alas the gaff was fermé


Its legal but probably too small for you son


Heaven sent we find the local cake emporium, surely a feature of the next few weeks strollin'



More flowery things..



Tucked away, a piece of lost England


In the distance a mole is spotted tunnel digging




What a pleasant jolly this was







Saturday 21 June 2014

Vézelay

Further North in the east of Burgundy we visit Vézelay just for an afternoon's jaunt
We've been many times before but not with the van so the car park charge came as a shock


The single tourist street straight up to the Abbey is quite steep but lined with some upmarket shops definitely not selling tat



Remember these guys...






Dog's life ….again



Nina spotted this shop on the way up and so frequented it on the way down when is was 'ouvert'
There was a choice inside of knitted garments or just plain wool to buy, but not quite as its Mohair or Alpaca wool. Nina came really close to parting with many Euros….




This is what makes the town I guess. The Abbey is stunning and entry, like so many others we've visited, is free






A vast cool interior on a hot day is most welcoming












Later that day we end up north of Auxerre at a favourite spot of ours at Burgy on the Yonne river


A walk along the riverbank brings a few surprises








Just swannin' around….



The view from our Aire, next day, atop the vineyards at Mutigny. Later we lunch in Epernay, deep in the Champagne region. It has to be said the meal was overpriced and after using the same lunch stop for several years now we both agree its time to move on and discover new towns in this region

As a footnote I have to record here the fact that despite accidentally spilling a half bottle of Super Bock over the Mac keyboard……it still WORKS!!!!!
I would raise a toast to Apple Inc but the beer is gone….