9:00am: devastating
news. My favourite earring has gone walkabouts. Notice it's only one earring
though. Yes, somehow I have managed to seperate my favourite pair of earrings
and then lose one of them off the face of the planet. It is nowhere. I can be
sure of this because mother and I spent a total of two hours turning the hotel
room upside down. Disaster number one was exposed bright and early.
11:00am: on the road
to Lyon and unexpectedly freezing. Stopped at a gas station for breakfast
essentials ('poulet roti et thym' crisps and some choccy biscuits). Mother
tried to pay for the petrol with exaggerated hand gestures and zero memory of
the pump number. "umm... it was..." *points excitedly at cashiers pen
and cashier hands it to her with paper*. Mother proceeds to write down a
variety of numbers that could be somewhat close to the amount of petrol she's
bought. Of course, the giggling French man behind clearly spoke English but let
us suffer for a good few minutes before saving us.
2:00pm: I awake from
my lovely nap to a sigh of relief next to me. "Thank GOD you're awake!
Honey, I really think something's wrong with me... Something's happening &
I'm afraid. Darling, you won't believe it. There was a great big lorry behind me
flashing his lights violently, there must be something wrong with the car! Oh
god I'm going to pull over at this gas station because I think the car's
breaking in half! Honey, I can feel it! It's too heavy, we haven't loaded the
car correctly! Oh my god the car's about to split in half HELP!!!"
Who knew
three hours of driving could cause insanity?
Of course
there was nothing wrong with the car. However taking a break was definitely the
best option so we got ourselves some 'frites' and a cup-a-soup (life of a traveller)
and set off with Bridget Jones OST.
4:30pm:
final gas station stop of the day. Definitely worth the stop. You are
exceedingly lucky if you can find a petrol station with a single loo out the
back (strictly only available to customers) in the UK. Quite the contrast in
France. Normally I wouldn't discuss the interiors of public loos. However, I
feel in this case I can make an exception. Marble floors, black iridescent
tiles, fancy-pants taps that you have to gently wave at and those new hand
dryers that are so powerful I often fear my hands may actually blow away.
6:00pm:
eventually arrived at the hotel in Lyon... a tad nervous having seen the
exterior. High spirits in tow we confidently walk into the
over-nautically-themed reception and we are greeted by Ivan (eee - vun) who
checks us in. Poor mother's face dropped when she saw several socked children
on bikes and scooters along the hallway. Then mine dropped when I saw the
little boy from The Shining. Excellent. No panics, we are strong women and we shall
not be deterred by under-dressed minors and scary fiction. Ten minutes later we
popped out to find some food and encountered someone new at the front desk. A
much younger French male hotelier. No chance of whipping out silently, mother
must introduce herself. With no actual French conversation, she managed to get
his name. "Je m'appelle Anthony" he said in his French accent.
"Ah, oui! Audrey! Audrey, lovely to meet you! I am Stephanie *horrendous
French accent - steh-fann-eeee* you see, it is une french name, non?" I slipped away at this point in search of a
burger (apologies, I simply wasn't ready to risk 'Le Grande Buffet' across the
street).
10:00pm: currently
writing this with no burger. Instead we have lots of Evian and some chocolate.
Road trip nutrition is poor so far. Spent the majority of the evening
re-packing luggage because we can't seem to grasp the concept of 'packing
lightly'.
Mother's
quote of the day: I think I'm getting that thing people get. *referring to
cabin fever from being in the car over three hours*
So that's
all for today.
Goodnight
everyone, missing you
Charlotte-Elizabeth
xoxo
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