GOLDEN CIRCLE - 1999

So sorry it has taken me so long to write! Life has been a whirlwind of activity since our return home, and I am not yet at the bottom of the ironing basket, the mail tray, or the answering machine messages! Got the fridge full of food, only to have it empty at an amazing rate (I think Josh appreciates the quantity in there) and I went straight back to work the morning after arriving home. At work there was a pile of stuff waiting to be handled there, too.

The first weekend back, my Mom and Dad came for the day on the Saturday for lunch, which was great, that night was an SCJ function in Chatswood (good fun) – the next day I had to be at Landmark at 8 a.m. to be on the “Presentation Expert” team for the Landmark Introduction to the Forum Leaders Programme, finishing at 6 p.m. and back to work Monday. I have been working on a very strong letter to Swissair (complaining about a ghastly 50 hour journey home from London…home at 10 p.m. and straight to work next day, MINUS MY MISSING LUGGAGE…which has since turned up), and also trying to get hold of the Sydney Olympic Committee which called me for an interview whilst away…no luck with phones (answer machine only, despite two calls) so wrote to them explaining my non turning up for the interview. Had dinner with a friend one night, and had a young girl come to stay overnight another night (in need of lots of TLC with her injured back, and her Mom living overseas)… Phones ringing constantly, got the dog washed and the house cleaned. I had to work an extra 10 hours, as Barbara, who I job share with took some leave, and I then went straight down to Berry on Friday after work.

Is it worth going on holiday, do you think???!!!

On the way to Berry, Gerald and I went to see Ed Butler, a friend of ours, after a conversation with him on the phone on Wednesday night. I thought that Ed wanted me to go into his company on a regular basis to conduct a training and development programme with his staff. He only arrived back from Brussels on Monday night, called me on Wednesday, and offered me a job as Human resources Co-Ordinator and Office Manager – his right hand man. Last year, he had a series of ten one to one coaching sessions with me, and during that time, it became patently obvious that he needed another person to help him out. Since January, he has taken on another 8 employees, and needs another 6! His company was bought by a huge conglomerate in Belgium and he wants me to be there part time. I met his team on Friday afternoon – so YOUNG and clever and dynamic! – the youngest is 20, all the rest are 22, 23, 24, and up to 29  - and one woman aged 36. We had a good meeting/interview when they talked about themselves and sked about me – and all except one, are very keen to be coached. The have MBO’s (you may know what that is, but I didn’t, so I will explain in case you don’t – Managing By Objectives – so that if they meet their targets, personally, and as a team, they can increase their wage by up to 20%...If they don’t meet their targets, Ed doesn’t…And I don’t…So it’s a very motivating tool – all that extra dough – and Ed would like me to coach them similarly to the way I did in the Landmark Self Expression and Leadership Programme…As Ed says, “This is your ‘laboratory’ – you can pretty much create what you want to here.” …So I am very excited, and daunted…But it is time I was “daunted”…I have been “un-daunted” for a long time, working within my comfort zones – enjoying every bit of SCJ but knowing it was not using a lot of my skills and abilities, which lie with having people be GREAT! Leading the Self Expression and Leadership Programme always had me daunted; it was so confronting and you had to think on your feet and act fast, and anticipate and manage and create SO many people at once (up to 120!) – and since I stopped leading, that doesn’t happen – I do lead World Youth (we reached out 100,000!) – and the school opens today!!! – nothing INSIDE it yet as the Australian Embassy pulled out of a verbal agreement to support us with desks and computers, etc. – so another project looms now, to fill it but I feel THAT project, i.e. to build the school and raise the money to do it, I have completed with integrity. Ed would like Reef, Asia Pacific (check out its website: www.reef.com) to be the official mentor for World Youth which would be wonderful…perhaps this may be another way to contribute to World Youth globally – they have so many connections!!! I liked the team – told them I was a technical ANT… they laughed…I said “Seriously, I don’t know how to get the thing back on when I lose it…” They laughed some more – they feel sure that if “I taught my mother, I can teach you, ha ha!” (We shall see.) It is a 3 month trial period to see if it works out. I am excited and challenged, as you can tell.

I am sad to leave SCJ, they have been VERY good to me, and very supportive of World Youth and provided me with the flexi hours to study and lead my programmes with Landmark and World Youth, and I am clear I need to leave here with integrity and not leave them in the poo. I came in to work today to tell my boss – but she is away today….! Gerald is very supportive and very encouraging and very happy for me.

The folks came down to berry to spend some time with us and to attend our friends’ twins’ 1st birthday on Saturday afternoon – I made us some lovely meals and we went into town and looked at a friend’s new 5 acre property…had a great time together, and I took the folks to the station to catch the 1.50 p.m. train home, and gave them cash for a taxi at the other end; they get very tired travelling now.

Gerald and I returned home this morning in pouring rain… As Josh has Gerald’s car, and my roof leaks, poor Gerald was drenched in freezing cold water at the start of the trip…he has had a sore neck and a headache since he returned from hols – I think he may have put his neck out, carrying our heavy suitcases. He has not settled well back into work… Maybe he hasn’t felt well, but I have never known Gerald not to LEAP out of bed in the morning, and lately he wakes with a heavy sigh. So, we need to get his neck sorted out.

Josh is in Byron Bay for a week with his mates – called to let us know that he arrived safely…Thank you, God!...and having a great time despite the rain. They are sitting in the spa, and, I suspect, doing a fair amount of drinking…it’s a 12 hour drive there, and it was a great relief to know they were all there safely – 3 in our car and 7 going to share a house in all. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than having my house rented out to 7 twenty two year olds, could you???

 I haven’t even begun to tell you about the holiday…And now I have to leave this letter – I will return tomorrow!!

18th July, 1999.

Well it wasn’t tomorrow, but here I am finally. Josh returned from a fantastic week up at Byron Bay with his mates last night. We are not in berry this weekend, as we have so much catching up to do around the house and garden – stuff that went unattended during our HOLIDAY – which I am dying to tell you about!

IBM awarded Gerald the Global Golden Circle Award, along with the top 5% of sales people at IBM, so we were given business class tickets to Europe and a luxury cruise on the Mediterranean with those other 3%!! We left our home here in a limousine and from there it was pretty much first class all the way! I was delighted to discover a glass of champagne in my hand, even before my bum hit the seat in the place, and my own little TV screen on which I could pick and choose which movies I wanted to watch – and when the check in his little checkered pants, came and knelt down next to me and asked what I would like for dinner, I nearly expired from pleasure…!!!

We had three wonderful days in Rome, where we walked so much, I am now 3 inches shorter than I was when we began…As is often the case in the early days of a holiday, we were still on “rush rush Sydney Time”, and so we were up, and showered, and ready to leave the hotel by 7 am… and we walked, solidly through Rome, until 7.15 pm, with a 40 minute stop for lunch. I decided that enough was enough, and that this was not a marathon, and so we ONLY walked for 6 hours the next day! Rome is frenetic, fast furious, exciting, passionate, and being given a total renovation in preparation for a huge religious festival next year.. We bought some wonderful clothes for Gerald, and two gorgeous bags for me, and ate in tiny, out of the way workers’ cafes – REAL good food! – and carafes of rough red wine. One of the things I loved about Rome and France is that the men LOVE women, even 49 year olds like me! And eye one appreciatively, and compliment you…!! Thousands of people everywhere, which was not a pleasure, particularly in the Sistine chapel and the Vatican – I do not remember that kind of crowd when I was last there…Well, it WAS 32 years since I was there last time, I guess! (GULP!) The last night in Rome, we joined the other qualifying couples from IBM Australia, and Gerald hosted a dinner, where I was serenaded by a musician: unfortunately, for Gerald, I really got into the swing of things, and I began serenading the musician back, (“O Solo Mio” – and Gerald had to pay the man… (not because I sounded THAT bad, but because if they sing, that’s what you have to do!!!) 

IBM put us up into the most incredible hotel, after Gerald and I had been staying in a tiny little place where you had to climb over the bed to get to the loo. The Flora Hotel, 600 years old, newly restored and divine. Sp luxurious there were his and her bidets (one for washing the socks and knickers and the other for rinsing!) Acres of bed and pink marble and French champagne as a gift from IBM – we couldn’t finish it all that night, so I got into a bubble bath at 6.30 am next day and finished it then. Why not, I reckon, if you’re a first class traveler, may as well go the whole hog! It made for a very interesting guided tour of Rome that day!

After the IBM organized tour, their bus took us to the ship. My God! What a glorious vessel – 9 stories tall, gleaming, and from that moment, we never had to lift a finger. IBM feted and fell over themselves to make us feel special, and they really succeeded. We were showered with gifts, Champaign, trips – they flew in an internationally renowned opera singer one night and the international flamenco dancers another – all for our entertainment and pleasure, dahlings!!! There was a theatre to seat 1000 people on board ship, each chair a vast lounge chair, a full orchestra, motivational talks, 5 restaurants, 3 discos (encouraged by the band, my “YMCA” mime with all the “correct movements, plus hat, on stage – went down a treat and encouraged two of Gerald’s Big Bosses to get up there and join me – so on the first night, I can safely say I had something to do with breaking the ice. No one had ever seen these guys so “self expressed” (one could say!) and from then on, I was the Dancing Queen, never sat down all night, we danced till 2 or 3 am!!! The swimming pools, gymnasium, spas, saunas, shops, etc. were lavish and the fact that there were only 900 passengers (all IBM, and they did THREE trips like that!) on a ship designed for 2500 people, plus 700 crew (almost one to a person!) they were falling over themselves to plump the pillows and pour another glass of champers….Made it all the more pleasurable! We had a State Room…a huge verandah, huge bedroom and lunge room, and a full sized bathroom…It’s funny, but even on that luxury scale, there were still people saying “What deck are you on?” The higher the deck, the posher the room – fortunately for us, Gerald is a big wheel, and we were on the top deck…I must say I enjoyed it all SO much, I felt like a kid let loose in a toy store and the acknowledgements that Gerald received, handwritten by God (in IBM) every day, were wonderful to see, and absolutely deserved on his part. It was wonderful to see him slowly relaxing, and the worry lines ease every day. We laughed so much and enjoyed each other’s company tremendously, being together 24 hours a day for 5 and a half weeks was such a joy, and we fell in love, totally and completely, with each other, all over again! Not bad for 30 years of marriage!

Every night the ship would sail to a new port, and the next day, the buses would be lined up to take us on our referred tour – either to vineyards, museums, cathedrals, shopping, Florence, Marseilles, Barcelona, Monaco and Monte Carlo, with splendid lunches and wines every day – I too 10 x 36 reels of film!!! We dressed up to the nines for dinner every night, culminating in a Gala Event on the last night, which was drop dead over the top in hedonistic luxury…

We disembarked at Barcelona, when IBM took all the Aussies on another tour of the city for the day, and then Gerald and I headed off to a train to take us back to France, to Avignon, specifically to St Remy, from where we would begin our cycling trip. We arrived at 4 am and the hotel proprietor showed incredible bonhomie at that hour of the morning, ad although a room was not ready for us at that hour, we sat in the lounge and slept, after travelling all through the night. St. Remy is a beautiful little village in Provence, full of tiny restaurants and chairs and tables on footpaths, surrounded by vineyards, and small chateaus and hotels – we had two great days there, getting used to our bikes and doing some “short practice” rides around the village before setting forth to our next destination – by bike.

I had misunderstood the brochure, and believed that our luggage would be carried via car each night to our destination. Ha! Not so. It was revealed that we would have to carry with us everything that we required for the next 5 days. I soon jettisoned everything – this from the woman Gerald describes as the World’s Heaviest Traveller – except a pair of knickers (you don’t wear knickers under bike pants; they have a chamois leather “middle” so you don’t get a sore fanny, so only needed one pair for a night!) a toothbrush, lipstick, bottle of water, spare pair of socks, sunscreen, moisturiser and an outfit to wear to dinner every night. Every night I would wash out our lycra bike gear, and it would dry by morning, with our socks. It worked well – if I was having to carry it, it had to be light! I was rewarded by the man who organised the tour saying, “I have never seen ANYONE travel this light before!” – something I shall dine out on forever, and something to keep reminding Gerald of….! The toughest day was the shortest day, just 28 kms, but 9 kms uphill to Le Baux, and I got off frequently to “enjoy the view” (code for catch breath.) The view was stunning too. Gerald, of course, never got off his bike, and I inspired myself by watching his trim little bum going up and down on the bike in front of me for 6 days. The longest day was 68 kms, but surprisingly, not that difficult, as it was all flat, and that was the day we had to carry all our gear with us as well – as when we got to Lagnes, we stayed in a gorgeous little hotel, and used it as our base for all our daily bike trips around – and how beautiful it was there! Another day, we went uphill for 23 kms, and I just had to get off and walk part of the way, but not Gerald…I was astonished, when we arrived at the top (Gerald and I travelled alone, just us two, not in a group… but there were a few groups on the road as well) – to find a Scandinavian group arrive at the top of the hill, middle-aged, over-weight… and several of them pulled out cigarettes and started smoking!!! There were fields of lavender all round, and cherry trees, laden with black cherries, warm from the sun…Gerald would ride by and pull off a handful (I couldn’t or I would have fallen off…) which he kindly shared with me, and we would stuff our mouths with cherries and spit out the pips as we rode along, black stain around our lips. Frequent piddling behind bushes. Went from being a Princess to being a Peasant and loved it just as much!

The young couple who owned our hotel were master chefs, and the food was simply out of this world. He runs cooking classes twice a year, of 8 days each, and I would love to go and learn with him – it was an old converted farmhouse, exquisitely and simply decorated, with chickens wandering about outside, sunflowers growing in profusion, fields of red poppies, wonderful old farmhouse furniture, and very old, very pretty gardens. Heaven. Our routine was after a day’s hot riding, to come back and swim in the pool, rest, shower, and sit in the late sunshine (light until 10 pm) and drink a glass of pastis before dinner, and then eat these amazing meals with wines that Gerald has been reading about for years. As I say – Heaven!

We reluctantly rode back to St. Remy, finishing our ride – I was eternally grateful for a friend, Ed, who gave me a gift before leaving – a “gel bicycle cover” – which kept my bum in good shape, and I never felt any aches and pains at all. The next day, we caught the train from Avignon to Paris – we caught the TGV, and went first class (why not??!), it travels at 380 kms per hour… whisper quiet, flashing through the country: we were in Paris in about 90 minutes, I think. Training through Paris with our heavy suitcases (all that glamour wear from the ship) as Gerald REFUSED to pay astronomical taxi rates…Was quite an adventure, negotiating our way on the metro and having to get through those steel gates that open and shut when you put your ticket in, dragging a case on wheels and an overnight bag was something else. We got stuck half way in one – Gerald got through with our ticket, and mine would not work, and I was on one side, and my case on the other side of the metal barrier…Another time I had to stand VERY close to a man in order to get through on HIS ticket as mine refused to work…And the amazing thing is there are these people without tickets, CLIMBING OVER THE BARRIERS (about 10 feet tall) – and nobody bats an eyelid!!!

After the heat of the South of France in Provence, Paris was cold and wet, but we did all the tourist things, and walked miles and miles and miles – our hotel was small and comfortable, though the walls were paper-thin (knew a lot about the neighbours’ sexual habits after 3 days) – but well-situated, and we had a wonderful time. We never had a bad meal in France, although the food in Paris was not the same “glorious” category as in Provence – and we never found any rude Frenchmen, despite what people had told us – they were all charming – particularly when they discovered we were from Australia! – everyone love Australia and Aussies and wants to visit Aussie – there were a few graffiti signs “US GO HOME” kind of thing, so we made certain we said “We are Australian!” (If you say this in a LOUD voice, it is generally understood…!!! Ha Ha – except for 2 people who had a) never heard of Australia b) never heard of Sydney and c) never heard of the Olympics – so we didn’t win any Brownie points there at all. We caught the Channel train to London, and sat in the first class carriage, sipping wonderful wine and eating fine food, and arrived in London, precisely on time – what a wonderful journey, to think you were actually under the sea!!

We met up with my sister, Susan, and our mutual friend, Steven Taylor, at Victoria Station, and caught the train to Surrey, where Susan and her husband Glen live. Joshua’s girlfriend (ex) arrived an hour later…She is living in Indonesia and Malaysia for two years while she completes her 2 degrees, and decided to come to London to join her brother who is travelling for a few months, between her courses. It was wonderful to see her! – so fresh, so spirited, her belly full of fire, life full of adventure and looking so well and happy. Also we saw James, one of Josh’s best mates, and whom he went to Europe with, earlier this year. James stayed behind to work in the UK, and at the moment, he and Rebecca are travelling together, a week in Israel and a week in Egypt – pretty great stuff, before returning to London. We had just a night with Sue and Glen before heading off the next day to collect our hire car, as we planned on visiting as many of the National Trust gardens as we could – this is to further INSPIRE Gerald for our Berry garden! It was quite stressful for Groom at first managing this car (manual…oops!) on tiny country roads, and we were lost several times – I hasten to say – not because of Gerald, but because of my own ineptitude with maps, and there were a few heated exchanges, as I battled with a map as big as a tablecloth, switched from reading glasses to sun glasses, and gave him incorrect advice. We found a beautiful bed and breakfast, in a fairly grand old aristocratic home in Goudhurst – a bit crumbly, a bit eccentric, but warm and friendly, and a huge four poster bed with a shared bath and loo down the hall and an outlook over a lovely garden. Twenty pounds a person a night, including a huge cooked breakfast in a stately dining room, and served on a vast mahogany table; the room stuffed with silver and porcelain and fierce-looking portraits of ancestors. This was very cheap compared with everything else in England, which was staggeringly expensive – I saw a small leg of lamb in a supermarket near Susan’s, which cost Twenty Six pounds! (About $64 Aussie dollars – and I think $14 a leg for Sunday lunch is a bit steep in Sydney!) Transport, too, is very dear; we paid seven pounds eighty pence for a trip from Surrey to London return (about $18) – the equivalent trip in Sydney i.e. Hornsby to Central costs $4.80 return. I don’t know how people live there!

The gardens we saw were absolutely magnificent – once again, we walked solidly for 3 days. I took the photos, Gerald took notes of all the trees and shrubs he wants to plat, and we had the best time – often didn’t talk to anyone for days on end, except each other and to order food! We had “all the time in the world: and we relished being with each other and talked and made love and ate and drank and laughed till we were “running over” you could say. Wonderful! We saw Sissinghurst Castle (not interested in the houses or the castles – JUST the gardens!) which is world-famous for its plantings and its history, and the Scotney Castle, Wakehurst gardens and about another six. Gerald was in his element, striding about, imagining what Berry will be like in 100 years long after we are dead and buried – and who will be tending the gardens then?

We drove back to Surrey, and spend another two nights with Susan and Glenn, who were always incredibly generous with us and their time and their house – once again, Rebecca and Steve came to visit. The house was constantly full of people, and it was a busy time for them, sharing their house so kindly. We ate lots of good food and knocked over a fair few bottles of Susan’s cache of champagne, and a fair few of some of the great Aussie wines that Gerald bought locally (not that much difference in price between Aus and the UK – there must be some tariff support or something.) Their hospitality was exceptional – having guests sleep o, the floor at even at Jill’s – a friend over the road –where Jamie and Bec stayed one night!! My good friend, Carol, who lives in London but had gone to her weekender in Northampton, rang on Saturday  morning – we had missed each other too many times on the phone – and dejectedly decided that Northampton was too far for her to drive to Surrey to come and have lunch with me. Half an hour later, she called and announced, “I’m on my way! It’s a two and a half hour drive – NOTHING in Australia – and NOTHING for a friend!” It was an awesome thing to do…we had about 3 hours together, talking over lunch in a 500 year old pub, before she drove back to Northampton. Great friends can slide back into conversation as you had only parted yesterday, and that was what we did. A wonderful afternoon, cherished and cherishing each other.

We headed off two days later to go and see my Aunty Pat and Uncle Tommy in Stamford, about 3 hours north of London – an ancient town, stuffed with old pubs and cobbled streets and vas churches and graveyard. Aunty Pat and Uncle Tommy are two of my favourite people in the whole world – she has an hilarious turn of phrase and regaled us with stories of her and my Dad’s childhood and when their kids were growing up. Saw my cousin Carol, their daughter, (both of us saying, “You haven’t changed a bit!”) and went out to pubs, to visit a garden (for a change!) one day and just hung out in their lovely little house – Uncle Tommie has a dear little doggie who is just like their baby, and whom he walks for hours every day. It was a very tearful parting 2 days later, witnessed by an astonished postman delivering mail to their house, and who was roped into taking a photo of the weeping family…

We headed off again, to drop the car at Stanstead Airport, and catch a flight to Glasgow, where we stayed with Sandra and John Hamilton. Sandra, Gerald and I were at school together, and mates in the same “gang” from about 14-17, and Gerald’s Mom, Freda, Sandra’s Mom, Janet, and my Mom, Vera, all worked together at Nchanga Trading (one of two stores in Chingola where we grew up) and they were mates together, too. Their daughter, Lindsay, had been and stayed with us in Australia some years before as part of her “world travel experience” – and I had been to Scotland a year or so later to attend her wedding – but Gerald had not seen Sandra for about 35 YEARS!! It was an emotional meeting! And when Janet saw Gerald, she too, wept – and asked Sandra, “Why didn’t YOU marry a Groom?” We had so much fun with them – a wonderful family – in their lovely home. They took us to Turnberry Golf Course, which we walked round. In the middle of summer, it was as cold as the Antarctic, and photos show me muffled up with scarves and jackets, and struggling to stand upright in the wind! Sandra is a sensational cook, and we ate like kings, had a glass or two (!), talked and reminisced and laughed. Their son, Bryce, had just returned from a University Ball (a day or two after methinks!) and promptly put on his tartan dressing gown and slippers, looking terribly James Bond-ish. We explored a castle and a garden, went on a tour of Glasgow, ate in a famous seafood place with romantic leather booths, and dim lighting. I kept waiting for Noel Coward to come in the door or at least, to see a couple having a torrid affair. The two days raced and then we were back on the plane to London.

We had one night with Sue and Glenn, and then Gerald had the morning to pack, and left to return to Sydney – I was staying an extra week. I couldn’t BELIEVE how upset I was when Gerald left… I cried my eyes out. He looked perplexed and kept saying, “But we’re going to be together again in 9 days’ time!” (but I did notice a tear in his eye as Glenn drove him away!) We had SUCH a wonderful time together!

The next day, I packed my overnight bag and caught the train to London, where I was to stay the night with them at the Conrad Hotel, a “terribly, terribly” and beautiful hotel. It was the day of the Royal Wedding, and Priscilla and I watched Sarah and What’s-his-name take their vows, drinking a glass of bubbly. It was Priscilla’s birthday that week, so that night I took them to dinner at the River Café, a restaurant renowned for its great food - a friend who is living in Australia for a few months was a chef there for 4 years, and had highly recommended the food. It was a stunning meal, right there on the River Thames, with Priscilla, one of my oldest and dearest friends, and Jack, her husband a terrific man who just accepts that when we are together, he never gets to speak and that we stumble all over our words, trying to get it all out in the short time we have. They live in Johannesburg, and it was my great fortune that they happened to be in London on that day! I slept on the sofa in their lounge room and the next day we went to Ascot, where Jack’s sister lives, to celebrate more family birthdays and anniversaries, and had a delicious and grand meal in their club in a private room – more like a stately home, really. Great fun to meet more of Jack’s family, and the chance to “say a few words” of public acknowledgement to my great friend Priscilla on her birthday.

Back to Susan’s for one brief night and up at the crack the next morning for both of us – as we were heading to France to Champagne to – (prematurely) celebrate my 50th birthday (in November this year) as we won’t be together at that time – it was Susan’s idea – and a great one. Glenn loaned us his car, with some misgivings I’m sure, so it REALLY was generous! Neither one of us are known for our geographic skills (I think I am even worse than Susan) and unfortunately, I was the navigator. Glenn had cleaned the car till it shone, inside and out, and we set off rather like Thelma and Louise, I thought, for the Great French Adventure. It was FABULOUS!! Yes, we were loss at least 6 times a day, and yes, Susan was having to contend with driving on the wrong side of the road in a car designed for driving on the OTHER side of the road…And yes, we drove around most roundabouts 3 or 4 times to make ABSOLUTELY certain we were taking the right exit (and STILL look the wrong ones…!) And yes, we lost count when we executed out 127th U Turn in order to get back on track – but all MINOR things compared to the fun we had.

We used to go on holidays a lot together when we were younger and first married and living in Zambia – but living on the opposite side of the world to each other has made that pretty impossible. It was a time of great sharing and healing and loving each other; and we slept together, ate together, brushed our teeth together…We laughed a great deal, ate wonderful food, stayed in a little bed and breakfast (neither of us speaks French so that made for some interesting moments with Madame, who got quite miffed, I am sure, thinking that we were very demanding customers. For example, we had two wafer thin pieces of soap that were used in the first hand wash. Toilet rolls were at a premium as were towels. I think we eventually had her on side, because she kissed us on both cheeks when she said goodbye – probably damn relieved to get rid of us!) The room and garden were lovely, and we had a little private garden dining area, a microwave, and a fridge which stored ALL our champagne! – and we were able to make our own lunches and splurge on BIG meals at night. It was very lovely countryside, and we visited two wonderful champagne houses = Moet et Chandon (they have 28 kms of underground cellars full of champagne – we kept trying to get lost and lagged behind our group, but they kept finding us…I could think of worse places to get lost in. it was pretty cold, though!) And then Susan had organised a private tour for us at Laurent Perrier about 20 kms from Cumieres where we were staying – that was first class service all the way, and a bottle to consume before we left, courtesy of the house. We also spent some hours in a vast French supermarket, buying delicacies for Susan to take home to Glenn, as they are so cheap compared to England. I also bought a wonderful bathing suit – in a supermarket!! Found some lovely towels and table cloths, and a linen blouse to die for, and then worried about how I was going to get it all home in a suitcase which was already bulging at the seams! Needless to say, I managed. My mother and her mother and HER mother always said, “If you can’t carry it, drag it!” – and I fully intended to do so if necessary. Gerald, I might say, carried home, amongst many other gifts purchased, and gardening paraphernalia – fourteen yards of fine Scottish wool tartan! – a gift from Sandra Hamilton in Glasgow – which weighs 7 kgs!!! It is divine, and I intend to make either curtains or cover a chair in it for Berry… (So what were a few towels compared to that??) I must say, ahem, as we were travelling business class, the royal “one” had extra baggage allowance.

We had a few problems getting home, Susan and I, after four days – no, not because we were lost OR drunk but because it was the last couple of days before Duty Free shopping ends in England – and it seemed as if every man and his dog were waiting to get on the ferry with us, queues and queues of people, ferry running late – but we treated it all as part of the adventure, and still got home in good time. Susan did a great job of the driving, I let the team down with my lack of navigational direction – but we just had to laugh: we’d be approaching a fork in the road, I would have yards of map on my lap, the glasses, the French phrase book, a bag of food to share, bottle of water to share, tissues, correct money for toll gates etc. and Susan would urgently say, “QUICK!! WHICH WAY???  LEFT OR RIGHT??”  and me, totally panicked, dropping all the equipment off my lap, trying to read the map with my sunglasses and not my reading glasses, would blurt out in sheer desperation and not through any information I had gleaned from my map reading…”RIGHT!!!”

Invariably, we should have gone left. One day, we were talking so much, we found ourselves 18 kms down an unfamiliar road which neither of us had noticed. It was quite interesting, really; every day we found a new route into Reims from Cumiers – I don’t think we ever went the same road twice. One day we spotted a huge blue aerial kind of construction we had never noticed before: we were lost, made a mental note, “Blue thing bad – keep away from blue thing.” Two days later, we were right next to the blue thing, and we were on the RIGHT road. (Unless they moved the blue thing overnight, unbeknownst to us?)

Glenn was mightily impressed when we returned home in one piece and with his car intact, too. He had survived on pies and beans in our absence, so it was time to cook a Big Meal. The next day I was leaving for Australia, so it was also our Last Supper. The last night of a really extraordinary and happy holiday, spent with the Love of my Life, and the people I love most – a time we will treasure for ever.

The last bit was the worst bit…Getting to the bus depot was a bit of a problem, and when the cab dropped me, I realised I had left both my jacket and my coat in the back of his car…Necessitated frantic phone calls to Susan and her to the taxi company, and he arrived with them a few minutes before my bus came. A few more grey hairs. My flight from London to Zurich was delayed by two hours, so when I got to Zurich, I had missed my Singapore connection, and ad to stay overnight in Zurich. The bonus was it was a great room with a deep bath, and then back to the airport the next day. The flight was delayed more than two hours and (you guessed it!) when I got to Singapore, my Australian flight had gone… There was a frantic running around the airport and queuing up with dozens of other people in similar positions, some with screaming babies (I felt fortunate I was past that stage…) and I finally got on a plane for Sydney. Swissair were a disaster. They did not provide my gluten-free diet, despite prior requests when the bookings were made, and their service was shoddy, bordering on rude, and the plane shabby. They I discovered they had lost my suitcase. Yes, the one with the towels and champagne in it!!! A complete mess. After filling in forms, we got home and I collapsed into bed about midnight – and had to go to work the next day. I have written a letter of complaint – a SERIOUS letter of complaint! So we shall see if there is any response.

And that was out holiday!!! Pretty great stuff, huh? We both feel so well and so happy and so full of energy now. In fact, Gerald woke up 3 weeks into the holiday and said, “I’m ready to go to work today!”