News from the Med.

ello everyone. Dean here.! Well, I cant remember where I left off with blogging, so this is going to be a bit of a ramble about stuff that you wont neccessarily find the most interesting I'm sure, but hey....tough...ha ha. Here I sit, next to a brilliant fire, in a brilliant fireplace, in a brilliant "summer home" , owned by M's relatives in France....lovely people who seem to have it all together..own business, a few houses, one in the centre of Marseille, where you walk out the building and you're in the middle of wild pedestrians, cars, buses, etc etc... We arent in Marseille now though...we're 3hours out of Marseille, near St Tropez.
Marseille was a real bonus to our overseas trip. I didnt expect it to be, but we were given a car to loan for a few days, so I had some fun driving in French traffic, something you would think would be a nightmare (was for M) but for me, it was fun fun fun! The car we loaned was a really old Renault, but it had some fire under the bonnet and I found I could hit the petrol and speed off down the road, just like a real french driver. In france you cant be a timid driver, or you will cause a traffic jam. If there is a gap in the traffic, you just have to floor the pedal and claim your spot. Really EXHILLARATING! I LOVED IT! I figured the car I had been loaned had dents and scratches, and every other car in Marseille is dented and scratched too ( this is a fact...it is so funny to see). I just figured I was in a big dodgems track :)

The end of our holiday is nearing. About 6 weeks left. It leaves a bit of a bad taste in our mouths, because after 120days on the road, we have gotten used to being in strange towns, sleeping in strange parking lots:) We've gotten used to not knowing what tomorrow will bring, or where we will spend it. We've gotten used to living in a small confined space, 5 individuals, all sharing the same physical few square metres. It's been fun,tiring,inspiring,life-changing,and really cool. 10 years ago we did a similar trip, but that holiday was only 6 weeks in total, so having 6 weeks left of this holiday is not too bad I guess. M and I will be sitting down tonight deciding on whether we should go from St Tropez, to Nice, up through Italy to Lugano in Switzerland, use the Swiss motorways to get back to Annecy in France, make a trip back down to Carpentras to see Tate Lou ( a dear old relative of Marielle's mom, whom we promised we would revisit before leaving France), and then heading up the west coat of France to Calais, Dover, and the UK. Alternatively we might skip Italy, and just make a B-line for the UK, where we have better Internet. I think I feel like doing the Italy trip through Switzerland though...:))) We managed to use swissCom for hotspot Internet connections in Switzerland, and Lugano is an Italian town, but actually Swiss. Secretly we are hoping to hit some serious snow. It is nearing December, and snow should be falling:) Temperatures are falling, even down on the Mediterannean, so making a trip through Italy/Switzerland, and Charmonix/Annecy (the biggest snow centre in France) , is really a little risky, but hey.....you only live once:)

We have been undecided about what to do with our small motorhome once the holiday is over. Option1 = sell it. Option2 = keep it. Option 1 is good if we arent coming back to Europe. Option2 is good if we are, except that the van needs a new toilet fitted. At the moment we have kind of decided on Option2...and planning to come back to Europe in June/July/Aug next year. If any of you want to rent the van before or after those months, it will be sitting in Amsterdam waiting to be picked up from the dealer, who can easily arrange the insurance for you. We can give you all the info you need on where to stay, how to get Internet etc etc. We've learned such a lot. Time to write that book :)

Each country we have visited have been completely different in the way people live. For the past few months I havent actually had a decent conversation with anyone besides Bonjour, Oui, Non, and Gracious! When I walk in after putting in diesel in the van, I approach the cashier with a blank look on my face, and say "Bonjour!" I hand them my credit card and point to the Camper and utter a french number (each pump is numbered). Bugger, I thought to myself once....what is SIXTEEN in french? I had visions of my french teacher back in SA, a disgusted look on his face. Anyway...I point the cashier to the camper, and they utter something in French, take my card, and utter some more french at me...to which I smile and wave my hand , indicating that "Yes I know my SA card needs to me to sign in pen whereas normal people dont need to"...and I wait for them to find a pen, just for me... I sign the slip and smile again, saying Avoir!..while walking out. This has been the extent of my communications with French locals thus far. I did try and be fearless, and walk up to a pancake vendor, but chickened out when I couldnt find a way to say..."please put icecream on the pancake please". There was a crowd, and I wasnt going to stick my head out :) Buying Baquettes is a lot easier...I walked into a shop and pointed at a basket of breadstuffs. The guy looked at me and pointed at the small oval breads. I spread my arms wide and made a funny gesture, and got handed a wierd roll. I bought it. Wasnt a baguette. Havent a clue what it actually is called :)
I made up a cool song which we now sing wholeheartedly when we feel like it. It goes like this..."Put your baquette in a packette...clap you hands..... put your baquette in a packet , clap your hands......put your baqueete in a packet, and dont forget to stack it....put your baqueet in a packet clap your HANDS!!!!!!!!!

OK, I have now lost the plot of this blog. officially. How to end off...hmmmm..... I guess I should describe my daily chore of finding an Internet connection with which to download all my business mails and send off new responses. In the small french village we are in right now (30mins from St Tropez) I finally found a hotel, situated along a small french coastal road, behind some potholes, and ferns. I let the car idle till the nose reaches the hotel entrance, and switch off, while rolling the van slowly forward, undetected...nearer and nearer the wireless "zone". Aha!, the laptop shows it has found the little wireless signal, to which our lives hand by a thread these days... I quickly enter the login codes and cònnect, and download the hundreds of mails we get, from Viagra salesmen, to Italian watch manufacturers, to a few normal mails sent to us by our SA clients, asking for silly things like why they are receiving Viagra emails. I peer wide-eyed at the hotel, expecting some burly french doorman to walk out at any minute and ask me to move the huge lump of camper from their beautifully landscaped gateway. I quickly tap responses to some mails, and send them off, and disconnect from the network, start the van, and idle off down the hill.....a sigh of relief....all is well with the world. I smile, thinking how wonderful email is...how you wouldnt know if I wrote this blog sitting on the toilet, or parked next to a french beach. Wireless internet is definately the way to go if you want to live and work on the move. Did I mention that M already has a list of things for me to fix on the house when back in SA. TYPICAL WOMAN!

NEWS UPDATE - 18th November.
Instead of travelling towards Nice and Italy, we reversed our steps and travelled back towards Toulon and after some searching, have found a fantastic little beach haven Marina town with a strange name of "Six-Fours Les Plages". AND we have free camper parking behind the tourist office AND free internet parked 20m from a circle outside a French block of flats. This is where we are currently sitting at 9:10pm at night after making a quick dash here when we realised that Marielle had forgotten to follow up on a client query. Such is business on the road!
Tomorrow we hope the weather is good and hope to spend a few days walking around this idealic location.
Toulon - Nimes - Avignon - Carpentras - Grenoble - Chambery - Annecy - Charmonix-Mont-Blanc - Lugano (Switzerland) - Lake Como (Italy) - Basel (North Switzerland) - Stassbourg - Luxembourg ?????? THAT'S OUR NEW PLAN.
:) Dean.


MARIELLE'S UPDATE - 18th November.
I miss my hot bath already!!!!! I want to go back Jean-Luc and Christine's holiday home in La Croix Valmer !!!Dean is just popped outside the van to blow cold smoke rings for Tanner. It's kinda chilly here!