THE HOMECOMINGS

The machines decided that they had had enough and demanded to be bought in out of the cold. – so in they came courtesy of OG (who nearly sustained a hernia in the process) and John . They are now happily ensconced in their rightful home in the newly refurbished laundry room, again courtesy of OG and John. I only hope that they appreciate them.

And our French family came home too, but their journey was far more troublesome than the machines’ journey (those machines have a charmed life).

The trauma started on a Paris motorway. They broke down and because entrapped in a typically French bureaucratic cock up. The garage sent to rescue them had not been informed they were on a motorway, which, apparently, is the jurisdiction of the Police. The Police did not arrive and the rescue service said that they were not authorised to ring them direct. After a long wait and another call to the original garage that WAS authorised to ring the Police they were finally rescued some four hours after first breaking down. The Police had responded to the original SOS but couldn’t find them so went back to their depot no doubt muttering “Stupid English”.

As the fault could not be immediately rectified they stayed in a hotel overnight and set off for Calais in a hire car the next morning, got caught in a traffic jam, dropped off the hire car and missed one sailing by 5 minutes. Next sailing was par for the course, a two-hour wait. The car hire companies in Dover had no suitable car available for the onward journey so, toting masses of luggage, they staggered onto a train, crossed London by taxi, staggered on to another train and OG met them at Peterborough some 40 hours after they had first set off.

One day to recover and, dropping the children off with us, they set off again in a hire van to collect all their personal possessions from Toulouse and (hopefully) car from Paris. What was that Labour Party slogan? “Things can only get better”?. Huhh!

It will be good to have them back in the bosom of the family again, safe and well and ready for Christmas.

In the meantime, following a CT scan, the oncologist said that one of OG's lymph glands could be slightly enlarged, but as it is within the “normal” range, albeit that it is at the top of the range, it need not necessarily be sinister. Another scan in March will enable him to look at the gland again and determine whether or not further treatment is called for. Fingers crossed.

And finally ….. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe