How we came full circle (almost)

We left France looking grey and drizzly (France, not us), crossing a Channel described as ‘choppy’. No matter, it wasn’t bad. We were worried that Sally’s brake lights had been on throughout the crossing, but the vehicles moved freely at Dover and a check at Maidstone services showed problem resolved by itself. Not right, though. Back in England, we began to look for what was good about being in the UK: cat’s eyes – I hadn’t realised how they’d been missing in  France till I saw them again;  helpful headlight flashes from lorry drivers to let me know it was safe to return to lane one after an overtake; believe it or not, most British drivers DO signal correctly at roundabouts! (Fro … French don’t understand them); NOT being tailgated ALL the time; and toilets! Public loos in France (if you can find any) are a national disgrace.

However, to be fair to French drivers, no-one over there did anything as daft as the idiot who attempted a nearside ‘undertake’, in spite of my left signal, as I swung wide to make the turn into the Crystal Palace campsite! It was a near miss – fortunately, if there had been a crunch-up (turn the other cheek?), two pedestrians who were waiting for me to make the turn would have been excellent witnesses.

Once parked up we went down the hill to meet Philip and Christine for a meal – which, as friends who have followed us all the way will remember, was how we spent the last day before crossing the Channel on the outward journey (October 17th).