Belties on the Road Again

We are off on a long trip again. We left home at 6.am yesterday (Thursday) and not including the tunnel time; arrival, wait, load, crossing etc. we did the journey in 6 hours 58 minutes door to door which was pretty good but we are in the car and not a truck this time. There was not much to see of Englands fair south because it was dark for most of that part and France was hiding under quite think fog until well past Reims which was a shame because France has such lovely countryside and is littered with chateaux. Beautiful Burgundy in the photo above.

When we go into hotels in this town Steve is always greeting enthusiastically “Ah Monsieur Belt”. All the staff greet him holding out their hands and smiling. Then all the antique dealers are old friends. We meet as many people in the supermarket that we know in Beaune as we do at home. It is over forty years since we first stayed here.

We were in Beaune in time to do the rounds of our usual shops to pick up the few favourite items that we cannot buy in the UK and that we prefer not to be without. Wine of course, Steve’s specialized tea mix, that is heavily rose flavoured and explodes the perfume in your face as you open the tin.  My stops are both girly; I bought a pulli in a shop amusing called PULLS, then I have to call in to Sephora and pick up some of their own brand things like the absolutely waterproof dark green eyeliner that I have to have, even though everybody laughs at me for wearing makeup to go swimming.

 

                                      That is me on your left hand side at fourteen

You know I don’t care what anybody says don’t you?

I would not answer the door to the postman without my eyes on.

This is an ancient thing because my mother only went out to work to pay for my dancing lessons and I have been playing with makeup since I was ….. I don’t know…. six or seven. It was helpful some years later since I had to lie about my age to get in Worthing Musical Comedy society when in those days the age limit was sixteen and I was fourteen. The Picture here was at the dress rehearsal for Oklahoma. The guy behind me was a sort of first boyfriend later, I liked him because he had a lovely tenor voice and was funny. That was never going to last though because some guys didn’t like getting a slap around the head from my dad! And kick in the backside as they ran off, if my dad was fast enough.

On the journey yesterday we hardly spoke since we were both listening to an audio book, this time our bestie medical officer Kay Scarpetta again, Chaos by Patricia Cornwell. Riveting. Once Steve have bought a few table and paid a visit to the bank manager here who will also come out to greet him in a friendly fashion, we only have two hours to go on the Scarpetta book before we get stuck into the next book on the way to Chur in Switzerland for a two night stop. Below is crime writer Patricia Cornwell.