- Published on
My Christmas Wish - Dorinda Sweales, Coming Home!
- Author
-
-
- Name
- Posts
- Posts
-
Oh my will we be glad to see the back of this year, we’re moving back to England as Brexit makes it extremely difficult for us to stay with the boys. We will finally be able to travel on the 20th so will be back for Christmas as long as things go to plan, but it means I’m stuck here having missed my granddaughter’s first birthday which was on Sunday. We thought we’d dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s but at every turn something went wrong: Flight to UK to collect hire truck was cancelled. The booking code for the crossing to bring the truck to France on the freight tunnel was double booked so someone else used our crossing, it took a week and a half to get it sorted, they had to refund it, and we had to book again.
My crossing on the tunnel was changed. The car broke down on the way up from St Maxime to Calais, and we had to be towed to a garage and waste most of a day waiting for it to be repaired. We finally made it to Calais where Ian and Robson sat for six hours waiting to board the freight train, whilst Spencer and I had to find a hotel for us and the dog. The first day in Calais the car battery gave up the ghost, probably due to the problem that caused the breakdown, so had to try and find a garage. Thankfully the amazingly helpful young man who ran the family hotel we stayed in the night before called a friend who started it with a spare battery, to make sure it was the battery, he then arranged for his friend to take me to the supermarket for food for Spencer, before going to buy me a new battery big enough for our car, and fitting it.
They were wonderful and with all the hatred and anti-Muslim shouters around they proved that you should never listen to the nay-sayer’s and should accept everyone on their own merit. These young guys were an absolute credit to their families. We’ve been in two hotels since, as vacancies were limited, both with hundreds/dozens of police officers policing the freight lorries and keeping them from being entered by desperate people trying to cross the channel (I can’t imagine how desperate these poor people are, just walking next to the sea with the bitter cold wind and choppy waves is bad enough, attempting to cross in a small boat must be horrifically terrifying).
The first hotel had several hundred, all heavily armed, but it was fairly quiet, they were a specific border unit, at this hotel they’re Gendarmerie Nationale and are so noisy all day and all night, it’s fair to say we’ll be glad to see the back of this place. Fingers crossed nothing else goes wrong between now and Sunday! A silver lining though, the beach at Sangatte is just the most wonderful place to walk with the dog and can make me feel calm and content even when things are so hard, and I’m missing Ian and Robson like crazy - the power of natural beauty to improve how we feel is amazing. I usually have the work gardens to keep me stable but sadly no work gardens now, we’ve got to look for work and somewhere to live which is quite daunting. Hope you have a safe and lovely Christmas Love to you both xxx Oh, a couple of photos of the beach that’s keeping me sane at the moment!
My crossing on the tunnel was changed. The car broke down on the way up from St Maxime to Calais, and we had to be towed to a garage and waste most of a day waiting for it to be repaired. We finally made it to Calais where Ian and Robson sat for six hours waiting to board the freight train, whilst Spencer and I had to find a hotel for us and the dog. The first day in Calais the car battery gave up the ghost, probably due to the problem that caused the breakdown, so had to try and find a garage. Thankfully the amazingly helpful young man who ran the family hotel we stayed in the night before called a friend who started it with a spare battery, to make sure it was the battery, he then arranged for his friend to take me to the supermarket for food for Spencer, before going to buy me a new battery big enough for our car, and fitting it.
They were wonderful and with all the hatred and anti-Muslim shouters around they proved that you should never listen to the nay-sayer’s and should accept everyone on their own merit. These young guys were an absolute credit to their families. We’ve been in two hotels since, as vacancies were limited, both with hundreds/dozens of police officers policing the freight lorries and keeping them from being entered by desperate people trying to cross the channel (I can’t imagine how desperate these poor people are, just walking next to the sea with the bitter cold wind and choppy waves is bad enough, attempting to cross in a small boat must be horrifically terrifying).
The first hotel had several hundred, all heavily armed, but it was fairly quiet, they were a specific border unit, at this hotel they’re Gendarmerie Nationale and are so noisy all day and all night, it’s fair to say we’ll be glad to see the back of this place. Fingers crossed nothing else goes wrong between now and Sunday! A silver lining though, the beach at Sangatte is just the most wonderful place to walk with the dog and can make me feel calm and content even when things are so hard, and I’m missing Ian and Robson like crazy - the power of natural beauty to improve how we feel is amazing. I usually have the work gardens to keep me stable but sadly no work gardens now, we’ve got to look for work and somewhere to live which is quite daunting. Hope you have a safe and lovely Christmas Love to you both xxx Oh, a couple of photos of the beach that’s keeping me sane at the moment!
0 Comments