A Little Bit Tipsy And A Bowl Of Muesli

A Little Bit 'Tipsy' And A Bowl Of Muesli

After arriving in France, Le Havre to be exact, Jamie and I headed towards a major road intersection and put out our thumbs, as well as our 'Afrique' sign. 

It was a hot day and it was lucky that we had filled up our water on the ferry crossing, because it was to be a long wait...... it may have had something to do with our Union flag rucksacks ! I really don't understand the animosity between France and the UK. Anyway, we'd just finished our muesli lunch (great dried food for when you're on the road), and a car pulled up. He was headed towards Brittany and offered us a lift. This was to be my first excursion to Brittany ( I live here at the moment), and it was to be a good one.

We drove for hours, and its always a long trip when there are two languages being spoken and neither party can really understand the other. However, we eventually arrived on the SW coast, near to Quimper, a city I've grown to love. Our driver asked us to meet the family (we really had become friends), and over the course of the next few days, we had opportunities to meet others in the town and harvest oysters and mussels out of the bay......it was all quite extraordinary and set the tone for what was becoming a transformative adventure.

Eventually we said our farewells and headed south along the West coast of France.

On one particularly hot morning, a couple of days later, we were sheltering from the sun under some tall cypress trees, on a back road near a power plant.....I remember the steam plumes rising above the trees very well. A small white Renault van pulled up and an elderly woman graciously beckoned us inside, after indicating that she could get us to a place somewhere beyond Bordeaux. We piled in thinking our luck was back on track.

Unfortunately, it was my turn to sit up front with our host, whilst Jamie napped in the back, sheltering from the heat.

The woman spoke very quickly and I lost the gist of what she was saying....    I was daydreaming, as I felt a hand on my knee...I had probably dozed off. I looked down and her hand was definitely kneading my sweating kneecap ! I looked at her and she smiled in what she must have thought was a seductive way..... as she did so, the aroma of cheap cognac reached my nostrils. She was obviously very drunk (yes that's probably why she found me attractive), and her eyes were not on the road.

I heard Jamie chortle in the back seat, as I squirmed uncomfortably. The car was meandering all over the road....now, this we had already discovered, is quite common in France after 2pm when the bar/tabacs have closed, but the car was 'dangerously' meandering. To top it all off, neither of us could understand a word that she was saying (her speech had become slurred)... until she started to sing.!

At this point we had been in her company for about two hours, and looking up I noticed a familiar steam plume...... we had gone in a circle.

Horrified we got out and and made another bowl of muesli.

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