As we awoke, the sun in Cannes was beginning to replace the crescent moon that had been in the sky the night before, as the new lunar month was beginning.  It was going to be a good day.  We had originally planned to return to the UK on 5th May, the day after the UK May Bank holiday, which is always the first Monday in May, this avoided the greatly overinflated transport costs through the channel tunnel and gave us a month away.  As you have been able to determine, George is quite a nice chap, and we are really quite fond of him.. So much so, we vowed that we would bring him home with us…that’s really the sum total of the thought I had put into this trip. 1 start date; 2 end date ; 3; bring George back.  In order to acheive 3 we have to get George to a vet sometime between 24 and 120 hours before leaving the continent, so he can have a worming tablet, a health check and his passport stamped by an authorised vet to pass him fit to come back through UK border control

However, this is where the first example of SBI, or sheer bloody incompetence, comes in, and I’m afraid to say it was mine.  In France they are much more pragmatic about National holidays and have them when they are due, if they fall on a Monday or a Friday, then that’s the long weekend defined, if they fall on a Tuesday or a Thursday then, oftentimes they will have the Monday or the Friday off.  If they fall on a Saturday or Sunday, tough luck !  All in all quite simple and generally works in everyone’s favour.  This year, the 1st of May falls on a Friday, so that will be the day the vets shut !, not wanting to take the risk of getting a vets appointment late on Monday and not being to get our train on the Tuesday, we have had to change our departure date from Calais in Northern France to 30 th April before the French holiday starts which is fine it’s been a lovely 3 weeks.  HOWEVER, we are currently in the south of France with a little over a week to go, so a rapid reschedule made us realise, that since Rome wasn’t, built in a day, a week’s not long enough to give Italy justice, so we will stay in France for the rest of the trip…not such a bad thing. 

So off we packed heading to a little known peninsular, south of Toulon, which is a divers paradise with a beautiful rocky shoreline, magnificent marine life, fabulous seafood and some beautiful Islands just off the shore, which are apparently France’s most beautiful beaches.  What the guide book doesn’t say, is that it also has the worlds largest mosquitoes, I’m convinced the one that attacked me as soon as we arrived was the size of an Apache helicopter, but unlike apaches, they are repelled by a thick layer of DEET !

The usual activities then ensued; fantastic lunch; walk along the shore;George swam in the sea, an hour later he looked as though he had been snorting illicit drugs as the salt dried on his face, covering him with a white powder; we come back to the van, George is hooked by a 3 m wire to a tree so he can dry whilst I wander off and talk to strangers.  In this case, the stranger was a German traveller, who spoke no English, and I must confess, despite living in Germany for 2 years, have forgotten most of my German.  However, it’s amazing what you can communicate with hand signals, a few words and patience.  It turn out my new friend lived in little village outside Frankfurt, had been travelling with his wife and dog for 6 weeks through Italy and France, had been at this campsite for 5 days and wondered whether I had noticed the size of the Mosquitos.  Reluctant to draw a military analogy as I just had, for fear of mentioning the war, I smiled and said Ja instead.

It was during this time that the second case of sheer bloody incompetence had happened.  Whilst I had been talking to my newfound German friend, it appears George had been following a mosquito, obviously trying to help me out.  However the mosquito had been very crafty and was staying ahead of my fearless hound but by always flying in the same direction,  by now you may have guessed, my hapless hound had wrapped himself around the tree and had only a foot of cable to snap helplessly at the mozzie.  He may be handsome, loyal, fun, but he’s not blessed with brains !

Tomorrow will be our last day in the south of France before we start the long journey up through this beatiful country, stopping for the night in Burgundy region before nipping off into Belgium prior to our return, if nothing else, the shorter journey will free you generous regular readers to not have to put up with my ramblings for as long.  However, I am extremely grateful to you for taking the time to visit my site . Thank you