Rest day

 Not a lot to report on the driving front, except Chris found a garage with a power hose to clean his car, which now gleams like the Grand Old Queen that she is. 

Speaking of queens, Nigel produced liar dice for us to play this evening (Nigel not being the queen, you’ll understand, but the dice….oh forget it). This artful game of, well, lying, was something most of us played in our youth, when lying may have seemed an option, and was quickly remembered, though there were some squabbles about format, and whether cheating was in fact just an adjunct to lying. Happily, no fisticuffs were seen and the rightful winner prevailed. 

Some of us started the day with car fiddling followed by a wonder to the wine shop Nellie and Nigel spotted yesterday. We will spend the next two nights in discomfort and a splash of French and Italian wine is what we desire to remind us of home and loved ones left behind (get on with it, you are not Siegfried Sassoon you know, Ed). 

Meanwhile, Ham had been invited to lecture some university students about international journalism. He suspected a mix up. There is a Richard Cunningham, who is not our Richard Cunningham, who is rather good at journalism, so much so he is a professor. We think the university think they had the other one. Teachers pet, Joe, went to observe, whilst the rest of us relaxed. Our Richard Cunningham repeatedly told anyone who would listen that he is in fact a published author (if Octane counts). 

Yesterday, Chris broke the barrier coming into the car park. Guest relations were deployed to negotiate with Chris about restitution of the barrier repair costs. Co-driver Joe scalped his finger straightening the offending item and also noticed it had previously been bent and not repaired. Chris moved into passive aggressive super charm mode, when approached by the Head of Guest Relations. “It’s OK” Chris opened, “I am thinking of not suing the hotel if we forget about it” This flummoxed the poor hotel rep who rapidly came off her high horse and yielded in the negotiations with a property pro. 

Back into the mountains tomorrow. We hope David is well enough to start. He retired to his bed complaining of a headache and stomach cramps. Oh, we know what that means. He reappeared as we finished supper, looking less peaky but not his normal self. 

Not a clue