Job opportunities

Whilst traveling round it has made all think of whether what we are doing is right for us.

For example, me and the kids had a think about space travel...




Esther had a go at being a weather woman on local French TV...




Benjamin had a go at being the camerman...








Benjamin and Naomi had a go at what it would be like to be professional cat retrievers...






Benjamin was keen to try professional relaxer..





What we have concluded is that we are pretty good at what we do and should stick to the knitting...accountant (and dad and husband), mum (and wife) and two young fun loving kids.

Laters
Alex

Black listed from Bordeaux campsite

I'm sure that the skinner family will be black listed from the Bordeaux campsite. It was a busy site, first that we had come across -we realised after the first day that there was some big home exhibition on. I think I mentioned it already, but it rained all three days.

So we were there for a while. The first priority was to get the wifi organised. This was a mission and we were only successful on the iPad. It took four trips to the reception. They started to get to know me!

The next was the washing. The washing machine was great but didn't really spin the clothes out, which meant that the dryer had to work harder - I think it must have been on holiday. The first load took 3 goes in the dryer. After the second I went to reception to complain. After the third visit to reception The manager wanted to come and watch me put the clothes in -to make sure I was doing it properly. I tried to explain that I had been washing clothes for many years!

The second lot of clothes took three goes in the dryer as well, and a couple of visits to reception with the wet clothes in hand.

Next was the bus. We had to tell reception 15 mins in advance for the bus to make the special stop at the campsite. We did this and waited for 45 mins . No bus. Another visit to the reception. This time I volunteered Esther, to share the love. They called the bus company who said they did turn up - luckily reception saw us head off to the stop.

I'm pretty sure as they saw us walking to reception they found things to do or hid under the table.

Finally we were leaving. Don't get me wrong we had a great stay there overall.

It was chucking it down with rain.

We needed to empty the waste water and fill up with water but it was OK they had the amenities.

I had to maneuver The camper van to get onto the Tarmac. Went forward onto the grass ( it was raining heavily) and got stuck. Wheels were spinning, smoke was pouring out - Esther shouting out 'stop, stop, the brakes' - she won't be helping me with my kit car.

I had managed to create a huge hole under the front wheels of a front wheel vehicle. A kind fellow camper car driver offered to help but we still couldn't shift it. So guess what, I had to resort to heading back into reception, tail between my legs, and asking for help. A kind resort manager brought his four wheel drive and towed us out.

Moral of the story. When complaining, always do it in a nice way, you never know when you might be asking for help!

Laters
Alex

Churches (tick), museums (tick), gardens (tick) and now hospital (tick)

I am now officially on the register of out-patients at the hopital du Dax.

It all started off many hours ago. In fact 2 weeks When I decided to start my fitness regime and maintain that sports personality type figure that I have been so blessed with over the years. I went for a run. Many of you will know that I have run a double a marathon in the past, well actually it was over a four year period and was 4 half marathons. So running is in the blood.

My first run and less than 20 minutes in (common theme?) I managed to twist my ankle quite badly and had to hobble back to Chez Skinners ( the camping car).

So 2 weeks later my ankle is still swollen and I am still in pain. I had been bandaging it up and putting a bit of ice on it, but for little benefit. The walk up europe's largest sand dune yesterday probably didn't help either.

In the pharmacy buying more bandages the pharmacist advised me to go the hospital as I may have broken the ankle. Quelle horreur. And unlike me, I actually took the advice and registered at the A&E.

I waited for about 45 minutes in the waiting room. When I turned up there was a young lady in absolute tears with her mum quite angry with the staff. I had arrived to world war 3.they left after 15 mins and there was a guy and me waiting for our names to be called out. He was a friendly guy and tried to strike up a conversation. I used the normal 'mon francais n'est pas bon - he got the general idea. I asked how long he had been waiting. - 2 hours. I thought here we go.

As I say it took 45 mins for my name to be called out. Not bad eh. It was a bit of a disguise as a nurse took me into a room asked a few questions asked me to take some clothes off - don't worry only the shoes and socks - and then left. I waited another 20 mins for the doctor.

He was a nice guy and was thrilled to see me. Not because of the injuries, but because my French was shite and english was going to be the way forward. He explained that he was one of a handful of doctors in Europe that were getting together next month to discuss treating English speaking people in foreign hospitals in europe. Every explanation of pain/feeling I gave he would type into his iPhone and get the translations. He was bemused with swollen as his iPhone didn't seem to register it. So he typed it in (all part of the service). I reckon he was playing a game with the other doctors of how many unknown english 'symptom' words they could get in a week.

Anyhow, this is beginning to become a novel...so be it.

He too one look at the ankle, didn't even ask me to move it to find out when the pain occurred. After the 20 minute consultation he told me it was a sprain and that I needed to get physio (another worded not in his phone). This was obviously going to be hard to put in place. Which I explained to him in English of course. I asked how he knew it was not broken - he could see that I was concerned and needed to know and offered to get it X-ray'd there and then. Just wait here ( in the cubicle) and he left - the door wide open.

It was another 15 mins before someone else came to see me. Whilst lying on the bed semi naked with the door wide open, I saw other people in full blown stretchers and life support machines wheeled past, the people in the main waiting room could see me when the main doors opened and shut. It made we thankful that I hadn't sprained other parts of my body!

So an orderly arrived - with a wheel chair. I felt a bit of a fake and said it was OK to walk. He explained that it was a long way off, at least 100 metres. His English was not so good so I succumbed to being pushed like an old man (some would say that I am) through the corridors of the hospital.

I tried to make chat and explained that I felt like how I did only 2 days ago driving around in the bumper cars in Bordeaux. He didn't understand, but I had to smile as we went round the corner and he struggled with the 'natural' law of momentum trying to move forward round a corner pushing a heavy (ish) weight. Luckily there was not much traffic on the wards. Although I did note that he was happy to drive on the right and the left. I liked his style.

The xray was all quick. I had to smile (again). My foot was on a pedestal, and I was given a protective lead sheet for my lap to avoid any unwanted xray machine damage to the family jewels - there was no protection for the rest of my body! I decided not to ask about that one.

Another 10 mins waiting and the orderly returned, cruised me in the wheelchair again ( I could get used to this - not sure Esther would be as obliging though!). Back to the doctor he confirmed his initial prognosis - no breakage - but at least I knew for sure and said I was free to go. Just a matter of payment - 45 euros.

So in 2 and a half hours I had managed to find my way to the right part of the hospital, got registered, got seen by a nurse then doctor, taught the doctor a thing or two, had a fun fair ride in a wheelchair (times two), been x-ray'd, diagnosed with future advice, paid the bill and walked (well hobbled) out of the hospital. Not bad. In fact it took be the same time to do the above as it took Esther and the kids to do the grocery shopping, with a few bonus purchases but I will let her tell you about the pyjamas.

No photos this time.

Laters
Alex

Driving continued -it was absolute carnage....

Benjamin happened to be in the front seat with me this time. The cars were all over the place. We just couldn't seem to find a way through, and there were crashes all around us. OK, we were on the dodgems. Bordeaux for three days and the highlight of the kids holiday is probably now the fair (not the churches, walks, gardens, shops, museums, towns). I have never seen Benjamin laugh so much as when he was in control of a dodgems car. The people around didn't stand a chance. Naomi was more than happy to let her careful father driver take the wheel and smash everyone.

Bordeaux has been a wet experience - hasn't really stopped raining. But we still managed to get to see the gardens, museums, shops, cafes, and we had our first French McDonalds - for those interested the main difference is that you get a dessert With a kids happy meal.

We move on today to Arachan today - home of europe's largest sand dune - let's hope the rain stops.

Some photos to enjoy.....

If you look carefully, you can see benjamin and Naomi at the top....





Self explanatory, she didn't stand a chance.



Esther giving the driver some useful driving tips....





Laters
Alex
Ps I was only joking about the first photo, hope you didn't spend too much time looking for them. It wad one of esther's artistic shots - she beat me too it.

Two days of culture

I begged Esther to drive through the night (well I did the driving), through the wilderness of backyard France so we could be the first in to a topiary enthusiasts garden delight. When I say the wilderness, the roads were 2 way with enough room for a bicycle, but with some careful driving, some speed on the straights and a bit of closing the eyes and hoping for the best we made it. We spent the night in the carpark and then morning walking round a garden with lots of symmetry. Esther's blog has all the details but here are some photos which I like...

The first one, was an artistic snap which captures the metrological state of the morning - raining!




Second, symmetry at it's best...



Ok, I admit, it was Esther that really, really, wanted to make the visit. It was an enjoyable stroll round a beautiful garden. I think Esther wants a garden like this when we buy in chch - I'm trying to be realistic and agreeing to one or two of the topiary (bushes to us lesser mortals).

And yesterday we spent the day in st emilion, a small town in bordeaux which is renowned for wines. We did some tasting, buying and drinking. And I've learnt something about myself. My taste buds are all worn out, and I can't really tell the difference between one red wine and another. Personally, I don't see this as a problem - more cost effective wines which taste great - once an accountant always an accountant.

Here is me looking very knowledgeable and selecting a good bottle..





Naomi doing some smell tests, she reckons this one was heavy red, full bodied with spicy overtones of freshly cut grass ( she wants to grow up like mum)...





Laters
Alex

Location:La Niotte,Saint-Émilion,France

We spent the day walking through a beautiful French town....

...called Periguex.

The alex summary, in short is:

Lovely walk, sore feet, too many shops (for Esther), lots of architecture, small narrow winding roads, no tourists (except us), beautiful church (even I have culture), nagging children (who didn't enjoy any of the above) and tranquility. I thought this photo summed it up, Rue Tranquille with the skinner family in the background....





Benjamin and a typical pose..




Naomi taking over photography responsibilities..



Laters
Alex
Ps I decided to do my own Movember (as I'm sure many of my kiwi mates back home are doing). I didn't shave yesterday morning, not bad hey!

The stories about the camper van continue

It is official. We have a fridge that has a life of it's own. we took it into Avis in Tours - well we took the whole vehicle which had the fridge in - more efficient! We gave them a list of things to look at. They couldn't fix the broken wing mirror (remember the 1st 20 mins of our camper trip) -they even phoned round the suppliers and all of them had sold out. So we continue to be a one wing mirror vehicle. according to Avis everything else was fine.

Back to the fridge, it is meant to work on either battery, mains or gas. All automatic. The only automatic thing about it is that it automatically starts flashing error and switches off. Luckily no food has been damaged, although I have struggled to get the perfectly cold beer. Anyhow, we may have fixed it now, but not sure how. I'm just a naturally gifted handyman - yeah right.

More worryingly we woke this morning (in Les Jardins Du Manor D'Eyrignac carpark) to find that the battery Light for the vehicle battery was dead. I spotted it because the iPad was not charging. Luckily we think it is a minor electrical fault - the car started on first turn, phew. But we can't charge the apple at the moment. Could deal with no vehicle, but no iPad??!?

I will be blogging About less mundane matters later, maybe.

Laters
Alex

Location:Salignac-Eyvigues,France