Day 3 On Your Bike

April 16, 2011 | Mairead

Remember I said we were trying a new kind of accommodation? Last night we stayed for the first time in a Formula 1 hotel. These are the inexpensive hotels usually located by the side of a motorway. I wanted to experience them as although lots of people told us about them, we had never stayed in one. Probably because other people’s recommendations weren’t too enticing. They always had a funny look on their faces when they mentioned them. The look that includes wrinkling of the nose and rocking of the head? But this was an adventure after all so maybe it was time to look.

We arrived about 6pm, tired and hungry and a little cold. It had been raining most of the day but we were dry, thanks to our great rain gear, (I love my rain gear). The receptionist was very friendly and spoke French kindly (s l o w l y) to us. But on the way to our room little doubts started to niggle in my mind.

There was a row of brightly coloured doors with little labels on them. Two said WC and four had a picture of a shower head (apologies for not taking a picture, its early days and I’m still a bit too shy to take a picture of a bathroom door!). The niggle in my mind was saying “do you think it’s possible that there’s no ensuite and we have to come out here to use the bathroom?”. But I ignored that and we went to find our room.

Denis tapped in the code and pushed open the door with his bag ….. I scanned for the bathroom and……couldn’t find it. I walked into the room and searched every nook….it wasn’t there. Ok not a problem, its only one night, I’ll be fine. Lets make the best of this. I went over to open the window and check out the view…and then I started to laugh…. at myself! Until this moment I hadn’t realise how many expectations I had about where I could stay. The ensuite, or at least a toilet was one and now it turned out a view was the other. Our view looked out onto the car park, which ran right up to our window and two trucks had parked directly outside. This time I took a picture. I’m not sure if you can see it but the yellow truck filled our room with a very nice primrose hue!

During the night I recognised some more of my expectations when two or three noisy girls ran up and down and back down and up the corridors laughing and shouting.

To be completely fair to the Formula 1 there were some plusses – the room was warm, the bed was comfortable, the sheets were clean, there were two large towels and a new bar of soap and a wash hand basin, there was free wi-fi (we couldn’t get it to work, but it might have been the laughing!) and it was cheap – €34 for the room.

As the internet didn’t work we have no place to stay tonight! We could always stay another night here….. Maybe not, so we’re in the town of Rennes, I’m having my petit dejeuner and Denis is down at the Orange (Mobile telephone network) store finding a way to have our own mobile wifi in France. While he was away I noticed a sign in the cafe for free wifi so I’ve been looking at hotels in our next stop, La Rochelle. We’ve decided to go for our tried and tested formula (little pun) – the little two star with secure parking for the moto (french for motorbike, btw my french is improving all the time!) and free wifi. We’ll get back to roughing it later. By the time Denis returns I have booked the Francoise 1st Comfort Hotel for one night in La Rochelle.

But Denis hasn’t noticed my great success with only my mobile I have secured our future, he’s a little preoccupied. The Orange assistant (he’s not orange, he’s… never mind) was very helpful and had great English but unfortunately due to a little misunderstanding in French mobile small print (“it is France, poof”, the Orange assistant said in explanation), the first attempt at mobile internet ownership swallowed up Denis’ €20! It seems we have to wait 48 hours before using it or it takes all the credit… ok we’ll wait.

So we’re off to La Rochelle, on the west coast of France, and it’s sunny, and we’re still talking!

Day 2 On Your Bike

April 15, 2011 | Mairead

Last night we boarded the Celtic Link ferry to Cherbourg. For those not familiar with this ferry company – it’s mainly for trucks. For those who wondered before we left how that might work out for a bike – it was perfect. Smaller passenger area, less people, less staff, less restaurants (1), less bars (1), bigger cabins (just a little) and the best bit….. the bike area was right beside the exit. So we were first out this morning. We were the only bike and maybe that’s why they had a special cushion to protect the seat when they lashed the bike to the ship! On the bigger ferries we have to use our gloves.

There’s another funny thing about this ship, the cars are outside… on deck! And it rained!

It rained when we got off at Cherbourg too. But that doesn’t bother us ……. we have rain gear ……….and thermal long johns! And the sound of raindrops on my helmet is amazing – in a good way…

Those same long johns came in handy on the boat. As you can imagine we have to pack very frugally. Unfortunately, I packed for one season – summer…. and on the boat it was very very early spring, so for a moment I was freezing. Then I very remembered my long johns. Normally I wear them down to my ankles under the rain gear, but they work just as well rolled up to the knee under my cotton summer skirt. Mmmm toasty. So, nice and warm again, we both went down to the bar on the boat for a drink with Dan and Dave. In the queue to get into the boat Dave had seen the WW of our bike registration and as he’s into bikes (or anything mechanical really) and living in Wicklow, so he came over to have a chat with us. This happens a lot with the bike, it reminds me of pushing a pram with a baby in it – everyone likes to chat with you. Anyway, Dave and Dan had been friends for 34 years and were on their way to Sada in Spain to make their boat ready for summer sailing. We got talking, as you do, and it turned out that one of Dave’s best friends was a name I knew from childhood.

You know how your parents have friends or acquaintances (or in this case a colleague from work), whom you don’t meet but their name is very familiar to you? Well as soon as Dave mentioned his friend’s name, I was a child again. It never ceases to amaze me how we are all connected….we just don’t know how closely yet. If something makes us say the first hello or “how old is your baby?” or “isn’t it lovely today?” then everything else follows and we get to meet ourselves in someone else!

Dave and Dan had started to argue like a long married couple when we headed off to bed. Next morning Dan met us on the way to breakfast and invited us to come visit them in Sada if we got there before Friday week. But the boat is in dry dock and at some point the previous night one of them had explained the use of a bucket for a toilet when a boat is in dry dock, I’m not so sure we’ll make it in time!

We’re off to Rennes today, Denis bought €5 worth of internet access on the boat and we booked our bed for tonight. We’re trying a new kind of accommodation.

From the Kitchen Table……..

September 27, 2010 | Mairead

Well I’ve moped around for long enough to annoy myself into a change of state, but as it happens life was willing to help. Little by little I’m returning to my attitude of noticing really great things all around me.

On Monday I spotted a pottery class in the Mermaid and by lunchtime on Tuesday I’d made a mug (a bit wonky!), a hairy frog for your used t-bag (yep, I didn’t realise it either, frogs have hair), an ash tray, for when I meet someone who smokes, and a hang up thingy. That definitely changed my state!

Then on Wednesday I went to Somatics – exercise that is so slow you hardly know you’re doing it, but it’s so good and Frieda who does it is so gently with us we almost fall asleep, nice…..

On Thursday I went to book club. I’ve been going to book club for 10 years. Our book club was started more as a sane refuge. The world around you might be going crazy but at least you can count on the book club to be a place where all that’s expected is you talk about the book you’ve just read. And it’s often lived up to it’s founding charter.

We’ve weathered the storms of births and deaths, of teenagers and tots, of parents and grandparents, of weddings and funerals and not just in fiction. We’ve gained members and lost members (only to return again when things had changed and the draw of the club became too much to resist). We’ve disagreed, agreed, made salient points, made frivolous points, been annoyed, been angry. We’ve changed dates, days, but never times. We’ve discussed the benefits of Friday nights, first Thursdays, last Wednesdays (or am I imagining that?) We’ve been irritated by each other and exasperated by each other. We’ve been hurt and offended. We’ve complained to each other, we’ve complained about each other. And yet….

Something keeps this group of ten (even though we lost one on Thursday night, she’s still part of the book club and the total is always ten) very different, women coming back together again and again.

When I was little I used to go to the library. I’d search and search for a book I could read but would rarely come home with one I liked. You see I was scared to pick the books that were for my age because they looked too hard, so I picked the ones for little kids and they were too easy. I never read the classics, not even the children’s ones. By my twenties I hadn’t read a book, except for those prescribed by the Department of Education. Then I found Maeve Binchy and I was off.

Being part of a book club means I get to read what other people pick for me (everyone gets to choose one book a year). Then each month, I get to tell everyone what I thought of the book. The little girl in me is very excited that she belongs in a place where what she thinks about a book (sometimes even a hard book!) is important enough for nine other people to be quiet and listen. Sometimes she is so excited she laughs for most of the time.

I think that’s why I keep coming back to book club….because they listen and I belong….. or maybe it’s the nibbles!

Tales from the Road 32

September 23, 2010 | Mairead

We’re back! Safe and sound and a little bit changed by the experience. We have noticed how much stuff we have, how much space we have in our house and yet, it feels like it is brimming with stuff. Do we really need all these books, games, magazines, clothes, and the rest? How did we survive for so long with so little?

Each time we took off on the bike, there was a sense that we had everything that we needed right here. I always felt a lightness as I settled myself on the back for the next journey. No handbag dragging my shoulder, no phone constantly turned on, no book by my side in case I got bored, no one to talk to. Just me, all wrapped up, rolling along the countryside. I know, I know, my handbag was in the top box, my phone was turned off in my pocket and there were numerous books on the iPad and I could just hit Denis in the ribs to get him to stop but..

For the time I sat on the bike I could use none of these “things”. I couldn’t buy anything, I couldn’t contact anyone, or be contacted by anyone, I couldn’t distract myself with a books or games or things I needed to do. There was just me……. and everything around me.

For the first few miles my mind would tell stories of what had happened or what might have happened or what could happen. “She said…”,” He said…”, “I should have said…”, “What if…”. And then there’d be a new smell (many times on the motorway I’d smell chocolate!) or a warm gust, or a field of sunflowers, or a big truck blowing its horn and I’d be back. In the here and now, present to all the glory of my senses.

And it was glorious. Every sight could ignite a feeling. The sunflowers, a happy little bubble. The clay tile houses, a warm glow. The villages far below the road, a tight knot! The huge rivers with little and big boats, an expanding space for my breath. All, while I was doing nothing. Just sitting there, my senses were entertaining me.

There’s a lot of fear attached to motorbikes, so that those who haven’t experienced it may not even imagine the joy and the gloriousness. I hope I have enabled you to at least imagine, if not encouraged you to experience!

This is the last from The Tales from the Road series. Thank you for joining us on the journey, it really did feel like you were all there with us. Until the next adventure I will be blogging…… when I feel like it!

Tales from the Road 31

September 17, 2010 | Mairead

Friday 17th September 2010.

We’ve met a lot of interesting people on this adventure and we only did that because of the decisions we made along the way. Decisions like taking a chance to pick random people from a website we’d only just heard of. Or picking one location over another, one apartment over another. Decisions to stick to one priority over another. As well as meeting interesting people because of our decisions, we also didn’t meet (possibly interesting) people because of our decisions, and we didn’t choose apartments, we didn’t visit cities, we didn’t travel on certain roads, we didn’t see certain lakes.

Like when we were on our way to Italy. I had heard many beautiful things about Lake Como and Lake Garda, so in my capacity as accommodation officer, I put all my attention on those area to find a place to stay. Soon the airbnb options were exhausted and I was onto hotels. I went through a lot of hotels and if the price was right the reviews were horrible, so I took a break. When I came back to the map of Italy I realised there were other lakes. So I was off again with airbnb. Very soon my eyes alighted on hunky Massimo!

You may remember, or maybe I didn’t tell you, but on the airbnb site there are pictures of the accommodation and also a picture of the host (usually, one of our hosts has a beautiful picture of crashing waves, which she looks nothing like!). Initially I paid little attention to the picture of the host because it’s not a priority what they look like…. or is it? Massimo was in danger of changing our priorities. Now I say “our” priorities when in fact Denis was busy working away, his priorities weren’t changing, they were still wifi, secure parking, shops and restaurants! But when you are the one making the decision then your priorities count……

So anyway, up pops the picture of Massimo and his apartment in a village on Lake Orto, Italy and our destiny shifts to a new location. Now, to be fair to me, as well as a beautiful picture he had also written that “..the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who visited the lake in May 1882 believed that the experience changed his life forever”. How could I resist going to this amazing place? First things first, contact must be made to check availability, wifi, secure parking, grocery opportunity and restaurants. Back comes the reply, yes to everything except shops and restaurants. Well, they were kinda important…. but…. maybe…. sure it would be no problem to get groceries on our way and cook there… it was still a possibility, wasn’t it? While I was convincing myself I’d be fine all day long in a little village that wasn’t big enough for a little grocery shop, (wouldn’t I have the lake to look at…. and I remember someone once saying there were boat busses across the lakes in Italy, I’d be fine), Massimo was sending another mail.

Turned out he didn’t have a picture of his little village to put up with his listing so he had put up a picture of another little village on Lake Orta, and that his little village was 25 minutes away from Lake Orta! Well… that’s not so bad is it? Probably a lovely little village…. and the apartment looks ok…. we could still do this.

Now before you jump to any conclusions that the picture of Massimo wasn’t even his picture, let me tell you I have no idea! Because at this point Denis entered the decision making process. He didn’t know about our new priority of choosing accommodation related to the gorgeousness of the host and he could see absolutely no reason to choose a location that didn’t match our needs. “Why are you even considering it?” So I told him how interesting Massimo’s bone structure looked and he began to laugh. I was watching the possibility of ever seeing Massimo in the flesh receding away as I told him what interesting things Massimo had written and he nearly wet himself laughing. “Let it go, Mairead!” “But it would be a good story for my blog!” Oh, he loved that! I think he lost a half hour work time giggling away to himself. So I had to let Massimo go…..

Turns out I had another priority…. to keep laughing with Denis.

Tales from the Road 30

September 16, 2010 | Mairead

Thursday 16th September 2010.
We’ve arrived in Vannes, Brittany, travelling since morning, didn’t get to post yesterday’s blog so doing that now.

Wednesday 15th September 2010.
Here’s the second blog from Luzern (I no longer know how to spell it!). We’re still in Normandy, going to Brittany tomorrow and getting the boat from Roscoff on Saturday and arriving in Rosslare on Sunday.

Saturday 28th August 2010.

Do you remember Aunty Mary on the boat? The impact she had on the little boy? Well I just met someone else who is an example of how, by just doing your thing you can have a major impact. I spent less than an hour with Charde as she explained how to get to restaurants in Lucerne and Torino (Turin), but her impact is lasting. When I met her I said I loved her apartment and she said, “oh,they’re all like that around here” and I said “no I love how you have decorated it,” she said “I love to go to the op shop (charity shop in Australia), I love vintage”. And that was it, she got ready to go to her concert and I started to get comfortable taking over her home.

Then she was gone and I realised I was in a haven of creativity. Charde has filled her home with the things she loves, she has allowed herself to have the things she loves around her and just that alone has an impact on the people she meets and the people who stay here.

I don’t know her but I miss that she’s not here to tell me about herself and the things she loves. That’s some impact!

We always have an impact on others, what kind of one do we want to be having? I think if we expose ourselves to the world, in the way we dress, in the things we have in our homes, in the things we choose to do, in the things we say and in the things we write, then we will allow “the cobble stones to peep through the tarmac”. We will be sharing ourselves with the world. We will be fulfilling our purpose.

Charde’s eyes sparkle when she talks. She’s like a sanctuary for the spark. Her home radiates sparks and warmth. She exposes herself in everything she has in it. She’s a little light come all the way from Australia to rainy Lucerne. She thinks she’s here because of her boyfriend’s career but I think she’s here because Lucerne needs a spark.

Tales from the Road 29

September 13, 2010 | Mairead

Monday 13th September 2010.

Due to legal complications (not really!), I never told you about our Swiss experience. We’re in Normandy, today, we travelled from Pontlevoy in the Loire yesterday, very sad to be leaving Michele our host there. Will be writing about that soon, but in the meantime here’s the first of two from Luzern, way back in August!

Saturday 28th August.

We got up very early this morning (really!) and left Munster at 7.30am! Then we went to Germany… It took about an hour and a half and we had breakfast there…. Then we went to Switzerland in time to take possession of the keys of the apartment of two Australians in exile in Lucerne. They left about two hours ago and I’ve been wandering around for one of those hours in a little love trance. I didn’t realise it when they were here but Charde (the girl Australian) either really likes crafts or she likes to buy (lots) of books on crafts.

I think I’m in craft heaven. In fact I feel a blog about how much I love crafts starting to bubble up. Maybe tomorrow. For now I’m soaking up the beautiful atmosphere Charde has created here and trying to read all her books before we leave tomorrow – so much beauty so little time!

But before I start let me tell you about my shopping experience here. When our hosts left to go to a concert for the weekend in Zurich I became ravenous. I think it’s my body realising the only opportunity for food may have left and it’s time to get something on board (or in mouth) before it’s too late. Of course we forgot to ask where the shops were, we got the restaurants and traditional beer place but not the supermarket. So I picked a direction and started walking.

After two turn-arounds I decided I’d have to chance an encounter with the locals. Now the Swiss speak a lot of languages, like German, Swiss German, French and Italian. Should I have another go at French or perhaps German (I did German for a year at college, but sadly my talent for languages didn’t show up there either)? Naw, it was much easier than that – they speak English too! So I picked a nice young man on his bicycle to ask. “Do you speak English”, I ask. “A little”, he says. “Great! Could you tell me where the nearest supermarket is?” I could fault him on nothing, he was great, the only word he had a problem with was “tracks” but he did such a good impression of railway tracks while saying “Train?” that I worked it out. And 10 minutes later I was in a mini-market beside the train station.

And I think my “problem” with traffic is healing. In no small part due to the Swiss drivers. This is what happened: I came up to the yellow striped crossing place and started to tell myself “look left, look left” but no sooner had I’d glanced left than all the cars (and even a bus once) stopped…. for me….. to cross the road. And they waited until I arrived safely on the other side! When it happened the first time I waved to the driver (or maybe the passenger, I keep forgetting that the driver is on the right), but I’d have a pain in my arm if I waved at every road so now I’m acting like it’s no big deal.

On Your Bike 1