MY BETTER HALF...

This woman is cleverer, funnier and stronger than I am. So she can certainly kick YOUR ass...

LEAST ACTION HERO...

So many deadlines and dinosaur incursions, so little time...

JOURNEYMAN...

Lay back and think of the air-miles I'm earning...

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Biarritz or Bust #5.1

Tuesday 23rd. Early.
(Pic: Shaleah, Laura and Ariel... in prep)

Have you ever had one of those dreams when you find yourself alone in a house? That's pretty much how Tuesday started. I woke up at a relatively civilised hour only to find Kerry and Ellen gone and Holly still sleeping. A trip downstairs to the first floor (second floor if you're US based) showed no signs of intelligent life and I went down to the ground floor (first floor, if you insist) to find the house still and quiet. It was a good five minutes before I found Steve outside and almost embraced him for fear we were the last survivors of a Lost/Twilight Zone plot device. Only he and Tina were awake and around the house. Almost everyone else was off running errands, getting last minute shopping or hijacking the unsuspecting bride and groom to take them off to luxury spas for the full treatment. I was left kicking my heels and caught halfway between 'ha, there's nothing *I* need to be doing' and 'hmmm, shouldn't I be doing something, dammit?' It was early afternoon before the shoppers returned and then plans moved ahead slowly but surely for the wedding. It was planned to take place around 8:00ish in the ballroom/theatre room and until then it was a matter of getting the room ready, makig sure everyone knew their place and duties and an eerie sense of calm.

There was even time for some guests to play Fribbage. This is the newly created French version of Cribbage (all the cool people will be playing it soon!) and followed in a long line of activities and music christened by Laura and Shaleah - others included Frabble, Fronopoly, listening to Frip hop and Freggae. At one point I said I could clearly see a fruck in a pond. Thankfully everyone knew what I meant.

[CLICK ENTRY TITLE TO READ FULL POST] - Posted by JOHN MOSBY
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Biarritz or Bust #4

Monday 22nd May: Monday morning came early... with just a few hours sleep to be had before the dawn broke through the sky-light of the room I was in. Myself, Holly, Kerry and Ellen had the three small rooms at the very top of the chateau (because we were obviously the most important, or maybe because they looked suspiciously like the servants' quarters in days or yore) and by the time I dragged myself downstairs some people had been up an unfeasible amount of minutes. Breakfast was eaten, nay consumed, as Michael took on the recurring role of chef (a role for which he may yet receive an Academy Award nomination). French toast - it's not Freedom Toast, get over it - has never tasted so good.This was the day before the wedding and so much had to be done to make Tuesday go with a bang. Or without a bang. Whichever is better. Some of us guys went shopping. No, ladies, don't laugh, we had good intentions and we came back with carrier-bags full of essentials (and some non-essentials, though I truly believe that chocolate falls into both catergories). Then there was the rehearsal to rehearse and I assumed the role of official photographer - probably only because my camera looked more intimidating than anyone else's and ma tripod est grande! Laura told everyone what they'd be doing, where they'd be sitting and what NOT to do. Dawson mentally went through his lines and everyone pinched themselves to prove this was actually happening. ome people may even have pinched other people just to make doubly sure.The evening brought the rehearsal meal (actually a real meal, with real food and available to all, not just the immediate family). The food was good, the entertainment even better. Michael, Kit and Ariel re-enacted the Bradford trip and Scottish proposal (complete with fake car and props), Kerry explained how I'd first met Kit and Ariel (vicars and tarts and parties, oh my! - I have pictures of that SOMEWHERE!) and much amusement was had.The company was great and the drinking of the wine would again go on until the early hours, if not quite the late early hours of the previous morning. However, all appetites were eventually satisfied and sleep beckoned in the way it only does once you find yourself exhausted in a French chateau. I highly recomend it.

[CLICK ENTRY TITLE TO READ FULL POST] - Posted by JOHN MOSBY
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Biarritz or Bust #3

Sunday 21st May. Sunday involved beachiness. Beachiness is always good when the sun shines to a decent level, but there's something about Sundays, lying there attempting to look vaguely unBritish and hoping to God that you at least gain some colour with the exposure to ultraviolet rays which is just... special. Or pathetic. However, lying on a beach-towel close to several hot young ladies and pretending not to take in the ample Europeaness of the scantically-clad women who have gone all al-fresco further up the beach is also good. There was also ritual burial, purchasing of said beach towel and swimming trunks/costume/unSpeedo-like garments. There was the search for a toilet and a rating system for the guys on the beach that completely lost me for a while, until it didn't.

The day came and went. Ice-creams were bought, dropped, bought again and eaten carefully. The car trip there and back was full of memorable lines (though I can't remember if the best came on the way or the way back, which kinda dilutes my point). However everyone recalled Shaleah's 'Peach Flavoured Cows' and my 'Jolly Good Think...' would come back to haunt both of us again and again. Particularly from Alex, but he's a Republican, so I could find ways to taunt him later. :) The evening was full of wine, good humour and water polo. Not being able to swim I had a much better time than one might expect and despite blatant cheating from Kit, un-vicar like pragmatism by Dawson and a vicious tearing of my forearm skin by Holly (she's an animal, I tell you and she was on my bloody side at the time!) all went exceedingly well and the day finished well into the next. I haven't partied that hard in a while. I may need another holiday just to recover.

[CLICK ENTRY TITLE TO READ FULL POST] - Posted by JOHN MOSBY
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Biarritz or Bust #2

Saturday 20th May. LATER: The train trip started well. Got to Waterloo around 6:15 after a short taxi-ride. Eurostar trains are similar to certain types of mainline UK trains - except they travel faster - so no great surprises and just a standard level of comfort. (Note: The famous Channel Tunnel is really only a tunnel like any other, albeit longer. Twenty minutes of darkness. I guess the fact that it’s only twenty minutes of darkness to travel from the UK to France is reasonably impressive).

That part went well. However on arriving at Gare du Nord in Paris (without about 1hr 20 minutes to make the trip to Montparnasse to make the Biarritz train) things started to get less so. I’d been told that the trip from GdN to Mont was a relatively easy 20-25 mins. That might be true if queues for tickets went at a reasonable pace and weren’t stymied by argumentative people blocking lines for 20 minutes. Finally got ticket and the train shuttled off and made good time. However Montparnasse is like a maze and - dragging a heavy bag and backpack along corridors, up and down stairs, along non-moving walkways etc - took a good 20 minutes in itself. The Biarritz train was set at the farthest end of the platform an so I literally made it with about 2 minutes to spare. Hot, sweaty and with my favourite sunglasses lost beneath the train’s wheels as I boarded. Settled in for train journey with Pims (French Jaffa cakes, YUM), Sprite, Michael Connelly’s The Black Ice the only Harry Bosch book I hadn’t read to date) and with texts from Kerry that she and her cousin Ellen were making good time to meet me at Biarritz around 5:25pm. Seat was nice if not angled for a very good view of the countryside outside but stereotypically beautiful French girl to look at (50% gawky 50% model - think Beatrice Dalle’s younger sister)… the trip was on course again.

Picked up by Ellen and Kerry and we first visited the townhouse/villa the ‘older folks’ were renting and got better directions to the chateau (where we were staying) ‘Turn right at the paintball sign, follow the road and then turn into a barely visible gate that leads to the driveway out of Jurassic Park…’. After several roundabout detours and cries of ‘I meant the OTHER right!’, we made it to the chateau around 7:00pm-ish. The sun didn’t set for a while and further introductions were made.

Apparently several people were on my train, but because we’d never met and despite efforts beforehand, we weren’t able to co-ordinate meeting up en route, hence there’s a good chance that in true ‘Lost’ style, we briefly crossed paths without realising it before being formally introduced. Several people will arrive later, but the main cast assembled by early evening: Kit, Ariel, Laura, Holly, their friends Alex (the best man), Shaleah and Laura (bridesmaids), Tina (Kit's sister), Steve (Tina‘s husband), Michael (Ariel’s dad), Charles (Ariel’s brother), Sarah (Ariel's nine-going-on-thirty year old sister) and us. Dawson - the friend who will marry Kit and Ariel - will arrive in a few days for a whirlwind visit and another friend Eric soon after. Pix to follow.

[CLICK ENTRY TITLE TO READ FULL POST] - Posted by JOHN MOSBY
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Biarritz or Bust #1

This was supposed to be a chapter-by-chapter series of blogs on the trip to Biarritz for Kit and Ariel’s wedding. But limited Net access before and during the trip means that it’s getting posted later than planned. Some was written at the time. Some later. C’est la vie.

Saturday 20th May. London. EARLY: Well, I'm currently in London and later this morning - actually in a short while (at a ridiculously early hour) I'll be heading to Waterloo for my Chunnel trip to Paris and then on to Biarritz. I'm there for the wedding of two friends Kit and Ariel. I met them in LA while I was going out with Kerry four years ago and we've stayed in touch. Kit and Ariel (and Kerry) stayed in Leeds during the Bradford Film Festival in 2004 and Kerry and I were both invited to their wedding in Biarritz this coming Tuesday (23rd).

Because Jill tells me I should be posting more fun stuff here and because Kerry's started her own Euro-travel blog, I figured I should too. So, to begin with, here's a snap of London as night fell with a wet thud on Friday 19th. Notice I went all aristic for the photo and shot the pavement... If there's net access at the chateau, then there'll be more blogs later...

[CLICK ENTRY TITLE TO READ FULL POST] - Posted by JOHN MOSBY
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