| Previous | Day 3 - 4th September 1999 |
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| Calais was good for grabbing a few other things at garages and fitting our new indicator before we set off across France. We headed south - driving all of Saturday afternoon until we reached Soissons and a campsite. The last hour of the journey was spent pulling over at every phone-box to see if it was coin operated because we'd not bought a phone-card and wanted to call home. Every box was a card one - so by the time we got to the campsite, I gave in to the satellite phone, which had been calling out "use me, use me". Soissons is hardly the summit of Everest ... but when you've gotta call, you've gotta call. Using the phone is a piece of cake ... you just open the lid, turn it on, wait a few seconds and then dial. After speaking to my sister Ali (and checking she hasn't gone and given birth already!) we called some friends, Andre-Charles and Eileen, in Geneva to see if it was still OK for us to call in and see them. We had to be a bit vague about when we would be there ... on account of our van being slow. It has now got a name: "The Snail". It's very apt. Firstly, it moves very very slowly. Secondly, it carries our home around on its back. Thirdly, it leaves a trail wherever it goes (of smoke out of the exhaust)!!! | ||