Carbón's Big Adventure (aka Labratour Part IV)

I can't drink wine I love vodka and calvados. Vodka saved my life once and Calvados brings back some wonderful memories.

 

I loved his zoomies that's a lab who's found his inner labradorness thanks to Emily

 

Wow.....if it's not rude can I ask how? I'm intrigued

 

I had a type of disorder which my blood would clot or I would bleed easily. The vodka thinned my blood just a little just enough until I got medical help. Vodka was the only thing which stopped my head hurting. Vodka makes everything better

 

Amazing! I always said alcohol, in moderation (whatever that is) is good for you - and now I can say that it can even save lives....thanks . I feel the same way about good wine...and gin....and actually I used to be a vodka girl but somewhere along the way switched to G&T. I might even get a bottle duty free when we come back from our holiday in Vanuatu in Sept - in your honour @SwampDonkey

 

It's sad but I hardly drink at all now.s sometimes I really fancy a beer

 

Interesting discussion of life-saving Vodka.


The boys and I had a long drive today. Supposed to be only five hours, but I kept getting sleepy and having to pull over to rest so I wouldn't kill us all. Apparently I've reached my caffeine-effectiveness limit because the Diet Cokes are no longer working their magic. No bother, tomorrow is our last big drive day and then Saturday we cross the channel and roll into Beanwood.

Tonight we're in a newly-built and quite impressive retirement community which is renting out it's as-yet un-leased flats as aparthotel rooms. This is the nicest 'hotel' I've ever stayed at in France, especially for such a reasonable price. There's even a pool and sauna, but because of the dogs I couldn't try it out. It's also next to a nature park with sheep and donkeys, which we did try out. Carbon didn't even look at the donkeys this time around...goofball.

My quest for Carrefour goes unfulfilled. There's one right down the road, but it was closed by the time we got there. They close at 7pm! That's even earlier than in Germany! Oh, my open-till-midnight Sainsbury's with your delicious fattening ready meals, I am nearly to your native land. But for tonight, I went on down the road to Auchon (that's like Walmart or Asda) and loaded up on baby diapers and wipes and got a nice cous cous merquez for dinner. When in France, right?

And if anyone's counting, today I cleaned up 3 Paul wees, 2 Paul poos and 1 Carbon wee. Because yes, Carbon must copy Paul in everything he does. Oh, and I also wrestled a decomposing fish from Carbon on the beach, tripped over Paul and ripped my trousers. Now we all smell of wee and dead fish.

Travel, it's SO sexy.

 

Don't forget a good Bordeaux - gotta round off the trifecta! Otago pinot is just obscenely priced here, only for very special occasions, but I can buy decent Bordeaux for a fair price. Weird.

But of course they do! You can't honestly expect a French national to work after 7pm...or on a Monday...or on a Sunday...as a not entirely proud owner of a French passport, I can say these things

 

Oh, but big French grocery stores are now open Sunday mornings - it's a wonderful thing! It's when I get back to Germany that I really have to remember that nothing happens on a Sunday.

I've been meaning to say to you too that that was a very interesting comment you made about the Maori having similar looking grain 'houses' like the ones in Asturias. A lot of the ones of Spain now get used as a kind of household item storage area, party room or even a guest room/Airbnb. Does that happen in NZ too?

They also have them in Galicia, but they look like big coffins on stilts, so I don't imagine anyone's using THOSE as a spare guest room!

 

It's such a different way of life, I didn't realise that the Germans were like that too. In NZ shop owners can of course choose to open whenever they like, but in reality only small boutique shops close on a Sunday - almost all shops are open 7 days per week. Shops are legally forced to close for 3.5 days per year - Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day, and until 1pm on Anzac Day (that's our remembrance day). People are FURIOUS that the shops close for those days - Facebook erupts, there are news stories, certain shops break the law and are fined, and the government wrings its hands about whether they should change the law. You just can't get between a Kiwi and their right to shop til they drop!

They no longer exist, sadly, just in museums (which is the only reason that I know about them). Here are examples of "pataka" https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/45734/pataka-1840s The only Maori architecture that still exists is the "marae" (meeting house, google "marae" and look at the images) - they're very common, there are 3 within a 7km radius of my house. It's lovely that traditional architecture is still being used in Spain, even if it's not always for what was initially intended!

 

And when you are in a rural area, you know that nothing happens on a Saturday afternoon either....!

 

I can't believe you are so close to the Channel! It must be such a relief to be nearly 'home'.

 

Well I don't quite know what to do with you when you arrive...do I march you upstairs and pop you to bed with chicken soup, whilst we wrestle with Carbon and Paul...or just drop you at the nearest Waitrose and leave you there to float up and down the aisles for a couple of hours..

Take care, and don't rush. Try and have a good night's sleep tonight and let us take over tomorrow...

 

Yay! Thumbs up for the Beanwood pack!

 

What exquisite words!!! If I were in the shoes of @Emily_BabbelHund , at this I would collapse in a crumpled heap and cry copious tears.

Just one more sleep!

 

It sounds like we need to start thinking pack walk. Is Sunday possible, or will @Emily_BabbelHund still be in a state of rapture while exploring Waitrose?

 

I’ll be in Bristol on Sunday - afternoon would be hopeful and Snuff Mills would be really good

(No dogs with me sadly, but I’d love to meet the famous Carbón!)

.

 

Hehe, I heard on the News Quiz podcast the other day:
"I LOVE Sainsbury's! It keeps all the riff-raff out of Waitrose!"

 

Safe final leg Emily. How about chicken soup from Waitrose

I find it heartwarming that there are dozens (possibly hundreds, who knows) of people stretching around the globe, willing Emily and her two furry souls along safely to a happy journey's end.

I just love the news quiz, it starts my weekend with a glass of wine often making a curry for dinner.

Controversially there is going to be an Aldi built right next to Waitrose where I work.

On the subject of Sainsbury's and podcasts, I have just been into my local Sainsbury's and spent a few minutes driving around looking for a particular parking spot. I had the windows wide open and took me a little while to realise I was listening to MDWAP and the leather room was being discussed . I think I may have shocked a few passers by

 

Yay!!