Tuesday 5th November 2024

Bonfire Night. (Not France).

It is easy to forget, but I am here in France for work.

And on day two I had to visit a construction site, then drive for two hours to Reims to be in place for Wednesday's activities.

To add to the fun, there was thick fog and mist, though in truth, wasn't quite as bad as I'd feared.

Up at six and time to lay and ponder before getting up and having a shower and getting dressed.

Breakfast was half seven, though it seems earlier than that today, as half the buffet had already been eaten. I had fruit, fresh bread, soft creamy butter and apricot jam along with two large coffees.

I paid the bill, loaded the car and programmed the maps app on the phone, and so out into the mist I lurched, back onto the motorway then turning east to near where I went last year, on an altogether sunnier day than today.

The motorway carried on east, going through rolling countryside, with banks of fog to keep me on my toes, then turning off into the freshly ploughed countryside, and through small towns filled with faded and crumbling mansions.

I reached the village the wing farm is named after. And due to fog, I see no turbines. It takes some thick fog to hide wind turbines some 95m tall.

I try to triangulate between three map apps, and think I needed to drive through the crumbling village, its wattle and daub walls falling apart.

I drove three miles, then the first of the turbines materialised from the fog. And then a second, but no offices.

I parked outside one of the turbines, sent a message saying I was beside E09, and they sent someone to guide me over the fields along a deeply rutted track.

The conjoined shipping containers made the offices, I was greeted warmly, and lead up to the project office in the upper container, and plied with fresh coffee.

I do three hours auditing, and am done. A good result, could be better, but could have been a lot worse.

I decline lunch as I have a three hour drive through the mist and fog, and wanted to get there before darkness fell, so was eager to set off.

I drove to the country lane, then heading west, back towards Amiens, and with each turn, the road got a little larger, until I came back to the motorway.

I cruised at 60 mph, taking it easy. I had all afternoon, so just concentrated on not getting into an accident.

I stopped at a service station, had a baguette filled with salami and pickles, a coffee and an apricot crumbly cake thing.

I ate both.

Lovely.

Then back on the road for the last hours drive into the outskirts of Reims, turning off as I left the motorway, and stuck between an Aldi and McDonalds on one side, and poor condos the other, was the hotel. Surrounded by a chain link fence, and access was with a code.

I walked into the compound, checked in, was given the code so I could get the car in, unload that and dump it in my ground floor room, then set about ordering a coffee.

Many French cities are introducing low emission zones, Reims has, and there was warnings of fines if you entered the city without the certificate on display. I got a taxi just in case, and just gone half two, the cab pulled up taking me through the ever denser housing, dropping me off at the east end of the cathedral, buttresses towering above the car.

I walk round and find the entrance is via an apparently small wicket door in the north door of the west façade, in truth it was huge.

Inside, it was free to enter, and just a single security guard who seemed more concerned in keeping his stash of pamphlets neat and tidy.,

It is another huge building, built to represent the glory of God her on earth, to shock and awe. It does that very well.

Actually, it has very few memorials, and two global disagreements caused lots of damage, so that very little glass could have survived.

In 90 minutes i did two circuits of the church, one for the nifty and the other for the mobile. Oddly, lights in the east end of the church was switched off, so detail was soon lost in shadows.

Another surprise was a chapel with three panels of Marc Chagal glass depicting Biblical scenes.

I retired to a nearby bar/pub, and found they had Leffe on draft. 33 or 50CL? Fifty obviously.

So I nursed a small goldfish bowl of golden strong beer, until light faded outside, so I went back out to take more shots, on the streets this time.

Fabian called, he would meet me at the cathedral, so I waited, people watched and took more shots from outside.

Fabian arrived, we went back inside the cathedral, as he'd never been inside. I then took him to see the great north door and its carvings surrounding it.

Then back to the bar for another beer and dinner of big burgers and a mountain of fries. We talked, ate, as the bar filled up, Fabian had the best seat in the place, looking out to the illuminated west façade of the cathedral.

After eating, we walked back to his hotel, as he offered to drive me back to mine, a short 9 minute blast through the suburbs to the compound.

Now I'm inside, and already Norwich are two down. Sigh.