… or, more likely, might not … be wondering where I’ve been for the last few days. Well, almost a week in fact.
The truth is that I have had a very (un)pleasant stay amid the local facilities of the town of Verdun.
No, not the Nick, Rhys, the local hospital.
I was rushed in there on Wednesday night/Thursday morning after the landlady of the Hotel du Tigre found me flaked out in my bed having had the most serious relapse to date. She promptly called for an ambulance.
There was no internet in the hospital and somehow my telephone had become damaged so I was out of touch.
Anyway, they threw me out this morning and a taxi took me back to the hotel.
I’m still not 100% fit – far from it, in fact – so I had a slow, steady drive southwards and ended up at Bar-le-Duc where I bought a baguette and made myself a butty.
On my way through the town I’d seen an “Orange” boutique and so when it opened after lunch I trotted off round there to see what they could do about my phone. I’d managed to clean it up and dry it out but the keyboard wasn’t working, so I hoped that they could do something about it.
Nothing that they could do on the spot so repair would involve sending it away, and the hourly charge was something rather ludicrous. However, my contract has only one month to go before renewal and on renewal I would be entitled to a new telephone at a discount price. One or two deft keystrokes and I suddenly found myself the owner of a brand-new Samsung Smartphone, for all of €44:00. About half the price of the postage and minimum repair charge.
Later on, I was back on the road and had a gentle drive across the northern Burgundy mountains as far as Auxerre. This is where the new telephone came in handy because a quick search on the internet told me where the Première Class Hotel was situated – it’s quite a way out of the city.
Hopefully I’ll have a good sleep and a decent breakfast and make myself ready for the next stage of my journey.
