Bordeaux
Earlier in the week I went to Bordeaux
, France on business. It went something like this........
"Why is that section of the tarmac at the airport called
the apron
? My colleague S. surmised that it may look like an apron from the air
- with a pocket and strings. I laughed sympathetically & gave him another
pill. A steep bank & dive found us bumping in to the ground at Bordeaux
airport. It wasn't a landing as such, we'd just ran out of air. And the
way the brakes were applied it was glaringly obvious we were running out
of runway.
What surprises me most of all about the little jaunt from London to
Bordeaux is this: after spending 40 minutes sitting on the runway before
take-off, how was it that we were only 5 minutes behind schedule on arrival?
What the hell do they do when they set off on time - fly around in circles?
I was a bit concerned at one point when the blue sky began to get a little
darker
the higher we got - this would explain in making up the time. As we had
a window seat over a wing, I was checking for bits coming off it as we descended.....!
And what lovely sunny weather down here. Clam. Balmy. Mildly warm.
Yes - this is a far cry from freezing, snowy Paris about a month ago. It
all seems so informal. So informal that I picked up the wrong bag off the
conveyor belt -
but my key worked the padlock! And after finding some magasines in the front
pocket that I never had......I tried the padlock again - and opened the
case! A wallet, book etc - not mine, oops! I calmly dumped the case
back on the belt. My case came along a few mins later.
Holiday caption competition: " I like Bordeaux because...." (In less
than 20 words). The sun didn't set until at least 7 - 7.30 tonight. During
the early evening we got a taxi into town, (the hotel restaurant was shut
- an annoying national Sunday night habit in France), to sample the delights.
Without a map, or any knowledge of Bordeaux, I would say this was a huge
medieval town/city centred around a long, (extremely wide in places!), meandering
river. There are a few ancient looking brick bridges which seem to link
the old Venetian-style river jettys on one side with the huge chateau-like
former commercial buildings on the other, in an area, which I guess
was the 'main part of the city' many years ago when the town was trading
off the river.
At this time, the ancient cobble stones were being ripped up for huge
amounts of roadworks. I've never seen so much street construction on such
a scale in a small area. Some of it was to lay tram lines, some for relaying
the road surface. In the side streets off one of the main squares, where
the tram line workers had stopped work today, (these lads are obviously
not on a bonus to finish the job!), it became so quiet the further you walked
down - you could, quite literally, hear a pin drop. Naturally, in situations
such as this one one can only admire the beauty of the aged facades of the
tall, over-hanging buildings, marvel at the way the moonlight shimmers across
the tiled rooftops - almost bringing the silence as it dances along the
parapets, and with full appreciation of the sights around you...........break
into a chorus from the Banana
Boat Song - "Day-o! Day-ay-ay-o! Daylight come & he wan go
home.....!" HA - yes - it echoed like buggery! Job done :)
And - as if by magic, we stumbled across the Connemara
Irish Pub.......you see, even in France, there is a God. So we
had a pint & watched some footie on Sky Sports One on a huge screen
- then tootled off to find something to eat"
Work was okay :) The weather got hotter off the
next few days. I recommend Bordeaux
Airport for a nice,quiet undisturbed meal with a panoramic view
across an empty and fields. We ate there in the upstairs restaurant before
we left - very nice and tranquill..........yes - there weren't many planes
:)