Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
“Don't be so ridiculous, darling, and anyway I was commenting on things that have
happened in the past not what's about to happen.”
I resolved to try to be less cheery about the car, which I genuinely did think was doing
well. Instead, I turned my attention to our afternoon's viewing. The problem with this next
estate was that it had got onto my shortlist more on the basis of 'well, since we're already
in the area, we might as well go and have a look'. It didn't really offer enough land, but I'd
advised Jack, during my heady days of feeling incredibly authoritative on matters relating
to estate-buying in France, that there was always the possibility of buying more.
As we were arriving at the
aire de repos
(rest stop), the meeting place for our next
host, my phone rang. A young man with flame-red hair was already in the lay-by, standing
next to his car with his back to us, gesticulating to himself in a most energetic way. He had
his mobile phone clamped to his ear talking excitedly
to me!
He spoke extremely quickly and was so intent on helping out with directions that he
hadn't realised that we'd actually arrived. Since there seemed no possibility of interrupting
his informative flow, I finally stuck my head out of the window.
“Harry …
Harry
!” I yelled into the phone. “I'm looking at you. You're very close to
our car, turn around - yes, that's the one - you can hang up now.”
Jack confirmed this with a blast on the car horn. Harry, completely unabashed by this
revelation cantered up to us and simultaneously thrust his head and arm through the driver
side window. Finding this a very unwelcome form of introduction, Jack jerked his head
backwards to avoid an inadvertent punch on the chin. As it slapped on the head-rest be-
hind, our ever-attentive dogs decided that we were in the middle of a car-jacking incident.
They immediately clambered over the bags and launched themselves at Harry via Jack's
shoulders. Harry recoiled rapidly.
“Right I'm Harry, Harry Watson,” he blustered, “lovely dogs by the way. Do they bite?
I hope not. I'm your host for the afternoon and I must tell you that this is my very first
viewing. But I can't see a single thing going wrong and I'm very excited to see this
do-
maine
. I hope you are too… Are you?”
We were both rendered quite speechless and also out of breath by this sudden frenzied
flow. Me, because Harry was one of those people who needed someone else to do the
breathing for him and Jack because he was still frantically trying to peel the dogs off his
knees. This was no mean feat because Sam, in particular, was never intended for lap-sit-
ting.
Harry, on the other hand, was entirely insensible to all this in-car activity and Jack's
cursing and carried on regardless.
“Right,
great
, just follow me. Only one tiny point to mention. This estate is a
little
bit
off the beaten track so if we get a tad lost I'll let you know. But honestly there's
no prob-
lem.
The owner of this property is really,
really
laid back.”
And with that, Harry retreated.
