annhig

hi janisj,

i'm loving your "warts and all" style. I've never been to Rules [not the sort of place that locals actually go, if this local and her friends are anything to go by, I'm more a "formica covered table in chinatown type] but I would have been mad if someone had said they wanted separate bills.

I'm intruiged by your title for the next segment - did you ever find the other car?

regards, ann

geoffthelobster

Absolutely loving this trip report - you're so brave to organise for such a large and complicated trip and your report shows a lot of 'get up and go' - a lovely itinery brilliantly executed!

janisj

Thanks everyone -- all this talk about me being a "saint" is going to my head. I was feeling - ish most of the time.

"<i>I've traveled in a group where one person wanted separate checks. We asked the waiter to give her a separate check and the rest of us split the remainder. </i>"

Sheesh, why didn't I think of that?? After 4 or 5 times -- "Oh, this lady would like her bill separately. You can bring one tab for the rest of us" might have eventually sunk in. Or - maybe not But being in the thick of the battle, it never occurred to me. And it isn't even that we'd have to divide the bill evenly - in the land of VAT and included service it is REALLY easy to figure what everyone owes.

As for losing the car - yes we got it back <i>this</i> time (the "oops" in the title refers to something else <u>altogether</u

stokebailey: I'm not firmly in either camp. Will share sometimes, but others, I order what I want and I want ALL of it and not give some of my dish to you

stokebailey

I can understand both camps, but who'd miss just the tiniest bite?

Cathinjoetown

I don't mind sharing a bite most times but I'm with janisj, sometimes it's mine and I want it ALL. I used to be annoyed by a friend who automatically assumed everyone was sharing and would immediately pass her starter or entree around and expect everyone to do the same. Sadly, she's gone and I wish she were here to annoy me again.

janisj, I am really enjoying your trip report--right up there with mimi's, nikki's, mllefifi's, yk's, neo's and several others.

We move to SW France the end of this month, I promise a trip/move report, should we survive.

Cholmondley_Warner

Birds alaways say they want a "tiny bite" and then wolf down the lot - and all your chips. They then sit there and pick at a salad and convince themselves they haven't eaten anything, so they can have a "tiny bite" of your pud.

I honestly cited chip stealing in my first divorce as "unreasonable behaviour" (I wish I was making this up).

stokebailey

I had tons of chips left over from my Fish Bone chippie portion; I'd've FedEx'd them over to you had I known of that painful incident in your past.

stokebailey

Anyway, everyone knows what a chip tastes like, so there's no justification for sampling. No novel taste sensation. They are either still hot or they've gotten cold.

Cholmondley_Warner

I had to choose between the wife or chips. No contest.

stokebailey

OOOXXX

yk

Still waiting for the next segment!

cathinjoetown - good luck with the move; how exciting! Keep us posted here.

flanneruk

janisj:

You're skiving. Where's the next episode?

Cathinjoetown

Thanks, yk, I will keep everyone posted.

Our house is swarming at the moment with ladies setting up a house contents sale. They are billing it as an "Estate Sale" as that draws more punters and we are in fact selling about 3/4 of our stuff. We are way past the George Carlin stage of needing stuff to hold our stuff!!! And beyond heavy duty shelving to hold the stuff that our stuff is stuffed into.

Anyone near Joetown, it's this Friday and Saturday. My husband and I are actually relaxed about it as they want us out of their way, although we do get consulted on pricing.

annhig

LOL, CW - was that the only example of unreasonable behaviout you relied on?

what about squeezing the toothpaste from the middle and [my DH's favourite gripe, which might well feature on his petition] not putting the tea-cosy on the teapot?

Cath - where exactly are you headed?

Cathinjoetown

annhig, We're moving to Figarol, a small village near Aspet and Salies du Salat (both much prettier than Figarol). Closest town in St. Gaudens. However, our little house has gorgeous views of the Pyrenees, so we're happy.

JanisJ--come back soon, I want to hear about the Cotswolds!

janisj

I am NOT skiving!

Been out all day and now I'm headed out to our book club meeting. This <i>might</i> be good?! First time most of of have seen or talked to each other since the trip - the two who went on the Scotland/Ireland tour (yes, including the separate check queen) just returned on Sunday.

Will try to get some more posted later tonight . . . . .

janisj

Just got home from the book club -- dreadful book (Waiting for Snow in Havana) but good food and wine and company. Everyone was fine - but dear old Separate Checks Queen was shaking down the others for more $$.

We had rented 2 cars - I charged one and she the other. Then 2 of the others paid me 1/3 each and 2 paid her. Plus we figured 2 full tanks of diesel each which we also divided by 3's. As it turned out each car only required 1 full tank so both of us were ahead of the game. The final tab at Hertz was a little more than we figured - but I ate it because the extra £ they payed me for fuel almost covered the shortfall. (this was all complicated by events later in the week - more on that later) She just never got the concept of dividing all car costs evenly -- which was the only way that made sense because different girls rode in different cars each day.

<B>Train to Oxford, Rental cars, losing one car along the way, moving into our country retreat</B>

We debated where to collect our rental cars. LHR was the first choice -- but its a long drive from there to southern Warwickshire. Then I thought of Banbury - on a train line from London and not that far from Lower Quinton. But a bear to drive through w/ about ten roundabouts to get from the rental depot on the east side of town to the A422 on the west side. Plus once out of town it would be a navigation zigzagging puzzle for a first-timer in the area

Then I discovered that Hertz has a location in the auto mall in Kidlington on the north side of Oxford right off the Woodstock Road. We could kill a few birds w/ one stone: Train to Oxford so no driving in greater London. We'd be just 5 miles from Blenheim so the novice driver/navigator would have a short drive to get used to the car/driving before stopping to tour the Palace and having lunch. Plus we'd be on the A44 which we could take all the way to Broadway before jogging up to our village - so a much easier navigating/driving baptism.

I booked train tix from Paddington to Oxford for only £4 pp. The day before we booked Ray Skinner to take us to Paddington at 9 AM so we wouldn't have to schlepp the bags to Tower Hill. We were in Oxford by 11:30 and had booked our cars for noon so the timing was just about perfect. Some of us took time in Oxford station to hit the ATMs. I was standing watching various bags about 50 feet away while 3 or 4 of us queued for the cashpoint. In a few minutes one of the girls came over to say the machine wouldn't work for her. It had given her some sort of error message. I was trying to work out what the machine had told her -- when a young woman came up to us and asked "Is this yours?" and held out £200 cash!!. Yep - the machine had said something to the effect "remove your card to retrieve you money" and she had removed her card but left before the money came out!! Really REALLY lucky that young woman was that honest!

After a loo/ATM/water break we took 2 cabs from the station up to Kidlington and the Hertz desk inside the Vauxhall dealership. We'd booked two compact standard transmissions. I love driving a stick and the other driver said she could handle a stick "no problem" and we could save a lot since we didn't need an automatic. Well, it WOULD become a problem in a couple of day's time. And of course - Hertz upgraded me to a behemoth Mondeo Wagon which was a fine car but about twice the size we needed/wanted.

After some delay futzing about getting the rental contracts to match our AutoEurope vouchers we were on the way. It very soon became obvious that between the 6 of us, we had 2 drivers and ONE competent navigator. I was OK since I know the area well (used to live about 15 miles away). This will be important later on . . . .

Anyway - we pulled into the grounds of Blenheim Palace - to find it closed! The gardens/grounds/cafe were open, but the interior was off limits because they were doing some wrap up filming for a feature film to be released next year. Gulliver's Travels w/ Jack Black. They did enjoy the grounds and we had lunch there. We decided we'd try to visit again later in the week (best laid plans . . . .)

We then headed out the A44 - the other car following me. I tried (REALLY tried) to keep the other car in sight in my rear view mirror -- but it is hard to caravan when the second car is going 25 mph. We did OK - I nursed her along and eased her up to about 35 MPH. But those of you who know the A44 know Fish Hill. It is a really steep hill w/ all sorts of warning signs about reducing speed, etc. Unfortunately - 1) they had recently chipped the road so there were 20 MPH signs, and 2) when we reached Fish Hill the skies opened up and it just poured down.

So while we had managed to get that far together - the other car fell completely out of sights half way down the hill. I took the first Willersey roundabout for the B4632 that goes to Lower Quinton and on to Stratford. Nothing behind me! We sat on the side of the road for about 5 mins but the other car was nowhere to be seen. We decided to press on and of course the skies immediately cleared. I wasn't terribly worried - they did have a road atlas and supposedly a navigator. I had given my only copy of the precise location of the cottage to the other car, but w/ the description of the house and the location of the village church I had no trouble finding the house.

We pulled in the offstreet parking area and were met by the cleaning girl who said the owner would be there in a few minutes. About 15 mins later Sandra arrived and showed us around the wonderful house. It is HUGE, has a beautiful garden etc. I described it and posted the link in my first entry . . .

Sandra left - and the other car still hadn't arrived. We settled in and took turns standing out front so IF they ever found the village they could find the house. About 45 mins later they pulled in - w/ a distinct aroma of frying clutch (!)

Broadway, where we lost the other car, is only about 8 miles from Lower Quinton but we never did figure out where all they travelled in those 45 missing mins . . . .

It was a lovely evening - we picked bedrooms and unpacked before walking up to the College Arms for dinner. They had a village event that night and were totally booked up - but they set a table in a side room and fit us in. I have no idea what I ate that night but it was yummy. The minute we sat down you-know-who said "we'll need separate checks" and the hostess said they could manage that at the end of the meal. Yeah, right When the manager brings the bill, she reminded him - "the lady who sat us said you'd do separate checks". "Oh - OK we can manage that". He takes the nicely itemized bill away and returns about 10 minutes later --- With a small piece of scratch paper that had 2 numbers on it: the our total bill, and 1/6 of the total

So for one night only we dived things 6 ways . . .

back to the cottage and more wine and snacks -- and American Idol on telly -- and to bed

Next: <B>Hidecote, Snowshill Manor, Hailes Abbey - sunshine and gullywashers

yk

Oh my... I definitely would have ditched them by now! Perhaps you were hoping the other car wouldn't show up? Nobody in that car had a cellphone to call you for help/directions?

azzure

The "distinct aroma of frying clutch" -- I know that scent most recently when I had to back about half a mile uphill on a single-lane gravel road lined with trees and rocks). In my case, the odor went away with no apparent long-term damage...somehow I sense that wasn't the case with you?

stokebailey

Oh, my. Great cottage.

I guess Hollywood helps keep the great houses going, and then later fun to see it in the movie. Buy annoying when they film it on your time.