Demain, dès l'aube...

...à l'heure où blanchit la campagne

Very early start today. As last Saturday, it was just Dad and I in the car again...only this time we chased a sunrise. And boy it was beautiful...the clouds were bruised blue and ribbons of golden light were streaming through the gaps in the cloud. And of course, I didn't take a photograph of this, mainly because I was in a moving car, but also because I was just too tired to! Got a little teary saying goodbye, but I guess that isn't always a bad thing. Will miss everyone a lot...I think it's only from being away from those you love that you realise just how much they mean to you.

All travelling occurred without major problems which is always awesome. And Paris Charles de Gaulle is massive isn't it?! Spent about 15 minutes in total walking, and 2 or 3 minutes on a shuttle-tram thing before I could even find the exit! Upon arrival at Roissy (the train station for CDG, NEVER ask for directions to Charles de Gaulle on the Metro, as you may end up being sent to Charles de Gaulle Étoile (a Parisian metro station on the RER A line), I actually got asked for directions by not one, but two people...I must look at least like I know what I'm doing (even though I genuinely don't!). Really bizarre when on my first train, the metro, where the entire carriage was serenaded by an accordionist playing La Vie en Rose, possibly a prediction of what is to come? Hope so. This photograph is of Gare Saint-Lazare, and if you replace the smoke with people...well it kind of works! Anyway, all journeys and changes went without a hitch - so today I have travelled a grand total of 10 hours and travelled by car, aeroplane, metro, train and tram. Not bad for a day's work!

Leaving my family and all has put me in a bit of a wistful mood, which means I'm going to write something completely unrelated about my day. So, five similarities between my mum and I:-
- We're both very very stubborn...especially when we know we're right. I think the menfolk in our lives have begun to just let us run out of the steam of indignation and then tell us they're right. I think we both get it from Grandma Sylvia, who once in the time span of two weeks managed to not utter one word to my Granddad. I like to think that I'm a bit more mellow than that, but I suppose only Andy could tell you...
- Following on from this, when we think we're right, we will win the argument...whether we are or not. As you can imagine, the first two traits mentioned doesn't seem to imply a happy relationship. However, totally false...because we are so similar, we are really close. But when we argue, stay out of the firing line somewhere far far away!
- We both are rather chatty...I can happily sit with my mum, be it on Skype or face to face, and talk for hours. Dad gets a little bored after about half an hour, so goes and potters about while still in earshot so he knows what's going on.
- We both do this weird thing with our bracelets. Well, we both have gold bracelets that you can pull off your hand without unclasping so, without even realising it, we both take them off and twiddle them. Nervous habit I suppose! Although we do it all the time, neither of us have ever lost a bracelet in that way...one day though, it will happen.
- We're both worriers. We can both worry about tiny things from whether the door is locked or the heating left on, to staying awake until our loved ones are in after a night out. Sometimes I think we worry so we can ignore the bigger things, at least for a while.

Since I have done quite a comprehensive list for my mum, it seems unfair if I don't say anything about dad, so here goes:-
- We have a very similar sense of humour. Things that mum doesn't enjoy, me and dad find absolutely hilarious. I could happily spend an entire day with dad watching comedy and discussing afterwards. I think this sense of humour also extends to a very specific sense of fun, we both find certain things (like doing impressions of people) entertaining, whereas I think mum just humours us sometimes!
- On the same kind of lines, our musical tastes do not differ that far from each other. Dad has actually got me into some cracking bands that I had never even heard of before, and I hope I have done the same for him at least once.
- I love the fact that no matter what mum cooks for him, every meal is his "favourite"! So following on from that, I think our interest in the enjoyment of eating food is very much aligned.
- Work ethic. Like dad, I throw myself into work with gusto...even when I'm really not feeling it. I think it's from him that I got my motivation to work hard, because in leading by example neither of my parents have ever had to tell me to get my arse into gear!
- Fascination with new and shiny things would have to be my final point. Admittedly, my fascination is very much a "wow that is amazing and brilliant and new and does so many cool things" whereas dad is a lot more analytical about things. I love the fact that no matter what new technology he is thinking of buying, he will know absolutely everything about every different product available on the market before committing himself to purchase anything. Consequently my dad is pretty much an expert on televisions, cameras, cars, speakers, headphones, sound systems...in fact, most things electrical.

So, back safe. There are not many days that you can say you watch a sun rise in one country, then watch it set in another. Bienvenue à France.

In Memoriam
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.