Arrival day drinks

Backblip: The flight from Montreal to Paris was uneventful, if you call being herded into a cattle shed and left with no explanations for two hours, while all the time to supposed time of the flight drifted inexorably past. Just another day with Air Canada, quite possibly the worst airline in the world to be allowed to exercise a quasi monopoly. It's not that they don't care - they do: just not about passengers or punctuality or service or being helpful. Had we not booked this flight on points, we'd have chosen someone like AirTransat or RyanAir - the customer experience is way better.

But, we got there safely, if late. One hour 58 minutes late. Then waiting for our luggage took another 75 minutes.... Fortunately, I am an experienced traveller. With Lufthansa, you can book ongoing travel. With Air Canada, best to give yourself a huge window in which they can fuck up.

Our destination was Saarbrücken, on the French/German border. Arriving at 10 (allegedly), there was a train from Gare de l'Est at 2... but if you think 4 hours is enough to land, clear customs and take the RER.... so I booked the next TGV at 6, and arranged to meet an old friend at a cafe near the Gare de l'Est for drinks and catch-up time.

Ah, I could tell you a tale or two about S. Like Raheny_Eye, he was one of my students at the Université de Nancy in 1988. I haven't seen him since 1995 and so it was with a great deal of excitement that we met at La Ville de Provins, a café heartily recommended by two people on TrpAdvisor. (And now by one person on blipfoto - it is great, go there, have a Pastis.)

Brilliant to see him and catch up and comment rudely on hairlines. And hopefully it won't be a further 28 years... etc.