Wednesday, August 31, 2005

DISLOCATION

Fifteen odd hundred kilometres across five countries and we pull up alongside UK immigration on the Calais side of the Channel. I am tired and my record on this trip of language selection has not been good...German to French speaking Luxembourgois, French to Flemish speaking Belgians, you get the picture. Anyway, I decide to leave the greeting to the young guy in the booth.

He takes our passports.

"Jó napot kivánok."

One.

"...wha...but...hogyan...jézus jó istenem."

"Dint tha know? Oop in Yorkshire, 'Ungarian's t'second language nah."

Two.

"Well, ah'll go to t'foot of our stairs."

I didn't go into any more detail, the third one would have suggested enemy action.

On to French customs where we are stopped by a member of the Gendarmerie.

"Jó napot kivánok."

Only got a bloody Hungarian wife, hasn't he?

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

DRIVE

Oh, well. It's that time of year again when Amstelladagain takes a sabbatical. It's the annual malt run. We're off to England this evening and posting may be sporadic if not non-existent. Only one firm plan...the 20th at BDTBL.

UTB