I had one final concerted work effort on the blog today, because guests are arriving this afternoon, and there's never time, or inclination, to do blogging when guests are around! I then did a big clean-up on the barge to make it presentable, then went up to the station to meet Ian and Felicity (Flis) Johnston, friends from Monash Uni and Rugby days back in the 1970’s. I promised them we would be moored close to the station, and I kept my promise when 10 minutes after they arrived we were on the barge, having a drink, and a good chat.

Ian was looking a bit stiff, so Flis had great delight (when she could stop laughing) in telling the story of The Great Escalator Disaster of 2018 (old-timers will recognise this phrase from the Bristow comic strip of days gone by). It seems that Ian was going up an escalator at Bordeaux Station with his heavy suitcase sideways on the step above. Someone behind him looked like they wanted to pass, so he turned the case sideways to allow them past. But in doing so, it tipped off the edge of the step and, given its weight, it just kept coming back down the escalator, bowling over Ian, and then Flis and then the person behind them! But the story isn’t finished yet, since they were rapidly approaching the top of the escalator, and in all the kerfuffle Ian had become wedged between the suitcase and the side of the escalator. When they reached the top, he could not get up or out of the way, so Flis hurdled him, then the person behind hurdled him, followed by everyone else behind. When a gap in people occurred, they dragged the suitcase, then Ian, out of the way. As Ian was now discovering, in all this action, he had wrenched his shoulder, which was now becoming pretty sore, and he was unable to lift his left arm above shoulder height (luckily he is right-handed, so he had no problems lifting a beer!). But he was very concerned about the effect on his golf game when he gets home.

As evening approached, we decided to go up to the nearby Terminus Hotel (which also features prominently in Citadel) for dinner.

It was a beautiful balmy evening, so we made the most of the outdoor setting. Ian enjoyed his introduction to Cassoulet, while Flis was very happy with the gluten-free options.

As we walked back to the barge afterwards, we spotted a coypu on the lawn alongside the canal. A nice introduction to canal wildlife for them on their first night.

When we got back to the barge, I got a phone call from Rita saying that she had received an email from the Montauban Prefecture, indicating that my Carte de Séjour was ready for collection - less than one month after they said it might take 4 months! So now I had a decision to make; tomorrow was the only chance I would have to nip back to Montauban on the train and collect it. So should I do that, and leave Ian and Flis in Carcassonne, or should I try to collect it at some later time? I thought the options over, but decided that since I had been looking forward to spending time with Ian and Flis, that I would see if we could arrange a later pickup time (probably in November after we arrive in Auxonne and I have the car available again).