the drive down to Italy

Well we’re  back from an eventful short stay in Italy but more of that later.  I just wanted to write about the journey because

a) I always do and

b) I need to share all the little mishaps that always seem to happen to us on the trek to pasta land.

There’s an inevitability about this, a bit like groundhog giorno, and I can’t help but wonder if the Gods of Wicked Fun have now run out of other poor saps and just get their entertainment throwing curve balls our way. Ah well, it keeps me topped up with things to write about.

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driving; swiss crazy

I like driving. After many years of commuting, totting up over 40k miles a year, it’s just as well. My long-distance eyesight’s slowly deteriorating however, and increasingly I tend to suffer from a bit of eye strain when driving at night. But that apart I still enjoy the experience. Mostly. The only exceptions are driving on the M25 during rush hours and the bloody journey through Switzerland ….

basel – faulty

I think I’ve mentioned before my deep dislike for Basel in Switzerland. It hosts the toll-grabbing frontier tax police who just want their 40SFr from you to use their crappy motorways and don’t seem in the least concerned about what you might be carrying into or though their country (like illegal aliens). Apart from some historic buildings overlooking the river Rhine in the old part of town it’s an ugly city full of industry and grey drab architecture. The road system was completely choked and hopeless until relatively recently. Now it’s just unpleasant.

watches; batteries not intelligent

I’m quite a fan of watches. I probably have 4 or 5 between here and Italy. Nothing too expensive. I’ve acquired them not because I’m a collector but more often than not I’ve gone out without wearing one, mistakenly, and have popped into Next or somewhere to buy another one – I cannot stand not knowing what the time is. Stupid I know but that’s me.

motorway driving: aarggh!

I don’t want this posting to become a rant about how bad driving on British motorways is compared with Continental ones, though it might veer towards that I suspect. Fact is though that I have being driving 50k miles a year in this country for the last 20 years and now spend a lot of time on French, Swiss and, mostly, Italian motorways. So I reckon I’m well-placed to comment generally. And in general I find motorway driving increasingly painful, especially in the UK.