Driving as a New Zealander in France (and I speak on Clive’s behalf) is slightly unnerving. Everything seems a bit backwards – that is, our natural reactions and places to look have to be reversed. You need to keep thinking “to the right” or in French, “a droite”. Interestingly, we have noticed that people tend to keep to the right when walking along the footpath or on stairs (which is the same in Asia, where they also drive on the right side of the road).

The traffic lights and pedestrian crossing rules take a bit of adjusting too as well. A red traffic light does mean stop, green means go, but orange seems to mean “proceed with caution”. Some pedestrian crossings have lights to show when to cross, but at other zebra crossings where there are no lights, it seems most drivers won’t actually stop for you – you just have to wait for a gap in the traffic and take your chances. As you would expect, the traffic road signs are all a bit different too. (We’ve been on the look out for deer jumping across the road, but unfortunately have not seen any yet!) And when you are leaving a village, the name is crossed out as you go – like “that’s it, you’re outta here, it’s all over rover!”.

This was our travelling day, driving from Fixin to Meximieux, which is approximately a thirty minute drive from Lyon. Again, another beautiful journey through open countryside and many pretty villages.

We’ve arrived at our accommodation in Meximieux. It’s a totally different place than our previous “out-of-a-magazine – but not that practical” wee place in Fixin, but a lot more homely. Our host, Najet and her almost eleven year old son, Noe live upstairs. They were both so welcoming and friendly. Noa is homeschooled and learns English “for homework”. He makes a great translator and already we have had some good laughs together. He is full of boy-joy and it makes me miss our big boys a lot.

A big thank you to my Clivey for his wonderful driving on this trip. He is tres courageux!

(I must apologise for not using the appropriate French macrons in these notes. I just cannot get them to work on this keyboard!)