Paris and a psychological study

As hinted at last time, we didn't go to London for the weekend.

We went to Paris for lunch instead.

Now, this might sound a bit extravagant and it is. But it made some sense at the time. The cost of a hotel room in London is approaching £150 for a night these days, plus, of course, there's the train fare to get there from the folks' house, dinner to pay for, and so on. Having been a collector of AirMiles (I still can't get used to the name "Avios"), I reasoned that it would cost us a lot less to go to Paris for the day.

The parking at Heathrow T5 Business Car Park - the one with the pods - was the same as two tickets to London from Maidenhead. Two return flights to Paris via Avios was £60. By the time the train at the other end was factored in (more of that in a moment), the whole thing cost a lot less than the hotel in London would have cost on it's own.

So, there we were at around 6 am getting a pod from the Car Park to T5. As always, passing through security there on the way out was a breeze, and we had some breakfast while waiting for the plane.

On arrival at Charles de Gaulle, we had a different story. They were working on the railway link to the city that weekend, and we were forced to get a shuttle train to another terminal, then find a bus to be taken to another railway that was working. This probably added half an hour to each of the journeys that day.

Still, we got into the city at around 11 and made our way to a restaurant recommended by my friend Nigel, who lives in the city. It opened at 12, so we were one of the first people in.

"Le Soufflé" does what it says on the tin. It's a soufflé restaurant. You can have a three course soufflé meal if that's what floats your boat. We chose from the traditional menu, which still had a "mini" soufflé as part of the chicken main course.

Here's Ann, when the first course was brought...

And on conclusion of the pud...

It was a real experience, and easily the best lunch we have eaten in Paris for a long time. A bit bizzarre though...

On leaving the restaurant, we did the usual stuff of walking along the river, into Notre Dame and finding a place for some coffee, before heading back to the airport, arriving back in Maidenhead at around half nine. A really good day out!

Now, I have also been to see my consultant for a three-monthly "watch" part of the "watch and wait" regimen that I am now on. Nothing untoward found, which is good and the news is that he won't be going to Australia until May at the earliest, so I will be seeing him for a last time in April. 

He has also asked me to take part in a psychology study being undertaken by a PhD student at Chester University; something I have gladly volunteered to do. The session will take place next Friday. The have some concern that they don't have the opportunity to offer much in the way of psychological counselling as part of the standard diagnosis and treatment, so they are looking for volunteers to offer their experiences. Let's see what we discover at the end of the week.

The new car is going very nicely, but I am currently disappointed with it's fuel consumption. This will no doubt improve when it's properly run in, and the warmer weather comes, but I am only getting mid-high 40s, when I think I should be getting in the 50s somewhere. BMW's claim of 60 mpg is, as usual, complete nonsense. I do wish that te EU would get their act together and provide realistic figures.

Venice to look forward to next, but lots of work to do before we get there. I am starting to put together a new project that may see us through another few years and it's good to be starting something new.