h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Today is my husband's last day at work. He's had a busy week, saying goodbye to everyone and being celebrated and lauded by all his classes and the rest of the staff at the school. It must be a big day for him. I don't know what he'll be like tonight.

I wonder what this will mean for me. For us? If the comments on Gransnet are anything to go by, it's a pretty nerve-racking time for the spouse. Especially if she's still working.

Having bailed out from work last year (Early Retirement), the only advice I can offer is.

The first thing to put in the bin is the plan.

Don't rush, there's plenty of time to get round to doing things

Ah yes, well, his plan involves other people, so there's an incentive to it. All his friends are now active pensioners, some of them early retirers.

1. Next weekend - cycle trip with his men's keep fit crowd.
2. August: Holiday with me
3. September: cycle trip across France to the Pyrenees - the first half of his plan to do the Camino to Santiago.

I hope he'll get on with clearing out his office at some point, too. Then there are some tens of thousands of slides to scan and catalogue.

It would be nice if he gets round to that.

Hope can be a wonderful thing.

you know what they say here:

Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt

So Gerard Hoffnung's name was Mr G. Hope? In the same kind of way that Giuseppe Verdi's was Joe Green?

'The hope dies last'

I like that thought

Hope I translated it properly

F S

If he's cycling across France, Rocamadour is worth a look. It's on the traditional route to Santiago. There's a Black Madonna and Durandal, the sword of Roland in a spectacular setting half way up a cliff.

I remember Rocamadour. The first 20 years or so of our time together we spent most holidays driving around France. We must have been there about 30 years ago, just before or after son No 2 was born). It must be strikingly beautiful because I still have a mental picture of it to this day.

They have a choice of three routes to the Pyrenees - Down the Rhone and across the South Coast, or out West to the Atlantic and then Southwards, or a sort of diagonal between the two. I think they said they're going down the Rhone and along the bottom. Rocamadour would be on the diagonal route, if at all, I think.

There are myriad routes to Santiago all over Europe - even our local church has the symbolic shell in its design, because it is on the route from a large monastery near Kaiserslautern and would have been a stopping place for people travelling on foot from there.

Dieppe was a port for the Santiago pilgrims coming from England. It was an English enclave for centuries, even its name comes from the English (deep). From Dublin, St. James's Gate was the setting-off point; where Guinness's brewery is now.

There's an Entry in this, if it's not done already.

Hmm, two of them: A4044863 and Demon Drawer's minimal 2000 Entry A417115

The connection of Santiago to the apostle is as tendentious as you could get. They know the remains buried there are his, because they were told in a dream, apparently.

but it does sound like a flipping good walk. We're planning to do it in stages, and since a walk must start somewhere we're thinking that we'll begin at the Dom in Aachen which used to be a meeting place for pilgrims doing the Camino. There is a Scallop shell on what used to be the outside wall of Charlemagne's palace so we'll begin there.

And because a walk must also start sometime, we're possibly going to do two days worth in August

I meant tenuous, not tendentious. Could be that too.

My husband prefers to say that he is going to the end of the world. (Finisterra) - they are going to do that little extra bit once they get there.

It was on a hike from Burgos to Santiago that No 1 Son and his wife first really got together (they had known each other for nearly 10 years before that). The hiking theme and the shells were the mottos for their wedding. They even had a different reading than the usual Corinthians. It's the Whit Monday reading (well, it is here in Germany) The journey to Emmaus.

Apparently at the moment the police have their hands full persuading people to take a rest. Some pilgrims are collapsing under the strain.

Anyway. Hubby and friends are going by bike. He's already bought himself a new bike and has been riding it in.

They set off on Thursday morning at 7 am. I was looking forward to four weeks of being able to practise the piano until late at night and just generally pottering around the house getting stuff done. We have not been separated for that long since we got married in 1977.

But he rang last night from Colmar to say that they were breaking off the journey. He had a very painful left knee, something he has never had before, nor had any signs of. As he is the only one of the group who speaks French, the others preferred not to go on without him.

He'll be home in a couple of hours and I shall have to re-think my plans.

He'll be going to the doctor as soon as he can to see what can be done. I hope he gets it sorted, as being able to cycle and do these trips was a major part of his retirement plans.

He hates being at home all the time - as a teacher in Germany, he only had to teach in the mornings, mainly, so spent many hours on his own at home, doing things in the garden and various other jobs, but not terribly happy to do them. So being able to get out on his bike is necessary for the sanity of both of us!

That's a shame. Knees are horribly complicated, but they can do wonderful repairs now that they couldn't a short time ago, some of it only minimally invasive (keyhole surgery).

I spend endless happy hours pottering at home. A valuable talent. Would he fancy a ukulele? Or joining a choir?

He left this morning for a second attempt to head for the End of the World. They caught a train half an hour ago at 8 am which will take them to Colmar, which is as far as they got last time, and thence they continue on their bikes to Mulhouse, Belfort, Lyon, down the Rhone to Arles and across the Carmargue to the Pyrenees.

The weather is absolutely bright and sunny at present, although only 1 °C.

There are just two of them this time, the third member of the party also developed trouble with his knee, is totally incapacitated and dropped out a few weeks ago. Fittingly, the two who are now the remainder of the party are called Peter and Paul.

Finisterre? Or the pub in London?

Santiago de Compostela and a bit more. So: Spain.