Taking account and travelling back

There is a French word bilan which literally means “balance sheet” but is used in the English sense of ‘taking an account’.

A few years ago I attended a conference on buying and selling property in France.

A French notary caused much laughter in his presentation as he pronounced “balance sheet” as “balanced shit”.

Anyway our bilan was positive.

Our twin fears of massive travel delays and a pokey old flat proved baseless.

We breezed through security – though at Nice airport Bob strongly objected to required removal of his belt and braces.

I was also charged handsomely for my hold baggage even though the easyJet website made it clear that there was no charge if you have a premium seat.

The easyJet business model is quite sly.

You inevitably get caught for hidden extras as their website is -perhaps intentionally- confusing.

A passenger who travelled back and forth was irate to be told that his cabin bag was too large and had to go in the hold.

The view of the party was that it was great to be travelling abroad again without restrictions.

Other than that it was compulsory to wear a face mask in the train there were no restrictions in France.

EasyJet also insisted on a mask.

I brought copious ones with me.

I imagine easyJet would have charged for one.

Gatwick should be renamed Get-rich.

They now charge for drop-offs and Airport Taxis have a monopoly on transport.

Our fare to Brighton was £88.

The driver explained that the airport takes a percentage of everything.

In the words of General Macarthur:

“I shall return.“