A series of unfortunate events..but we had to smile in the end!*

This story doesn’t involve caravanning, but it does include the NHS, the Caravan Club, P&0, overseas travel, and sledging so here goes.

We had booked our ‘Skobia’ onto the 13.55 Tuesday P&O sailing from Dover to Calais,  using the Club’s ferry booking service, for a pre-Xmas visit to our grandsons in the French Alps. Our car was loaded with presents we were taking on behalf of Santa and we planned a dawn departure to make the 210 mile trip to Dover; however, things did not go to plan!

For a while I (Chas) had been bothered with ‘floaters’ in my right eye: annoying, but I hoped they’d go away. On Monday afternoon my vision was filled with tadpoles and then a crazy octopus which squirted black ink until I couldn’t see much at all. Cath drove me to our local medical centre where I was seen by the senior partner without an appointment. After an examination he referred me to the Eye Casualty department at Nottingham’s QMC.

Next morning, I had laser treatment for a ‘retinal tear’. If that didn’t work I was going to have to return on Wednesday for ‘freezing’ treatment. It was obvious that we weren’t going to be on the 13.55 sailing. Cath phoned the Club and explained the situation: we needed to amend our sailing date, but to which day? Between the Club and P&O a solution was found. We amended the sailing to Wednesday, paying the fee, but if we subsequently had to amend the date to Thursday the fee would be waived. A big thank you to all concerned.

The laser stitches did the trick and we were set to go the next day. Cath would have to do all driving on the 800 mile trip. The tricky part was that Cath had not driven on the Continent since we were posted home from RAF Germany way back in 1983!! She had never driven on the M25 either. Nevertheless, she did a splendid job and we arrived at Dover docks on schedule. The sailings had been delayed because of the weather and, joy! we could get on an earlier ferry which had been delayed. We were keen to arrive in Calais in daylight for our 40 mile drive to the ‘Ibis Budget’ at St Omer, our first night stop.

We were safely boarded and having a cup of coffee when it was announced that the sailing was cancelled for technical reasons and that we’d have to disembark and join the bigger ‘Spirit of France’ which was just docking. Getting off the ship involved two cars in front squeezing forward and then our doing a three-point turn in the space between the gap and the empty third lane. I explained that I couldn’t do it with only one eye, and that Cath didn’t want to attempt it. “No problem” said the friendly P&O man, “I’ll do it for you.” And so it was that we all drove off the ship to wait on the dockside again. We eventually sailed mid-afternoon to arrive in the dark and into the terror of the local St Omer rush hour.

On Thursday, Cath drove us faultlessly 370 miles down the autoroute to Beaune, our second night stop, in just over 7 hours. She’d just celebrated her 69^th birthday a few days previously, so it was no mean feat. The weather was good and the roads were excellent for long-distance travel. We arrived at our destination, Macot La Plagne, after another 220 miles on Saturday.

We were a day late for Jamie’s 3^rd birthday, but we had a wee party anyway. On Sunday we all went up to Plagne Centre (2,000 metres) for a family sledge on the fresh snow of the unopened ski slopes. So we got to smile in the end.

So lots of thanks to our Medical Centre, QMC Eye Casualty, the Caravan Club and P&O from chasncath.

Postscript. On our return trip, the engine management warning light came on just short of St Omer where we were stopping overnight before our ferry. I had an appointment the next day at QMC to make sure all was ok with my eye. "Drive to the nearest Skoda dealer” instructed our handbook.

Using the hotel wifi, we located Caffyns at Ashford and gave them a ring. They were fully booked but told us to come in anyway. With fingers crossed we made it to the ferry and then Ashford. The Service department somehow found time to fix the fault and get us on our way. A big thank you to Caffyns.

Post Postscript. The specialist at QMC declared the treatment successful, so another smile.

* with acknowldgements to DSB

Ligntning Mc Cath