My latest trip to France

The latest trip to France was a bit disappointing. Perpignan was disappointing - hotel restaurant was shut and the place seems to have closed down - no petrol stations open during the afternoon etc. I put this down perhaps to the Spanish influence - dare I say lazyness. Now staying in a city is probably not the best thing to do either as everybody is too preoccupied with things and the people are only doing a job after all. But when you travel to the South of France you should be able to safely assume that during their holidays you can go to a hotel and get a meal. The worrying things is that with three flights a day coming in from Stansted alone there are lots of tourists in town. So why do the cooks have a week off. Go anywhere in Wales in the summer and you find hotel restaurant staff working away. If I were running a hotel I'd need my head tested if I had to tell customers "Sorry, the chef and his staff have gone on their annual jolly, but they'll be back next week after you've all gone home" The weather was rather bizzare as well - here's one of me being blown (excuse the expression) on a Languadoc beach. 22 degrees and a howling gale from the Pyrenees. Not many people on the beach and if they were "Chapel hat pegs" would have been in evidence - know what I mean. Anyway it was a break, a bit more of France ticked off but I can't see a return. More of the exploits soon.