Pilgrimage Preparations

This evening we had a meeting for all the people going on our Parish Pilgrimage to Lourdes. Fr Tim did most of the hard work - he gave a brief introduction to the Domaine and explained what the main activities of the pilgrimage would be.

My job was getting wine and nibbles ready, and going through some of the boring but necessary details about travelling by air... like the fact that only one piece of hand luggage is allowed (no surprises there) and that no liquids can be taken as hand luggage into France, unless they are in containers of no more than 100ml and carried through security in a clear bag. Also, only one piece of luggage is allowed as check-in baggage. This is only really a problem on the return flight. In my experience, lots of little old ladies seem to return from Lourdes with gallons of water as part of their luggage. BA apparently charge for extra bags/containers... at £60 per container (no matter how small), it would be cheaper to get the stuff posted home.

I was trying not to sound too school-marm-ish... and probably failing miserably. This was the first time I realised how many people we have on the trip: twenty-five adults and three children... and boy, it looks like a big group when they're all together!!

I have to say that it was a very enjoyable evening: helped, no doubt, by the fact that it was one of the rare occasions when I allowed myself to leave my car behind, and therefore I could have a glass or two of wine...