Day 262 : Late

Dinner Menu (Thanks Sami)

• Poulet roti
• Pommes de terres roti
• Broccoli al dente
• Salade verte 
• Fromages
• Reste de gateau d'anniversaire de Louis

Contrary to the US Army we left a man behind today. Fianna, Zephira and I were due to meet up with Ruben at the Gare Montparnasse in order to make our way by train to Bordeaux and then on to Samantha's house in Mauroux.  Alas a combination of factors (alarm clocks, metro breakdowns, etc) meant that with only a few minutes to spare before the Train left Ruben was still nowhere in sight!  We had to make one of those snap black or white decisions.  Do we go on without him or do we wait for him? As I am writing these in lines from our comfortable guest house in Mauroux  you can guess what decision was made.  It does pose the interesting question of what is a reasonable amount of time you should give yourself to get to the airport or station when you are travelling.  I have historically erred more on the side of minimizing my waiting time, but that probably doesn't really make sense.  Why not allow an extra 20 or 30 mins as a safety margin?  The time you spend before leaving is usually dead time anyway.  I think there is an app in this.  It would detect where you are and on the basis of your chosen mode of transport would emit a high pitched noise to tell you you needed to go (I guess this is called a calendar).  You could make it more interesting by getting it to ask you some key questions to decide when you need to leave:

• How important is this train or plane?
• What are your alternatives?
• How expensive are the alternatives?
• What do you need to do the same day before leaving?
• Do you stress easily?
• Are you used to travelling?
• Are there connecting flight/trains/cars?
• Do you have spare cash to spend?
• Are you travelling with others?

See you tomorrow Ruben.