I knocked off early this afternoon and headed for the car rental place in Interlaken, where a lovely old retired man helped me to calm down by taking a good twenty five minutes to fill in the necessary paperwork, to confirm that I had, in fact, already paid for the rental in advance. It was a nice surprise to see an old favourite parked and waiting for me – an Audi A4 Avant estate – a similar version of which I drove to England and back to collect Jo last year. Then home via two supermarkets to try and find cool boxes for food and drink in the car – apparently, only sold during the summer season in the MMM Migros in Thun, before they’re cleared out to make way for skis for the masses.

So, home, sans cool boxes, but avec quite a lot of a certain type of gift which generally goes down well both within and outside Switzerland. As well as a suitcase full of presents, we also have two more filled neatly with clothes, a large bag filled with warm winter clothing for our time in the mountains of the Lake District and on the coast of South Wales, a large cardboard box full of chargers, cables, adaptors and blank DVDs (for media along the way). Outfits for travelling are about to be ironed, and then tomorrow morning, a last minute itinerary check to make sure that we have everything we need. It feels as though we’re taking all the clothes we own, but then, we will be away for three weeks, returning on 18th to what is shaping up to be a chilly autumn. As I look out of the sitting room window tonight, a light moon is illuminating fresh snow on the top of the peaks all around and warning us that by the time we return, the autumn which has recently turned will be itself turning, into the cold and windy pre-winter of November. Thoughts of this push us now to our warm bed, with minds racing with all the excitement of the weeks to come.

T minus 7: in a week’s time, I shall be a husband.

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