You know what I said about Caiti and trains a week ago? Well, her jinx continues. Having gone back to do her exams, she was heading home again yesterday. She got up at 5 in order to catch her train at 7. And if you know Caiti, you will appreciate that she is not even remotely a morning person so that was an awesomely huge achievement for her.

However, en route to the station (by tram and then bus) she found out via her phone app that the train she intended to catch ‘ne circule pas’ i.e. wasn’t running. So she shivered her way back home and tried again at 1pm. This time the train was actually running but, owing to the morning cancellation, was bursting at the seams. Probably because it was so full and heavy it arrived at Perigueux twenty minutes late, and the connecting train hadn’t waited. Which makes you wonder why it was called a connecting train.

It didn’t take Caiti long to discover that the next train to Limoges wouldn’t arrive there till after the last train to Gueret had left. OK, so there had been some industrial action on the Friday, but I don’t think it was particularly widespread as there was nothing in the internet about it and no mention of it when Caiti booked her ticket that day. Just plain ineptitude.

To be fair, SNCF offered to put Caiti up in a hotel in Limoges so she could take a train to Gueret on Sunday, but since that didn’t leave till 12.11pm, well, it wasn’t a massively appealing prospect. Plus Chris and I were rather concerned where and if Caiti would end up being lodged. We didn’t want our daughter trailing through some dingy back streets of Limoges to a murky establishment of some sort. Plus it’s clear to us by now that SNCF would be severely challenged to organise a piss up in a brewery or find their own backsides with two hands – insert the appropriate saying of your own choice here. And they sure as heck can’t find their own trains and get them to run. We weren’t at all convinced they’d come good on their promise to take care of Caiti’s accommodation for a night.

So Chris and I jumped in the car, again, and drove down to Limoges to get our tearful daughter. As she said, when other people get furious at being messed around, she just gets upset. Poor love. Still, a few more years of experiencing corporate bungling and inefficiency and she’ll be as hardened a cynic as the rest of us.

wolf2-225x300And it wasn’t too bad a thing to be avoiding Gueret. I’ve blogged about its famous wolf park in the past and we’ve visited a few times. Well, on Thursday night/Friday morning, idiot or idiots unknown cut a hole through the two layers of very secure fencing around the park and one wolf has gone missing. Staff don’t know if it’s been stolen or has gone walkabout. They’re hoping, if he’s loose, that he’ll come back to join the pack as they’re not animals that enjoy being alone. They’re also emphasising that he’s not dangerous and is scared of people so is extremely unlikely to attack anyone. It would be quite a different matter I imagine if half or dozen or so wolves had escaped and were roaming around together.

Let’s hope he turns up safely.