For the best experience with monocle. To air-con or not to air-con? That is the question this week. We also address plenty more hot-button issues, from a hat with universal appeal , if not necessarily charm, to how to reimagine eco-retreats. Andrew Tuck gets us in gear.
On Thursday morning the ferry from Barcelona docked in Palma de Mallorca and 10 minutes after driving down its exit ramp, me, the other half and Macy, our fox terrier, were in the apartment overlooking the Palma Sport and Tennis Club. We had made the journey from London in three days with a night in France and another night and day with friends in Barcelona. Now, of course, we have to go back again at some point but the trip down was fun.
And, incredibly, we have not decided to file divorce proceedings, even if I did have to explain to my partner during my stints at driving that he could jab his foot as much as he liked but, as far as I knew, the car did not have a brake pedal on the passenger side. There had been some anxiety as we headed from London to Folkestone to take the Channel Tunnel where you drive your car onto a train that whisks you to Calais : just over a week earlier there had been chaotic scenes at the terminal, with some people caught in tailbacks for almost an entire day.
Whatever the cause the British press blamed the French for being French, the French press blamed Brexit , it had been rectified by the time we arrived. Lots of these logistics outages seem to be like this: squalls that hit, cause terrible disruption, then just disappear. Even the check-in process for the dog went mostly with ease; her travel documents all in place, just some pecking-order issues to resolve.
Once in France we drove to Paris, then south to the city of Bourges, where we would stay for one night. I was looking forward to lots of stops at French motorway service stations, stocking up on magazines and getting great coffee but, sorry France, we are going to have to give you low marks on this front.
