The Valence that Josh saw...

As Tracey explained, she died from tiredness and became a withering mess, with tears, the shakes - you name it she had it.

Although it was late, about 10pm, I didn’t want to stand up our Couch Surfing host who was at a concert in town, and neither was there any floor space left for me in Mum and Dad’s, or Daniel and Katherine’s motel rooms. I thought it would be best to drive into town as my bag was big and the road map simplish, but I should have learnt my lesson from Dijon and just taxied, walked or skipped, as within 15 minutes of driving I was lost. I didn’t know I was lost, in fact I thought I had done well and was close to the park where the bands were playing and my host was going to meet me, but I was very, very wrong. I called my host and explained I was in town and gave him the street name I was on, only to be told I was not close at all and needed to drive closer. By this time I was off the bounds of my map, a bit humoured, and a bit devastated. But, if there is one thing Sesame Street has taught me is that ‘a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met’, and during our time in France, I’d learnt if you try to speak a bit of the language, people are more likely to help you.

I pulled out my standard ‘Bonjour’ and ‘Polly-vu Zonglay’, and some friendly locals in a car spoke to my host on the phone to find out where I was to meet him (as they didn’t speak English) and lead me to the city square with them leading in the car ahead. After getting to the city square and finding a car park, I followed the music, letting my ears guide me. A few phone calls and prepay top-ups later and I met my host, a friendly guy called Pierre who is breaking into the music industry, so this concert was a chance for him to make some contacts. The town centre was lovely, apart from a little rain, which is hardly the town’s fault. A great open space with grass, trees, a small café, and a rotunda - a perfect setup for summer concerts.

Pierre introduced me to his friends, including Severine and Thomas, who were suggested as alternate hosts for me that night, as Pierre’s partner Helene was out of the city on work. Pierre was going out to some parties after the concerts in the square (a rock band from Manchester was playing when I arrived), which I was more than welcome to go to with him, but Severine and Thomas offered me a bed at their place if I wanted a quieter night instead. As it was midnight, and we had more driving ahead of us the next morning, I thought giving the parties and drinking a miss might be a good idea.
The weather hadn’t been very good for the majority of the night - dark clouds, patches of rain, and lots of lightning in the distance. In fact, accepting Severine and Thomas’ offer was a very smart idea, as on our drive to their house, which was a fair bit out of Valence, the heavens opened up and rained more than I had ever seen. It was amazing; it was the type of rain that makes you drive 20kmph, full beams on, with your head hunched forward when you are in a 50kmph zone. When I went to get my bag out of the back of the car once we arrived, I got drenched, less than 5 metres and I was already soaked. It was a true battle of the gods going on up above!

After running inside, and semi-drying off, we all sat down around the table with a cold beer, and with the thunder and lightning as it was, I didn’t think we would be getting much sleep for a while. Severine and Thomas were very friendly, funny and generally cool people. Severine is graphic designer (http://www.en-avril.com/) who had just recently started up her own business in Valence, while Thomas had just started up his on business as well (http://www.vivano.net/), as a landscape gardener specialising in water features, pools and fountains, and I was really impressed by his work. We talked for a good hour before lightning took out the power in the area and candles were lit, and then an hour or so later we headed to bed. I then slowly went to sleep to the sound of torrential rain and thunder, which was actually a lovely combination.

I don’t know if it has quite come through in my writing, but I was extremely grateful towards Severine and Thomas for hosting me at short notice. Their hospitality was second to none, their place lovely and cosy, and they themselves were very friendly people. The following morning when I woke up at about 8am I found Thomas had darted into town to buy breakfast for us all. When he arrived back, he came bearing croissants, pain au chocolat, and a loaf of the local delicacy, which was similar to brioche but was made from orange flower. Since the weather had all cleared up it was lovely and sunny outside, we decided to have breakfast on the deck.

Time quickly crept up on us and I had to disappear, which I was a bit sad about as I had hardly got to see Valence, and had to say goodbye to two of the friendliest people I had met. This was proved once again by the drive to the motel to meet Mum, Dad and Trace. As I didn’t really know my way, and wasn’t very good at doing the ol’ drive and map read, Thomas led the way into town with me following in the rental not far behind. Half way during our drive Thomas pulled over and said that Severine had just called him to say that I left a jacket at their place (which Thomas had borrowed to shield himself from the rain), which also had the credit card in one of the pockets, bugger. Instead of driving back and then driving back down, Severine came a dropped it off to us, and we continued on.

During our journey, navigating roundabouts and alike, I lost Thomas in the haze of cars and French driving (which scares the hell out of me), leaving me to fend for myself. I thought I did well, following signs and going around the roundabouts several times if I wasn’t sure, but I came to a bit which pointed the right way but actually led to the motorway. Tears were welling up in my eyes, and I could not believe I was on the motorway heading away from the motel and away from salvation, but yet I couldn’t help laughing - it was just one of those moments. Just as I thought I was heading back to Lyon, low and behold, there was the right off-ramp and the street to the motel, YAY! After arriving and explaining to my family why I was 45 minutes late, we started our drive down to the villa, and as we were leaving Thomas drove through the motel gates to check that I made it safe and sound.

So all in all I can not say that I regret getting lost, getting wet, getting back into town, and getting lost again as I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet some friendly Valencians, witness a fantastic storm and a half, and have a wonderful breakfast with some local delights.