And that was that!

Yes, Expo has gone. All signed, sealed and delivered. At 14:30 I walked into the lawyer's office and at 15:00 I walked out again minus one apartment. Well, almost - the new owners asked me to accompany them back to the premises to show them where everything was and how it all worked and so I duly obliged.

But already the money is melting a hole in my pocket. This morning I went to my travel agent and she booked me a flight to Canada on 31st August, with a return on 25th September. Not only that, she does a good deal on airport hotels - much cheaper than I can get them, and so I have a hotel reserved at each end of my journey - Paris the night before I go and Paris the night I get back. That is just as well.

I've also reserved a car for when I'm over there - well, not quite a car. What with accommodation issues and you can't really expect anyone to do this kind of thing for you as they are never sure what it is that you actually want, so what I've done is to hire a minivan - a 7-seater MPV thing. Most of the seats fold flat in those and with half an hour's work I can make a neat little caravanette. I know it's not a motel or a B&B but it worked out at just about $27 per night extra over the basic car hire, and you can't get a motel for anything like that. While I'm there I'll try to sort out a caravan or something. That's the usual trick.

I've also spent quite a packet in IKEA. They were having a sale and there was quite a bit of cheap stuff that would go nicely to improve the comforts of my little room. Cheap stiff indeed but by the time you add it all up, it's not so cheap then. But all the same, it will improve things quite a bit up there.

I've had my chips as well, and a large plate of falafel and now I'm on the lorry park and the unsecured internet connection. Tomorrow I'll be helping Marianne and then I'll be heading for home tomorrow night.