I cannot believe I felt so sick. My head was full. My chest hurt and my eyes were struggling to stay in my head. So… we soldier on. I tumbled out of bed knowing that I had slept late and that the workers were diligently going about their business. I was on auto-pilot….breakfast…pack.. dress.. or was it dress, pack, breakfast… Don’t know… don’t care.. had to be ready by 11:30. Needed to negotiate car. Limited kilometres not good. Needed to be delicate. Not hurt Pauline who was doing everything for us. Needed to think… brain not cooperating.. John marvellous. He had also discussed the car deal with Pierre Alain and the limited kilometres meant we would not be able to do too much. The deal was 40CHF per day with 1000km. No.. I had done a Google route and we would need more.

Pauline arrived as planned and despite her offer of lunch (I was too sick to eat) we went straight to the garage where negations began. John is a mean negotiator. No holds barred. No that is not the way it is going to be…. What about…  What if…. We could…. Well eventually we agreed to 50CHF per day with 1500km. By my calculations that should be pretty much spot on. We want to go to Gstaad, Gruyeres, Zermatt and maybe into France. That should be OK. Done!!! We have a Mitsubishi Colt, stick shift and air con. We were more than happy. Pauline was great. I was very happy. John is the driver and I get to chill out and enjoy the scenery. Yes I am supposed to do the navigating but we both know that I am not that great at left and right and that sort of ridiculous detail. Just go!

It didn’t look that bad when we left the garage. It was raining a little bit but not that much really. We negotiated our way along the highway and into the mountains. We had not gone far at all and the clouds began creeping down and enveloping us. Initially we were nonplussed. This is Switzerland. The weather can change. There is fog. OK. How foggy can it get? Really? We have to go this slow? Really these people are passing? What the f… can they see that we can’t? Are we that old? How bloody distressing is this? Who’s idea was it to come here? What the bloody hell?  We can’t turn around? Where the f… are we? I thought you knew what you were doing!! You were in the front!! Pierre Alain showed you the way!!! Just because it is pea soup ..,that is no excuse!!! You should know……Poor John…  I was sick.

Tourist Office!!! Yes we are saved!!! We had explored much of Leysin in the fog and had not found our chalet but with one trip to see people who knew the area, we found our way. At last we settled into our nest. It is quite a delightful unit nestled into the mountain overlooking Leysin with a marvellous vista to the mountains opposite. I headed to bed. It was the best decision.