At breakfast this morning we had further fun with the language. As we entered the restaurant, the waitress asked “Australi ?” We said yes and she started to direct us back out of the room, in front of the bar and into another room which we noticed had a number of other people in it. This was the “bus tour group” and we tried to explain that we were Australian but not part of the bus tour group. Eventually she was convinced we were not part of the group and led us back to the restaurant. As we ate our breakfast we watched all the other “Australi” get the same questioning – I think she eventually gave up !
At the headstone of
Thomas Henry Brown
After breakfast we set off for a little town called Buissy, 30km north east of Amiens, to find the Queant Road Cemetery, the resting place of Thomas Henry Brown – who would have been my Dad’s cousin. Thomas was the son of Gran Anderson’s older sister Alice Maud Masters. He was killed on the first day of the second battle of Bullecourt on 3 May 1917 – this battle lasted 2 weeks and cost 7,482 casualties, dead and wounded, for what was described as a “small, tactically useless piece of ground”. Thomas was 19 when he was killed.
The Bullecourt Digger
Not far away we stopped at the Bullecourt Digger Memorial – with a busload of Aussies there as well – which is in the area where Thomas was killed. The Aussies and Brits were obviously popular with the french – the welcome sign for the town of Bullecourt has a picture of a Digger and a Tommy on the sign. (There had been a similar sign at Pozieres with a Digger on it).
From here we moved on to Cabaret Rouge Cemetery – named after a cafe the soldiers used in the area but which was blown up in 1917 – to visit the headstone of John Gilbert Reay – my 3rd cousin once removed (Gran’s side again).
With our visits complete (my thanks to Adrienne and Liam for indulging me on these – especially today as it was a bit cold and windy) we headed towards Lille to drop off our car and get the Eurostar train back to London. We started along the A1 and about 25km from Lille basically came to a complete stop on the motorway. With our time getting short we were luckily near one of the few exits on the motorway and managed to squeeze across the traffic to get onto the exit and on to the “D” roads again. A few others had the same idea so the road was a bit slow but at least it was moving ! We arrived in Lille about 20 minutes before our train was due but not before having to deal with a few sharp, late turns on roads with poor signage and then squeezing into the tightest car park ramp I think I’ve ever driven into – I actually had to reverse the car back up the ramp to get around the bend – don’t know how big cars get in there ! Then leaving the car in the carpark we had to split up as the lifts would only take about 2 people and luggage at one time and we briefly lost Adrienne who got out at a different level to Liam and I.
Blackboys at the British Museum
Thankfully we were on the platform by the time the train arrived and on our way to London. Gaining an hour as we crossed the channel, we were at our hotel about 14:00. Liam decided to stay at the hotel for the afternoon whilst Adrienne and I headed first to the British Library and then to the British Museum – both within walking distance of our hotel.
At the library we went through the Treasures Gallery which has a number of original items – Mozart manuscripts, Jane Austen writings, Leonardo da Vinci workings and Beatles songs scribblings amongst many – very interesting.
At the museum they have an exhibition “Australian Season” – a series that will run until October – and out the front is a garden of Australian Natives planted – quite a bizarre sight !
We thought that getting back to London we would not have any language problems – but the hotel clerk had a strong indian accent, we bought our “oyster card” travel tickets from a lady with an italian accent and the waitress at dinner had a russian accent – ahhhh multiculturalism !
The weather is much cooler in London – but still fine – so we will see what our last 2 days bring.