ADVENTURE IN NEW CALDONIA
Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce
This novel about female friendship is a joyful romp of a book. Thanks to my sister Ann for recommending it. It’s funny, painful, poignant, and just plain good! The setting is London, 1950, and Margery Benson and others are still dealing with the losses and shortages of the Second World War. In a fit of pique, middle-aged single Margery leaves her job as a teacher and decides to embark on a quest to find an elusive gold beetle in New Caledonia. A beetle collector since childhood, she adds to her collecting equipment and advertises for an assistant to travel with her.
Most of the candidates are unsuitable, but when one withdraws, she ends up with the flamboyant, uneducated Enid Pretty. Margery (or Marge as Enid calls her) and Enid are complete opposites both physically and in personality. Margery is large and plain and somewhat quiet. Enid is petite, lovely, and a nonstop talker. Each has a past with secrets and hurts.
How they find their way to the northern tip of New Caledonia, the adventures they have collecting specimens in dense tropical forests, and how their tribulations bring out the worst and eventually the best in each of them, make for a delightfully absorbing story. It’s a book about finding and accepting the best in yourself and learning how to befriend someone else. The following quote reflecting Margery’s state of mind sums it up nicely:
The differences between them—all those things she’d once found so infuriating—she now accepted. Being Enid’s friend meant there were always going to be surprises. …However close they were, it didn’t entitle her to Enid’s memories and neither did it allow her to be part of Enid’s life before they’d met. Being a friend meant accepting those unknowable things. …’Look how marvellously different we are, you and I, and yet here we are, together in this strange world!’ It was by placing herself side by side with Enid that Margery had finally begun to see the true outline of herself. And she knew it now; Enid was her friend.
CRIME IN AIX
Murder in Provence (Amazon Prime)
Fans of TV’s Endeavour series might be surprised to see jowly Detective Thursday as the debonair and svelte Antoine Verlaque in Murder in Provence. Judge Verlaque, a Chief Magistrate works alongside his romantic partner, Martine Bonnet (played by Nancy Carroll), who is a criminal psychologist. Slim and beautiful, Martine is always attired in simple classic designs. Together with the police commissioner, this threesome investigates and eventually solves their cases.
Set in Aix in Provence, the series is sun drenched (nary a cloud in sight) and bright, meals are taken in a series of cafes, and the wine flows freely. It is as much a paean to the beauty of Provence as it is a detective story. It isn’t quite a cozy mystery series, but it has a gentle quality that makes it relaxing to watch and perfect for summer. Based on mysteries by Canadian author, M. L. Longworth, there are three episodes in the first season. Each is about 90 minutes long. A second season is slated to become available in 2023.
RETURN AND RE-ENTRY
It’s true what you’ve been reading about travel in the summer of 2022. We loved being in Ireland but coming home turned out to be a big slog. The Dublin airport has been the scene of long lines, lines to just get into the terminal building. Everyone was directed to one set of entrance doors with Do Not Enter signs at other doors. We checked out the lay of the land the afternoon before our flight and noted where the Delta counters were (opposite end from Aer Lingus).
Even knowing that, we arrived at the airport at 6:30 am for our noon flight, quickly entered past the do not enter sign, and found almost no line at Delta. The lines for security and then clearing U.S. immigration ahead of our flight (something new) were long, but we still had a few hours to sit until our flight boarded.
The transatlantic flight itself was uneventful, and we landed at JFK about 2:30 in the afternoon. We had a long layover (schedule change well before we left home) until our 8 pm flight to Tampa. Around 5 pm, we got the news that our flight would now leave at 12:01 as in just after midnight. Inquiring revealed that we were awaiting the arrival of a co-pilot. Further checking showed that all the next day flights to Florida that would be closer to home were sold out. More long hours hanging around the airport lounge with lots of other people!
A bit after 11:00 pm, we optimistically walked to our gate, eager for a change of scene. Flight departure time was now delayed until 12:19 and then 12:55 am. About 12:40, we boarded, and all seemed in order. Then some quiet waiting.
Eventually, the pilot came on to say that we should be leaving very soon after dealing with “some passenger discrepancy.” The next thing we knew, two police boarded the plane and proceeded to march a couple (ordinary looking man and woman) down the aisle toward the door. All the while, one police officer was heard saying to the man, “Keep moving, we’ll talk outside.”
We took off just before 2:00 am and landed in Tampa at about 4:30 am. I expected the airport to be empty, but no, quite a few folks around, probably there for a very early flight. The Chief Penguin could have kissed the ground. I was relieved to finally be in Florida! By 6:00 am, we were in our own driveway, our 30-hour journey at its end. It’s taken us a week to recover and feel human again, but we didn’t get Covid and we’re glad to be here!
Note: Photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved)
So sorry for what you went through getting home. We’re returning from Heathrow Aug. 16. Hopefully things will be better then, but maybe not. We’ll see.
Chris, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you have a straightforward return trip in August!