To France and back...by 8:00 a.m.!

I drove Mrs. TBF to Basel Airport this morning. She is flying to Chicago via London. As I said in yesterday's blog, she's going to spend the weekend with family in Chicago, and then she's going on to NJ next week for work. I dropped her off at about 7:00 a.m., and then I took a quick turn out of Basel Airport and headed to the French border. To my surprise, there were actually three French border crossing guards standing at the border smoking cigarettes. They motioned me to stop, said something to me in French which I didn't understand, and then I just said "Cinq à Sec" (the name of the dry cleaner I go to in France). This seemed to satisfy the guard since he motioned with his cigarette that I was free to enter the country (Or, he was offering me a cigarette. I'm not really sure which one.). I dropped off my clothes and picked up the clothes from last week and was in and out of Cinq à Sec in about three minutes. Let me just point out that dry cleaning in Switzerland is EXTREMELY expensive. And, when you drop off the clothes they tell you that it will be TWO WEEKS (I kid you not!)!!! If you would like "express" service, then it takes about four days and there is a surcharge. Cinq à Sec, on the other hand, is about half the price (except for shirts, which are only a little cheaper than in Switzerland for some reason), and the clothes are ready the NEXT DAY!!! And, it's on the way to the French grocery store I go to, so it's all good! By the way, is it wrong that I don't work, have time to iron, but still bring my shirts to a dry cleaner? Some of the neighbors have given me guff in the past, but I'm sorry - my shirts are big, and I REFUSE to iron them.