Hunched

Mediaeval village? This area’s full of them. Here’s Vézelay, which has a very steep hill and a magnificent church at the top which may or may not contain the bones of Mary Magdalene.

Because it’s very picturesque, and because of the international importance of the church and its relics, it was obvious even in April that it’s something of a tourist magnet, with a massive car park at the entrance to the village, and many restaurants and cafes.

In our family we generally choose a café based on two criteria: the price list outside, and a hunch. So we can walk past many perfectly pleasant-looking places and go “no” - - “don’t think so” - - “mm, probably not”. AND WHY NOT? Don’t know.

But then, there we are outside a little café like a dozen others and we all go “Yes, this one.” Did it have a table free? Yes it did. The staff were delightful, the food was lovely, the walls were covered in interesting posters, the whole thing was perfect.

Okay, perhaps all the ones we passed by might have been just as good, but over the years I’ve decided that going by my hunches is the best thing. Yesterday I walked into a café at a French service station, took a photo of the ice-making machine, and walked straight out again.

“Daphne,” said Gareth,“you walked into a café, took a photo of their ice-making machine, and left. What do you think they thought?”

That the Ice Police had descended, probably. I just liked the instructions on the machine which were – ironically - in some kind of English, headlined “Efficient Use of Cubelet Ice”.

Anyway, back to hunches. After many years of experience I have formulated Daphne’s Law of Hunches which is:

1) a hunch with some information to back it up is almost invariably right
2) a hunch with no information to back it up may well be right
3) and if your hunch says NO to something, no matter how much information there is in its favour, then go with the hunch.

This way a lot of pleasantness may be achieved and much unpleasantness prevented. Go with your hunches, say I. And use your Cubelet Ice efficiently along the way.