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<\/a>When the first of the normal series of alarms went off at 06:00 I was sitting in a train at the station in Leuven.<\/p>\nIt’s an elderly AM80 electric multiple-unit. Covered in graffiti and not very clean at all. But the fact is that it’s here, it’s leaving at 06:04 and it’s travelling non-stop into Brussels.<\/p>\n
That’s good enough for me.<\/p>\n
At the Gare du Midi I went into the Carrefour, bought myself some raisin bread for breakfast and then went to sit down to wait until my train is called.
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And sure enough, here it is sitting on the platform ready to go. It’s one of the “Reseau 38000” PBA (Paris Bruxelles Amsterdam) trainsets built for the start of thatservice in 1996.<\/p>\n To my surprise the door was open and I was able to go in and find my seat – a good 25 minutes to go before departure.<\/p>\n A ticket inspector came by and I thought that he was going to heave me out but he simply checked my ticket and that was that. As for the journey itself, I have no idea at all about it because I slept for most of the route. This early start caught me up good and proper.<\/p>\n We arrived about 10 minutes late but that didn’t inconvenience me at all. The Metro was quite rapid even though it was crowded and I had to stand all the way, and I arrived at Montparnasse a good hour before my train was due to leave.<\/p>\n With the new timetable, it now arrives and departs from a platform in the main station complex rather than the Vaugirard annexe. In some ways that’s a good thing because it saves me a 10-minute walk, but in other ways it’s not so good.<\/p>\n That’s because Montparnasse is a huge, windswept desolate, cold station whereas the Vaugirard annexe had a nice draught-free glass waiting room where it’s reasonably comfortable to sit.<\/p>\n But hunting around, like you do … “like YOU do” – ed<\/em> … I found an ideal hidey-hole where I could even see an electronic departure board.<\/p>\n With 15 minutes to go, my train still hadn’t been posted so i went to look for it. And I found it sitting at one of the platforms. Meantime, the PA announcer was telling us that “the departure details are currently unavailable” – which was the craziest thing that I’ve ever heard seeing as at the time she was making the announcement I was actually looking at it.<\/p>\n For part of the way, as far as L’Aigle, I had a very charming young female companion but after she left, I dozed off and there I stayed, fast asleep again, almost until we reached Granville.<\/p>\n Bang on time into the station we were, although it took me a few minutes to get my things together. And then I headed off into the rain. Just for a change I came back home that way to see if there was anything exciting happening. And sure enough, we did have our chapiteau<\/em> in all of its glory, surrounded by a load of caravans.<\/p>\n It’s a circus, apparently, and even as I watched a huge pile of schoolkids filed their way into the chapiteau<\/em>. They were obviously going to be treated to a matin\u00e9e performance all to themselves. For the last I don’t know how many weeks we’ve seen Spirit of Conrad<\/em> up on blocks in the chantier navale<\/em>. But no longer, by the looks of things.<\/p>\n Here she is, in the inner harbour with Joly France<\/em> on one side of her and Charles-Marie<\/em> on the other side. But no Aztec Lady<\/em>. It must have been her that we saw heading out into the English Channel in the wake of Normandy Trader<\/em> the other day. Barry Hay once famously told us “one thing that I gotta tell you man – that it’s good to be back home!” and he’s absolutely right. A year or two ago, for the first time ever in my life I felt the pangs of homesickness after I’d been away from here for a couple of months.<\/p>\n This place really is my home and I was glad to be back here, even if it was absolutely freezing cold with no heating having been on. And to my delight a parcel for which I had been waiting since the end of November has finally arrived, at long last.<\/p>\n Nevertheless I sat down in my nce comfy chair and did nothing until tea time. I’m entitled to a relax after my efforts of today.<\/p>\n For tea, in the absence of any special willpower just now, I grabbed a frozen curry out of the freezer – the left-over leftovers from a few weeks ago. With rice and veg, including sprouts and spinach, it was delicious. And followed down by fruit salad and lemon sorbet.<\/p>\n The tide was well-in and there were several trawlers out there heading in to harbour with their catches so I took a pick of one.<\/p>\n The lights of St Malo were looking quite good tonight too but the wind was far too strong for me to take a steady shot with the camera. The tripod wouldn’t have fared any better either – the wind would have had that over in a matter of seconds.<\/a>With half an hour to go before departure, I took the initiative and went myself to look for the train on the off-chance that it might be ready.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/a>Eventually we were called to the train – exactly where I said it was – and we could board it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/a>Regular readers of this rubbish will recall that a couple of weeks ago a notice had appeared in the car park of the Parc de Val es Fleurs to the effect that a chapiteau<\/em> – a marquee – was to be erected there.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/a>Now here’s a thing!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/a>The rain held off tonight for about 5 minutes after I set out for my evening walk – and then I caught the lot. All of it!<\/p>\n
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