I was born late and have been tardy ever since. For big events that require me to be ready at a certain time it involves alarm clocks/calls and a nagging fear I shall sleep through them all and be late…too late! So of course, I woke up way before the alarm went, listened to the night train from Paris thunder past just before half past six and knew sleeping was finished with.

The skies should have been lightening but were darkening and as I checked the lightning map app on my phone I saw a big orange splodge heading our way. One almighty clap of thunder, not to be repeated, and the heavens opened. That set himself off worrying about Kitty, our half-feral cat. She went wild the first and only time we put her in a pension and we promised we wouldn’t do that to her again. She disappears every time we have friends or family to stay only creeping up to the front steps for her food we leave out so I don’t feel too guilty doing it when we go away. A good friend pops by to check the food and water hoppers are ok but has only seen Kitty once in six years of holidays. I mollified him and we got stuck into the last tasks before leaving.

That still left an hour and a quarter to twiddle our thumbs (and fret about what we might have forgotten) before another good friend was due to pick us up for the drive to the station. We drank coffee and relaxed…sort of.

Duly left at the station (merci bien, Jean-Michel) we still had a half hour to fill! I idly read posters while himself read the local bus timetable. Finding luggage labels and a pen under a stern warning all luggage must be labelled I filled them out and Lou put them on. Very natty..

On board at last with the rain still falling I overheard the ticket inspector telling another elderly chap with a stick and large suitcase who got on when we did that he would be met at Brive by someone who would help.

And sure enough he was. I thought this was brilliant. Our local train is one wagon only, it was filled by a mixture of passengers, the young girls paying no attention to the weather when choosing what to wear! 😊 and a few elderlies with suitcases and backpacks. At Brive a SNCF uniformed young woman met our older gentleman and we last saw them over on another platform as she waited and then helped into his connecting train and stowed his luggage for him. A paid service or just attentive and caring staff?

Our train was ten minutes late and we heard why after every stop up to Paris, faulty signals near Souillac, also that wagon 3 was lacking in ‘material’ and so the numbers were all wrong. If you were booked for that wagon,… please sit anywhere! And finally why there was no WiFi, we were on a train ambulant. Now I have always understood ambulant means travelling.. ? Anyway, no podcasts or word games for me just scenery watching. Thankfully the rain dried up somewhere past Limoges and I thoroughly enjoyed spotting wildlife, what WERE those black and white birds, trying to decide which crops were growing and snoozing…

Oh, and drinking black tea and eating the sandwiches we brought with us.

Blue sky!

And now we are in Paris, on the first floor of our hotel, very conveniently placed for Gare du Nord. Mind you, I had a text from Eurostar just before we got into Austerlitz station telling me to be careful tomorrow as the Paralympic marathon is running past Gare du Nord and getting to the station might be difficult.

But that’s tomorrow and this evening we’re in Paris, the sun is shining and I’ve booked a nearby bistrot for dinner. 😊🗼