Tenses of verbs in French are different to those in English. to differentiate between done in the past (ended) and done in the past (and still doing) the phrase ‘en train de’ is used. Which also nicely fits with travelling on the train from Avignon to Leamington Spa.

An early morning start from Avignon TGV was aided by Soraya, on her way home from work, taking me to the station. I’ve been there before, but not the four Americans, about my age, who were a little confused by it all. I showed them what they needed to do, and what the relevant French words meant …
I felt quite proud of that!

On the mostly flat fields of northern France the train sped through forests of wind generators; villages flashing in and out of view, the train sometimes elevated and sometimes submerged in cuttings. Passing trains buffeted ours as ours must have theirs; the displaced air slamming into fast moving streamlined machines full of people.

Off in the far distance to the right is Cambrai.

Arriving in Lille I scuttled out of the station into a whirl of activity; whatever was happening this weekend there were a lot of people there to see and to take part in the festivities. I had thought to walk around and see more of Lille than the station precincts, but trying to tow a suitcase changed my mind and so I moved towards Lille Europe station and a waiting Eurostar.

I’m not sure what will change with Brexit at the train border, to board the Eurostar one goes through customs and immigration, firstly the French side and then the British, like any land border of the EU before it was the EU. Britain has never fully accepted Europe and this is one result.

The train arrived, quietly coming to a stop, and the boarding began. Experienced train travellers know what to do. Make sure you are standing at or near the correct carriage, know your seat number and look for seat direction signs and, importantly, get away from the doors once you are aboard, to allow others on.
Those with less experience hover …

St Pancras International downstairs looks like a border control looking for a border. No ‘Welcome to the UK’ signage but big Border Force signs and the sort of area that looked like it should have customs offices and all. Maybe the land border was in the UK originally …

Next, over the road to Kings Cross and a tube to Marylebone for the Leamington train. Of course, I have to get ‘new’ money, as euros don’t work in the UK.

I was glad to finally reach Leamington Spa and stop …