I am back from a trip to the UK, which deserves a blog entry. The trip was primarily to see Nan, whose birthday is coming up, and had been booked for ages. As recently as the day I left, last Wednesday, there didn’t seem to be too much risk, so I went ahead. It feels a little reckless in hindsight, but this is more a sign of just how rapidly the situation has evolved since. Or devolved, I should say.
Despite the mounting Coronavirus panic, I had a very lovely trip, but had a lot to squeeze into a few days so it was a little tiring. Matt took me to Angouleme last Wednesday afternoon and I caught the train from there to Lille. The train was fairly busy and filled up completely with fat British chavs when we hit the Eurodisney train stop outside Paris.
I was ultra-conscious of my surroundings the whole time, and made every effort to touch nothing. There were no obviously ill and coughing people near me so I think I got away with it. I was surprised I had only 30 minutes to make my Eurostar connection when it’s normally closer to an hour and a half, but it helped speed up the journey. I realised later they were already running a reduced service. The Eurostar was mostly full, but when I got to London, the station wasn’t as crowded as feared. I decided to get the tube to Iain’s place and it too was unusually quiet and I got a seat all the way.
Iain was out till 10:30 that evening, and Giancarlo (his husband) was out even later, so I got myself some food and then we had a nice catch up over wine and cheese when Iain got in. I should probably mention his kitchen at this point, which has been under renovation for literally years and apparently cost a staggering amount of money. Last time I was over it was a building site, but it is now like something out of a magazine, and he’s duly proud of it. Iain and GC are fine, but both have had to cancel several work and personal trips. GC’s family live in Rome so have been in lock-down for some time, but they’re all OK so far and are in good spirits.
After a few glasses, I went to bed feeling utterly shattered after my journey. Despite this, I was awake at 6:30 the next day, as always happens to me in the UK. Iain persuaded me to wait until 9am before I set off to Milton Keynes to avoid rush hour, but I probably needn’t have bothered: I found myself at Euston station at 9:20 having made record-breaking time. My good travel karma continued when I found the next train was in just a few minutes and was direct.
I ended up at Milton Keynes at 10:15am, way earlier than planned, and walked to the shopping centre. There I scored a pair of jeans, some jumpers, and some toiletries. I was amazed how quiet the place was, even if it was mid-week. There were some people milling around the market outside, a few eating in restaurants and the odd few browsing like me, but I largely had the place to myself. It felt like being in some dystopian, post-apocalyptic film.
I managed to miss a bus by mere minutes so got a taxi to Olney, arriving at lunch time. Nan and I went to one of the fancy new bar/restaurant places that opened up recently, called the Cherry Tree. We proceeded to eat a large and leisurely lunch and get caught up. It was supposed to be my present to Nan, but she of course didn’t let me pay. Afterwards, we went back to hers feeling very full, and chilled out for a bit.
Dave is largely working from home at the moment, so was able to come and get me and bring me to Market Harborough for the next portion of my trip. We arrived about 6pm and called it cocktail hour. I got to spend some good quality time playing with Elvie, who wanted to show me all her new toys. Although it was only Christmas when I saw her last, she’s changed quite a bit. The main thing is the large and ever-expanding vocabulary, but she’s also generally a lot more interactive. It may also have helped that she was at home so wasn’t shy at all – quite the opposite in fact.
We ordered an Indian takeaway for dinner that evening and it was very tasty, but I just couldn’t do it justice after my big lunch. Dave and Amy are both well, although Amy (who works for a travel company) is having a bit of a depressing time as all she does is cancel trip after trip after trip. And the cancellations weren’t just work-related either: her father’s birthday celebrations were cancelled when her mum decided it was too risky for the family to assemble in a public place. Dave also had an event cancelled: he was due to go watch the rugby with friends in Bristol next week but its no longer going ahead.
We all retired around midnight and I finally fell asleep an hour or so later – and so of course was awake at 6:30, even beating Elvie by 15 mins or so. Dave had a few calls to deal with and Amy had some ironing to do, so I got to spend most of the morning playing with Elvie which was a wonderful treat, and she was in fine form. After lunch we said our goodbyes and Dave dropped me at at the station in Market Harborough where I got the train back to St Pancras.
I had three things left on my shopping list – Marmite, Branston pickle and of course, Hellman’s mayonnaise – so I made my way back to Dalston on yet another unusually quiet tube. My first stop was Sainsbury’s and it was a surreal experience. About two thirds of the shelves were utterly empty, with abandoned trolley carts littering the aisles. It wasn’t just basics like toilet paper, it was everything. I left having scored 0 for 3 and tried a Tesco’s, only to walk out again empty-handed. I finally scored some mayo in an M&S Food and decided to call it quits at that point. I got back to Iain’s and got my shopping all packed away.
That evening, Iain and Giancarlo had some friends over for dinner. Two of the guests were from his choir and I didn’t know them, but the third I’d met a couple times before at Ian’s. He’s called Brad, is Kiwi and is quite a character. Iain made a typically fabulous meal that was the equal of his fancy new kitchen. A creamy mushroom soup started things off, served with bread (homemade) and butter (also homemade). The main was a roasted aubergine pasta and was also exquisite, and a sublimely light and fluffy chocolate mousse capped it off.
The guests ended up staying till around 2 and I crashed soon after, waking to my great dismay at 6:30 the next day. I chilled out at Iain’s till 11 then made my way to St Pancras, hoping to pick up the last few items of shopping. I arrived to find several Eurostar trains had been cancelled several as there were so few travellers – mine included. They put me on an earlier one to Paris instead, which exceptionally stopped at Lille. Despite theoretically carrying two trains’ worth of people, the train was empty and I had a carriage virtually to myself.
As I got in earlier, I had even more time to kill in Lille, so found a bar and had a beer. There I got caught up on the coronavirus situation and as I watched the news, I started to wonder if I’d been wise to travel after all. My last train journey went fine, and was also very quiet. I pulled in to Angouleme at 9:20 where Matt was waiting to bring me home. We a band practise with Paul the following day, which was gloriously warm and sunny, and otherwise have been home chilling.
We’ve not left since, and according to the address President Macron just gave to the nation, nor will we be either. It’s bizarre that just a fortnight or so ago, the idea of a China-style lock-down in Europe was absurd. Then Italy did it. Then EU countries started closing their borders. Now France has done it too. First it was just the closure of all bars, shops and restaurants, but now it’s a full lockdown: no leaving the house apart from essential trips for supplies. We’re essentially all under house arrest.
France is, Macron says, at war with Coronavirus. I got a cold tingle at the base of my neck at times during his speech: it’s hard to accept this is all really happening. The entire Schengen zone is now closed off for 30 days. Mum had a trip back to the UK booked for this week and the day before I left, she was wavering about cancelling, saying she didn’t want to get trapped over there. At the time, I thought there was zero chance of travel links between UK and France being cut, but turns out she was right! Needless to say, Jan won’t be coming out this week either as poor Maddie’s school trip to Barcelona is cancelled.
It’s terrifying how fast the situation is developing, and it seems certain things are going to get far worse before they get better, but let’s all hope the measures taken will help, radical as they are. Stay safe one and all.