My train didn’t leave Biarritz until 1.15 so I had time to pay my last visit to Radisson Blu, send my emails, download new ones and say my goodbyes. Everyone was very charming and told me they’d look forward to seeing me ‘next time’. I wonder if I’ll ever go back …

The lovely ‘neighbour’ in the eighth floor apartment had offered to drive me to the station and we duly met up just after noon and we had a very pleasant drive. It was unfortunate that it wasn’t until now that he discovered that I was a (pretty bad) bridge player and was sad that he hadn’t taken me to his bridge club where be plays several times a week. Again ‘next time’ … 

So Cyril left me on the right platform on the station and after a fairly comfortable two and a half hour journey from Biarritz to Bordeaux, I arrived to find that there were about eight platforms to choose from for my train to Marne la Valée, a station not far from Paris, Disneyland, where Sabine was kindly going to meet me.

Unlike at Biarritz, a relatively small train station where there was a lift, there was none at Bordeaux and I was lucky when someone kindly offered to carry my big suitcase downstairs for me into the tunnel separating the platforms. Unfortunately I didn’t have so much luck on the way back up at the other side! The French, interestingly, are not as gallant as the English. I never have to carry my big case on the underground in England. If I pause for only a moment, someone arrives and immediately carries it either up or downstairs for me.

I had three quarters of an hour to find the right train and the right platform and thought I could grab a quick lunch but when I enquired about my train I found that it was already waiting in the platform and the guard advised me to find my seat immediately. Fortunately it was on the platform where I was already, so this made things easier.

Getting onto a TGV train in France is always predictable. Hanging above each platform are a series of letters and the train driver arranges for his carriages to stop in the right place on the platform. If you wait under the right letter, you will always be beside the right carriage! Very well organised. The guard told me to find my carriage between X and Y and, sure enough, there it was.

When I’d booked my train in the SNCF office in Biarritz, the kind assistant had told me that the difference in the price of economy and first class from Bordeaux was only €5 and would I prefer to travel first class? Of course! So I found seat number 15 in carriage 12, facing the engine, put my big case on a luggage rack close by and my little one up on the overhead rack and settled down with my kindle and my lap top for the four and a half hour journey. 

This gave me the opportunity to answer all the emails that I’d picked up at the hotel that morning so that I could send them when I got to Sabine and Simon’s home. (Unfortunately, for some reason, I was unable to connect, so had to remain ‘off the air’ for four days!)

Sabine arrived at the station three minutes before me, apparently, so that worked out well. As usual, neither of us drew breath and we had great chats on the way to Verneuil – an hour away. Meeting all the family again was lovely and it was hard to stop talking and go to bed.

Saturday was Jean-Baptiste’s birthday and, although the weather was cloudy, seventeen children had a wonderful time together. 

Sabine had organised for a special few of the parents to remain after the others had collected their children and left and we sat down with about a dozen people for champagne (of course) and aperitifs. Finally, some of them left, leaving just two couples who’d been invited to dinner.

One of the most endearing things about the French is that they know how to relax. Working days start between 7.30 and 8.30 and finish between 5.30 and 7.30 depending on the occupation. But the middle of the day is sacred. It’s hard to know exactly when shops close, but mostly it’s between 12-1.30 and everyone goes home for lunch. And it’s a long, slow lunch. Then everything opens again and people return to business. The logic for, say, the Boulangerie, is clear. Bread and pastries are made in the early morning and the shop opens for business. It would be unheard of for a French family not to have a baguette on the table for breakfast and they would buy enough for lunch too, or visit the Boulangerie again to get fresh. They eat all their bread with their lunch and while they’re eating theirs, the owners of the Boulangerie are also having their lunch and perhaps baking more bread. In the afternoon, French people go out again for more bread to have with their evening meal. 

Our aperitifs started at about 7.00. Simon had prepared some wild boar (which either he or one of his hunting friends would have shot) and he was in charge of a BBQ in the garden. I thought we’d probably be eating at about 8.30 because I knew that the French eat late. But we just drank more champagne and ate more tiny  delicacies.

Amazingly we didn’t sit down to our entrée of tomato and mozarello cheese until 10.30!!! And we finished dinner well after midnight. Amazing! I actually had to excuse myself at this point because I was falling asleep but I heard people leaving at about 1.30 so they obviously had much more staying power than I did!

But the conversation was lovely and the champagne was flowing and the company was great, so it was easy to be lulled into the French way of relaxing.

But the next day was a whole new experience again …

We were invited to the home of friends of theirs. It was the wife’s birthday – Natalie (left front) – and her 14 year old daughter (in the blue) had organised a surprise party. 

Christian, the husband, was another wine grower and, in fact, all the husbands were also wine growers or farmers who grew a little wine as well. So all the guys had a lot in common! We had aperitifs outside beside their pool and BBQ and drank champagne and ate smoked wild boar in thin slices. And of course, talked and talked – and relaxed!

I’ve never seen so much champagne drunk in my life! We arrived at 12.30 and, when we finally left at 7.30, we were one of the first families to go. We were pressed to stay on for dinner too but, after the late night before, we were all just too tired. More couples arrived from time to time and each time more glasses were brought out and more champagne was opened. It was absolutely mind blowing! But, in fact, no one seemed to feel the after effects and the champagne drinking was punctuated with BBQ meat and salads and gateaux, all very slowly and deliciously. The hosts were incredibly kind and generous but I have to admit that when everyone started talking at once, I had to tune out and just enjoy watching the exchanges without being very aware of what they were talking about!

On Sunday evening when we got home, Sabine and I had been planning to go to Reims at 11.30 to see the Cathedral illuminations but it was only about 8.00 and we both knew that we wouldn’t be able to stay awake for long enough to leave home at 10.30 and anyway, the rain began to fall heavily which would have spoiled our enjoyment of the spectacle.

Fortunately, after all that entertainment, Monday was a quiet day, just catching up with each other and ourselves and finally on Tuesday, Sabine took me back to Marne la Vallée and put me on the train to travel back to St Pancras and my lovely family in England.