Eurostar Vert

Yes, you can go on a weekend break without ever seeing an aeroplane! I did, we did: Tom and I went off to Lille last weekend to visit the Christmas Market. To say that it was a wonderful weekend would be an understatement.

Ah, I hear you cry, who is this Tom, then? Well, we met on line, as one does: I’d been having trouble with a rootkit (you don’t want to know, it makes an ordinary virus look positively benign!) on my laptop and he fixes a major Government computer system for a living. So it seemed natural to meet up: and eventually, after a couple of tries and reaching the conclusion that a complete rub-out-and-start-again was the only valid answer to the problem, he took it away, rebuilt all the software and brought it back fixed. And naturally I gave him a meal, as cooking for others is both a skill and a joy, and we talked: he has a degree in computing and philosophy, so we had a lot of common areas of interest. His previous relationship of seven years had also recently come to an end, though happily they are still good friends (just as well, as they share a car, a wonderful Citroen C5 convertible which I instantly nicknamed the Orange Peril because of its colour!), and what with one thing and another I think you’d now describe us as an item.

Lille was a fascinating town. Right in the middle is the Marché de Noel, a series of huts selling all kinds of stuff, starting of course with mulled wine and frankfurters and things, and including some gorgeous cushion covers, three of which will soon be adorning my sitting room, some exasperating wooden puzzles (take it to bits, easy, but then put it together again?) of which a grandchild is going to be the unfortunate recipient, and many more. Several were selling some pretty costume jewellery, but as Tom’s ex girl friend makes that herself, it seemed a bit like taking coals to Newcastle used to be. All in all, a very enjoyable wander round, and a good source of lunch on the hoof as well.

In a nearby square were some children’s entertainments, a miniature railway, a roundabout and so on. And in the square between the two was the Wheel. This was a big Ferris wheel with open gondolas – only 3 euros for a trip about four times round – with great views from the top, though it was a tad chilly in the wind! We went round with music playing and the mulled wine sellers doing a roaring trade, and I’ve not felt so happy for many a long year. I wanted to dance in the street and do something really daft: though you’ll be glad to know common sense prevailed and I avoided behaving like a first year undergraduate high on Spanish plonk!

We were incredibly lucky with our hotel. We’d picked the Citadines Lille Centre on the Internet, using hotels.com (a reliable and good site in my experience, it’s the second time I’ve used them and found I’d picked a winner): it was less than five minutes walk from the Lille Europe station for a start, so everywhere we wanted was in walking distance. It’s what they call an apart-hotel – that is, it’s like a hotel but you get an apartment with a mini kitchen and a ‘studio’ with a sofa for day that’s the quite comfortable bed at night. It has the huge advantage that you can nip out to the Carrefour, all of 50 yards away, in the morning for fresh croissants and pain au chocolat, and there’s your breakfast, as early or late as you want it. We were on the tenth floor and so had a view over half the city to greet us.

We were also lucky with the weather. We’d looked up the forecast on line, and it said rain and showers and dull, all the time: but the two full days we were there it was sunny and clear almost all the time, and only on the last morning did the rains come and make our cardboard carrier bags wet! For we’d been shopping, of course. There’s a Leonidas Belgian chocolate shop in Lille, and I know well from frequent visits to Brussels on Quaker business over the last eight years how nice their product is. And there’s also a FNAC, a kind of real-life Amazon selling books, DVDs, CDs and much more besides: I found three operas at only 15 euros each, a real bargain. Tom had his own particular joy here, finding a vinyl disc of Nirvana with pictures printed on both sides of the disc itself, a real rarity nowadays. (I didn’t mention his other talent: he writes reviews of bands of various kinds for e-gigs on line and a Northern music magazine, and is a real festival geek!)

And there were the boots. I’d seen some very stylish looking brown knee boots in one shop we were passing, but found the usual story – when I tried them on, the largest size was a tad too small. But on our last morning, between getting up and going to check in for our lunchtime Eurostar back home, I saw another such shop, tried on a pair and lo! They fitted like a glove. So I bought them, and the last few days I’ve been wearing them and feeling very elegant. A weekend to remember, then, not just because of the markets and the shopping but because I think it marks the start of a new and valuable friendship. And although Tom is much younger than I am, that’s no barrier to either of us: long may the friendship last, then.