shewhomust | Greetings from Loon Plage

The party went very well. The venue was above the Silversands Caribbean restaurant in Sheffield i in a street of restaurants and takeaways ("the best halal pizza anywhere!" - which makes me realise once again how monocultural Durham is), all gleaming wet pavements and glowing neon reflections. I can't speak for the restaurant as a restaurant, since party guests brought food, and lots of it, including much wonderful fishiness. But they were friendly and accommodating, and the space was welcoming - and even managed to accommodate the world's smallest ceilidh (we reached seven couples at one point). The guests were gathered from different places and different stages of the birthday girl's life. She said "Everyone will know at least one person" and I knew the band. Which was fine. It was a little disconcerting to be recognised quite so widely as "Oh, you're Gabrielle's sister!" - good, but disconcerting. A pleasantly social evening, with great music, and I hope the host enjoyed it as much as I did.

Long wet drive down England today - always a little nerve-wracking having a ferry to catch, knowing you should have allowed plenty of time, but that the traffic can always be against you. Or the weather. And they both were, but only marginally, we reached Dover just in time and then had to wait for the ferry, which was delayed by bad weather. Which also made us nervous... Nonetheless, eventually we were on board, and the crossing was perfectly comfortable, and here we are in France in a Campanile hotel in greater Dunkerque, at a place that really is called Loon Plage (and I have no idea why). Time to plan tomorrow's itinerary...