I'm back!

Well, after a ticket fiasco on the train to Brighton, where I realised I had the receipt but not the ticket for my journey and ended up having to buy a new one at Brighton, I arrived at the Eurostar St. Pancras departure lounge. There, as I posted some last-minute postcards I met a free-spirited looking man with long dreadlocks and two young children, who stood and chatted with me and as I walked away he called out "See you on the train, yeah?"

I found this peculiar and made noises to the effect of "yeah" and made my way to an empty seat on the other side of the lounge. Upon boarding the train I passed the him again in my carriage and with a beaming smile he said "I told you I'd see you on the train!" and then (to my paranoid mind) he appeared to keep moving seats up the carriage, ever further from his children and ever closer to me. I tried to bury myself in my book but was most disconcerted when he planted himself in the window seat across the aisle from me and spent most of the journey making sure the man next to him didn't want to swap (how thankful I was that he didn't and that I had the other window seat!) I avoided all attempted eye-contact for the following two hours and chose instead to bury myself in my library book.

When the train arrived in Paris I was one of the last to get off and so, to my horror was he! As I hastily disembarked he called out after me "See you later, yeah?"

I was pretty freaked out but it has now been three days and fortunately there's been no sign of him so I think I'm safe!

As I came home I passed my favourite greek man outside his café so I stopped a while and chatted briefly with him before continuing to the foyer. However, upon my arrival I realised I had completely forgotten the entry code for the door and after fruitlessly ringing the bell spent five long minutes trying every combination of the few digits I could remember until at last I heard the buzzing of joy which signaled I'd done something right (though I could not remember what) and with a sigh of relief I heaved my way in.

It turned out I had also forgotten my PIN for my french bank card and so I had to make a stop at my branch where I was helped by some more very lovely staff (I think I must have the nicest branch of LCL in all of France - after being here for almost three months, Chris's account still hasn't been sorted and my people are always SO lovely to me and so helpful!) From there I made my way home, absolutely RAVENOUS (I hadn't eaten since breakfast and that had been at about 7.30!) and as I came in, I met Vanessa who very kindly offered to share the quiche she was cooking but after standing around in the kitchen for what felt like HOURS I felt like I was about to fall over and so practically RAN to La Belle Ronde where, at the recommendation of the young waiter I devoured a Manhattan.

Now, I am VERY sorry to say I forgot my camera and BOY what a mistake that was! This thing was HUGE! Essentially a burger in a pancake, it consisted of a beefburger on a bed of cheese and fried onions, wrapped in a pancake - rectangular, not hexagonal as it wouldn't have fitted! - and served with tomato and lettuce with a dressing. Perfect.

However, I was still feeling the hunger so went for a crêpe with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce - it came in the shape of a smiley face with the two scoops of ice cream making the eyes and a squirty cream mouth! I left very very full - to the point of feeling ill (the crêpe had proved a little too sickly for me!) and came home to fall asleep, still with no sign of Mathilde.

The next day I awoke and as I left for work she walked in, having been at her aunt's, and I later arrived at work to find the world's ugliest cat as my desktop background and also to find I'd been fraped by my charming colleague. This was vastly improved by the fact that I was very warmly welcomed back by everyone, including a surprised Bernard, who had thought I was coming back the following day!

The rest of the week flew by and tonight I returned to La Belle Ronde to a warm welcome from the lovely people there and there tasted a "Neopolitaine": Mozzarella, tomato, black olives and a basil dressing:

and a "Sirop d'erable" for dessert:

and I cannot say enough how well it hit the spot, but it was just perfect and reminded me of the warm maple syrup waffles I used to get late at night at Soul Survivor. I'd had to move indoors for pudding as I had been sat outside but it began to rain! Both these pancakes scored highly, I think I may have found my favourite sweet one but the savoury, whilst excellent was not the top.

Ooh, I also saw this ship-cake in a window on the way home and thought of Jo:

AND, I also bumped into Anne Laure who invited me out tomorrow to go to somewhere where I've forgotten but it's pretty villages by a river - can't wait!

The only downside being we leave at 8.30 so no lie-in...