Day 33 Home to Penkridge

We woke up in Paris bright and early, excited for our trip back to England to see our beautiful family, and spend our last four days with them. We finished off our packing and tidied the apartment, before heading to the Luxembourg Metro, on our way to the Gare du Nord train station.  Mum, grasping her handbag tightly, boarded the Metro reluctantly.  We arrived at the urine-soaked Gare du Nord, which fortunately is having a refurb by 2015, which is good, as its equivalent in London (St Pancras) is amazing!!!  We filled out our border control declaration cards, before heading through customs and making our way to the boarding lounge.  Mum did an Uncle Gary and made a beeline for the Chanel perfume shop for a ‘freshen up’ while we went to the ‘Relay’ shop to spend our last euros before all taking our seats on the Eurostar.

A short two hours later we arrived in the beautiful country of England.  As soon as we all got off the train, we took a great big breath of fresh air, relieved to be back in God’s country.  We found the exit and walked to London Euston, just around the corner.  Upon arrival, we quickly made our way to the departures board to check for the next train to Stafford or Penkridge.  We found one on Platform 8 where we were told that we were unable to use our tickets on this Virgin train.  Our tickets were only valid on a London Midland service. With that, we made our way back to the departures board to find an alternative train to catch.  There were a few later trains which would take a longer time to arrive in Stafford so Mum checked with the ladies at the information desk, who told us which was the best one to take.  We grabbed some pasties (yum yum) from ‘The Pasty Shop’ and quickly went to the loo, before boarding the London Midland train at 1.50pm.

After a long train ride, we arrived in Stafford at 4.25pm, switching trains to Penkridge at 4.40pm, to be home at 4.46pm. Awesome!  The lovely Katie Brooks picked us up so we didn’t have to walk. (Gary came also, he was a little late (he was running on Pope time! But they’re all the same!).

We relaxed, with lots of champagne, while recounting tales of Paris.  We later sat down to a feast of roast pork and all the trimmings served with the Gravy King’s speciality.  We were in bed early exhausted from the day’s events, all needing a good night’s sleep in a decent bed.

 

Dictated by Ashleigh Smith (typed by Katie Brooks)