My weekend with Anne and Liz

Arrival

Anne and Liz arrived at 10pm on Friday and I’d made it onto the platform in time to see their train pull in, but only then did I realise it was highly unlikely I was going to find them on the platform, as the train was so long I couldn’t see both ends, and there was more than one exit off the platform. As well as this, the announcement came over “this train is stopping for two minutes”…I thought ‘they’d better get off!’…I managed to find them upstairs looking a bit lost (and they weren’t the only ones) but all was well when the relief kicked in that we had found each other. Then they told me they had been lucky to get off the train cos they had to ask someone if it was Lille or not due to the dodgy train announcement which had announced ‘Lille Europe’ inaudibly! So my thoughts of hoping they’d get off hadn’t been that silly after all! We went straight to my flat and had a piece of apple pie, a drink and a nice chat before heading to bed.

Saturday

On Saturday we got up and took our time, heading to the boulangerie round the corner to buy some pastries for breakfast. We chose three and split them between us…delicious! Later that morning we went out to have a look around the market and buy a roast chicken for lunch. At this point the weather had turned and it was raining and very cold so we didn’t venture much further and came back to have lunch. After lunch the plan had been to head into the main city centre to show the pair of them the sights and shops and have a coffee, but the weather wasn’t improving so we checked the weather forecast for Sunday and it was better, so we decided to stay in. We played a card game called Irish snap, which was great fun and lasted an hour or so! Then we watched a film. After that we got ready to go out for the evening and walked round to my friend Laurence’s to join her and her boyfriend and another couple for soup, bread, ham and cheese before going in their car to a French folk dancing evening.

Folk dancing

I think Anne and Liz were very brave for taking this on as they do not speak much French. I was also very nervous and glad of their company because we didn’t know what we were letting ourselves in for! The evening was running from 9pm until around 2am…hard core (for those of you a bit older, that means ‘serious stuff’)! It was in a school hall and when we walked in at about 9.50pm it was packed! We were a bit squashed when we joined in at the beginning, but later it improved. The first one we joined in with was thankfully a straightforward group dance, but we hadn’t heard all the instructions so still managed to mess up occasionally!

The second dance was a couple’s dance and so Liz said she was happy to sit out while Anne and I danced it together. However, two French men came over and suggested that we split up and dance with them. We obliged as we were encouraged by my friends next to us and they were fairly insistent. I think the look on my face was quite a picture, as I was bothered about being able to hear the instructions, watch what the French were doing in response to the instructions, check Anne had understood and now I had the pressure of dancing with a French man! It turned out to be my least favourite dance of the night as you had to wander round the middle and choose a new partner to dance with or be left on the edge and be chosen by a partner at numerous points in the dance. Liz was taking photos and killing herself laughing, very glad she’d sat out!

There were a lot of dances that followed and we joined in or sat out as we felt like it. We got asked at varying points to dance with men (of varying types!). Anne ‘took one for the team’ when there was a certain French man who we’d already refused earlier in the evening being very insistent…Liz suddenly (and conveniently) disappeared and at the same time I was being approached by two men we’d previously danced with who wanted to join the pair of us. I spotted this as a solution and gratefully accepted on behalf of the pair of us but at the same time Anne was being pulled off by the other man. He was happy to try out his English too, explaining the instructions to Anne ahead of the man on the mic!

There was a lovely selection of cakes, crêpes and drinks there and we all enjoyed one as a nice break. We left around 1am when it was mainly the crowd-that-knew-what-they-were-doing dancing. I think the girls would agree that the evening was great fun.

Sunday

On Sunday we had pancakes for breakfast, a prayer time, a pack up and went off to see the city centre and grab some lunch on the way to the station. I love those girls... thanks again for coming :)

Fiona x