I wasn’t too hung over after the party either! Time to say good-bye, only to meet loads of people back at the train station. I got there early, followed shortly after by Kirsty, Pat, Alex and Dave B. Kirsty was getting concerned that we wouldn’t all fit in, especially when Sarah, Barbara, Chris, Ruth and Mick turned up too with all their bags. The train is a single carriage, narrow gauge train with no space for luggage. Most people on it seem to be train enthusiasts who book their outings in advance.

On the way up, Steve Newcombe had been charged an extra fare for the seat for his paraglider, so we were prepared for hassle. The conductor nearly had a nervous breakdown when he pulled into St Andre station and saw all our bags and he started gesticulating wildly and talking in rapid-fire French. I think our determination to get on the train was evident, because he stood aside but told us no way we could leave any luggage in the aisles. We managed to pile everything between two rows of seats with Alex and Dave holding it in place and the people sitting either side glancing over their shoulders nervously every time we approached a bend. We had to stand or sit at the drivers knees for the first hour, but as the train got closer to Nice we all found seats. I would have loved to have taken photos of the stunning scenery, but my rucksack was stashed under a load of others bags and was inaccessible.

At Nice, Chris assured us that the airport bus was only down the road and then one block away, so we walked. He somewhat mis-sold us the trip. A sweaty 15 minutes later our funny looking group arrived at the main station – you need to appreciate that Alex, for example, was carrying two paragliders and looked like a Sherpa.

We ended up at the wrong terminal and then lost the marshalling team, so never got to say goodbye and thanks. Once we had checked in and got to the waiting area we were reunited with housemates David, Bren and Richard, so it was another round of good-byes. I’m not one to say no to hugs!

Back in Brum it was nice to see Geoff, but it was cold, dark and windy. We stopped off in a pub on the way home for dinner and to my utter amazement, they had their Christmas decorations up and all the staff were wearing shirts advertising their Christmas booking offers. Seems summer is really over.

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