We weren't the first people to ask where the beach was in Dunkirque, I bet!

Here goes for the third blog piece of the week. That's something I didn't envision doing this week. However, the adventures we've undertaken do deserve writing about. 

When we arrived, we took the advice and went to the Office du Tourisme in Lille and purchased a 72-hour City Pass, which lasted our travels around the city and out to the Stade Pierre Mauroy. The bonus to this ticket was that it included a day ticket for the Pay des Calais area. Not bad for 45 euros. 

Today, Monday, we decided to use our day ticket for a trip to Dunkerque. We boarded a train at Lille Flandres station, and an hour and a bit later, we were at our destination.

It took us a little while to get to the Tourist Information Office, where we learned that the C4 bus takes you to the beach area and that all bus journeys in Dunkerque are free. That is well worth knowing if you are visiting here. 

The beach is vast and deep. There are still dunes to be seen. I had to take a moment to think of the horrors that this beach would have witnessed in May and June of 1940. 

Black clouds hung over the town, and the British Expeditionary Task Force and the French were in complete withdrawal. The Lille salient had fallen, and the Blitzkrieg German Army encircled the struggling forces centred on Dunkerque. 

Winston Churchill ordered Admiral Ramsey to evacuate to the task force immediately. 

After the beach, we went around to the museum. It was fascinating to see what went on and the disasters that happened. It mentions that the SS committed war crimes in the area, which was upsetting. But to think about what happened all those years ago is very heart-wrenching.

Britain was lucky that Hitler didn't decide to follow us over the channel, as that could have brought about a severe change in the war's outcome.

Hitler admired Winston Churchill and wanted to settle the situation with him on German terms. How wrong could he have been? The other thing that the Germans were scared of was air cover over the channel. The Luftwaffe didn't command the skies and was never able to after the Battle of Britain. 

History lesson over with, we then started our journey back to Lille. The train was duly on time for its 1812 departure, only to be delayed for nearly an hour. The French Transport Police checked everybody's tickets. That was a little intimidating, with them wearing stab vests and carrying a side arm on their hip. The train was terminated further along the line, and we had to wait 40 minutes for the next train. We arrived at Lille about two hours later than we were expecting. It felt like home.

We patiently await our Eurostar train back to London St Pancreas this morning. We've only a few more days, and we will be getting to come back over for another venture. I'm sure that I will be blogging about what happens then.  

An extra one this week - It was a nice day for all at the Stade Pierre Mauroy

I thought that this week's blog deserved an update. Yesterday was a fantastic Rugby-filled day, and we met like-minded Rugby people from around the world.

We had a quiet morning. Where we are staying, there is a supermarket around the corner from us. It's a unique shop that reminds me of PXs (Post Exchange, tax-free shopping) in America. So there is nothing that we can't get. We treated ourselves to our usual Saturday morning Pain au Chocolat, and I coupled that with a very lovely Sumatran coffee that I bought with me this week.

Having already purchased a 72-hour city pass, we caught the tram service, conveniently situated at the end of our road, into Lille. The city centre was much more lively, with plenty of England and Chilean rugby fans. The first Chileans we greeted poured a shot of Pisco, a high-proof spirit made in Chile by distilling fermented grape juice. That was undoubtedly a 'livener' into the Butts.

We sat for a while in a pastry come bar shop and managed to order some rather sweet wine, which was awful,  via their app. The shop was bustling and was struggling with the number of people around.

Getting out to the Stade Pierre Mauroy couldn't have been easier. The Metro was well-signposted to the final stop. The stadium was just a ten-minute walk. It is a magnificent structure, and while we waited for the gates to open, we partook of some reasonably priced food and drink. The loud music set off the decibel warning on my Apple watch, and as a former noise assessor, I did make moves to move to a quieter area.

In the earlier pool matches of the Rugby World Cup, it had been reported that there were a few problems getting into stadiums. I could see how this happened when we went into Stade Pierre Mauroy. Each person was required to undergo a full body pat down. It is quite a usual thing at Twickenham, but it would lead to significant delays if the French didn't resource the gates with enough staff. Thankfully, that didn't happen yesterday, and we were 'patted' through in no time.

After the sterling work that my wife, Kathy, had done in securing tickets for us last year, we were amazed at the seats we were allocated. Stade Pierre Mauroy is a modern stadium with clear sight lines. We were at the front of the middle tier, almost on the centre line. We were above the player's tunnel. It couldn't be better.

It took England twenty minutes to score the first try, and at halftime, the score was 31-0. It could have been and probably should have been much more, as England did butcher a couple of chances for a try. In the second half, they were much better and ran in a plethora of tries, Henry Arundell scoring five and taking the Man of the Match Award.

So, we shall be out again for the next game on 7th October. I hope you've enjoyed this little extra to this week's blog. Thank you for reading.

England this is Lille Calling - The Time is Now.

Here we are, in a lovely Air BnB in Lille, France. We are eagerly waiting to go to Stade Pierre Mauroy for the England vs Chile game this afternoon. I promise that we shall wave if you see us on the TV. We'll be the ones in the white England supporters shirts.

I had convinced myself that England would be playing dead rubbers by the time we got out here. I didn't predict a win in their first game against Argentina, which they did, but they could have done more convincingly. They had another scrappy game against Japan a week later. Both sides would have gone into this World Cup expecting more points from their games, considering England's form of late. So, England will go into Today's game knowing that a win will almost certainly secure them a place in the quarter-finals. We must have faith.

France is a place where I spent little time during my career in the Royal Marines Band Service. I did have a gig once at the British Embassy in Paris. It was a rather memorable day, as it turned out. It was the day that the Prime Minister, John Major, pulled the UK out of the ERM. The pound was crashing, and there was an air of panic among the Politicians and the Civil Servants at the Garden Party for which we were playing. I remember it being a rather sunny afternoon. Afterwards, we spent the evening on the Champs Elysées. This was part of a trip where we stayed at SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) in Mons, Belgium, a legacy from WW2.

Our first evening here in Lille could have been more French, as we found a very nice Italian restaurant around the corner from our apartment. I had the Plat du Jour, which turned out to be an Aubergine Risotto that was very tasty. Risotto is my favourite.

Our first morning here was showery, so we had a slow start. Our breakfast was scrambled eggs on toast rather than Pain au Chocolat and Coffee. Our first plan was to take the Tram into Lille to the Tourist Information Centre to get a 72-hour pass and ensure the route out to Stade Pierre Mauroy. That evolution completed, we went for the obligatory beer, where we decided not to eat but wait until a little later. Schoolboy error: all but one of the eateries close at 3 p.m. for a few hour's rest. The one remaining open was, you guessed it, Maccy Dees.

So, in a few hours, we will get on the Tram for the Stade Pierre Mauroy. I'm sure there will be many English Ladies and Gentlemen to cheer on the team, and I hope we can meet up with a few Chileans to show some true rugby camaraderie. 

Going away and want to stay connected? The Apps I will using next week.

On Wednesday, the ‘Gang of Four’ will travel on the Eurostar to Lille for the next few games in Pool D of the Rugby World Cup. It is something that the four of us have been saving for since the final of the last World Cup. You know, the one where England got spanked by the South Africans. We’re going out there for the first week and then resting back here before leaving for the second week.

We have been getting excited about having some time away, particularly pertinent, as on Wednesday, I got sent home from work after testing positive for COVID-19. I’ll leave that there. I can have a rant about that another day.

OK, a writer is going away for a week to France. Idyllic, but how can I maintain connectivity with my novel in the cloud? I’m sure the Air B&B we have for the first week will have wifi, but is that something the French give away for free? I have my data allowance on my phone plan to toggle my MacBook to my phone. 

A little bird then emailed me about an app called Holafly. It is an eSim you set up on your phone after purchasing mobile data from the company. I downloaded the app and had a bit of trouble setting it up, and I went on to their website and chatted to a lovely chap called Santiago ( it’s a Spanish company), who not only sorted me out but also gave me a discount. Wonderful.

Right then, I’m connected anywhere, but what happens if the wrong person sits at the back of the coffee shop? 

I’ve more than likely mentioned this before, but no apologies. I subscribe to Setapp. It is a curated collection of apps for Mac, Web and IOS. You can access all of these apps for a monthly fee. One app I use regularly is Clean My Mac, which is worth the subscription. A writer friend recommended a VPN to me the other day, also available on Setapp ClearVPN. It has an 86% appreciation rate. It does have its knockers, but with the many positive reviews and the recommendation of a reviewer I trust, I have it here on my MacBook. It’s working, and there are no problems whatsoever.

There are a couple of apps that I like to use in conjunction with my trusty ideas notebook are Apple Notes and Drafts. Both of which are available on my iPhone and Apple Watch.

Apple Notes is an app that I don’t utilise enough. There is so much more to Notes than just…notes. It can be a handy productivity tool. I need to get on YouTube to get up to date with its intricacies.

Drafts is another excellent app for both writing and research. I often save news articles onto draughts for research work. I know writers who use Drafts exclusively for their writing, and it is a bonus that you can work from your phone. If I’m anywhere, I can work from my phone, as even Apple Pages, where I am writing this piece, is on the iPhone. I can even use Drafts on my Apple watch if needed.

There are not a lot of excuses for not writing, and I’m looking forward to putting these apps to good use whilst in France, not foregoing the Wine, Bread and Cheese, Beer, frites, chocolate…

Back next week from Lille, France, or wherever I am on an app.

September - So much to look forward to.

September will be a bit of a busy month for me.

First up is an annual celebration, well it has been since 1978. 45 years ago, yes, 45 years, on Monday, September 11th, I boarded the London train from Oxford Station, waved goodbye to a tearful Mother and started a journey that would last 25 years.

On that journey to Deal, 34 sixteen-year-olds gathered and became 3/78 New Entry Troop under the guidance of Drill Leader Sgt Tony 'Pincher' Martin. Despite being a GD Marine, Tony was a Band Service legend and a talented vocalist. An experienced Marine, he had served in several conflict areas of the world, but most of all, he was a wise human being and taught us youngsters how to become Royal Marines. I'm sure 3/78 will raise a glass of something on Monday evening.

After that bit of lamp swinging, now for a bit of bragging. The Rugby World Cup started last night, and in a couple of weeks, we will be making the trip to Lille to catch the England vs. Chile game. I have the feeling that by the time we get to that game, England will already be playing to make the numbers up. I hope I'm proved wrong. We shall be at the England v Samoa and Romania v Tonga games in October. I'm really looking forward to travelling on the Eurostar for the first time.

In between those trips to France, I shall be having a flight somewhere on a rather special plane. I shall have to tell you about that after the event. 

I think I worked out that I’m only working twelve days in September and not much more in October. All right for some!

I continue to have my writing targets throughout the month and will always have my MacBook and notebook with me. I will start my fourth week of Morning Pages journalling, which is relaxing and interesting in what it brings up.

Next week, I will review a few apps that I will be using on my travels to aid writing. 

Infamous Council Meetings and Family Gatherings - How Have Online Meeting Apps Changed Us?

For many, March 2020 started a paradigm shift in working and socialising.

Zoom & MS Teams were the leading digital meeting platforms to come to the fore, with Zoom perhaps being the foremost. They quickly made access to their platform free for an hour session. Zoom enabled families to remain in touch and pub quizzes to continue.

Working for the NHS, I was required to work from home, as many other organisations and companies did, except for the government, which the country found out later. The NHS chose MS Teams as its platform. We held our daily MDT over Teams, and the essential triage and coordination work was done remotely and over the same platform. GPs and Consultants held their clinics online. Life went online.

The NHS, or at least in the trust I work for,  still continues its meetings and training sessions using Teams today. 

I wasn't a great fan of working from home, and I'm not all that keen on training sessions being over Teams either, especially when the provider isn't well-versed in presenting; it can drag on a bit.

I certainly get the monetary savings that working over these platforms brings to companies. Savings on hire car use, hotels, and expenses must show on the bottom line for businesses. There are also the same advantages to gain from online training, especially the yearly mandatory ones that many companies now require.

I now use Zoom regularly. I attend two writing workshops online and a weekly 'write-in' on a Sunday afternoon. Interestingly, in all these sessions, people join from America and Europe. It certainly brings people together.

My writing group, Ottery Writers, kept going through the lockdowns with the help of Zoom meetings. Much of the early planning for the Ottery Literary Festival was using Zoom.

These online systems are clever pieces of kit. File sharing, screen sharing and breakout spaces are just a few things that make such systems useful for business.

They can make you look very silly if you are not careful. We can remember Jackie Weaver and the infamous Handforth Parish Council meeting that made the headlines to the pandemic-weary public during lockdown. There were many similar cases around that time as well.

When PowerPoint was the new kid on the block for us in the Royal Marines, it brought relief for the easel, sheet of tin, and the instructor's collection of magnetic mnemonics to learn and in came 'death by PowerPoint', same instructors, but a breath of fresh air, or more like a stuffy classroom.

Online systems don't take away the skill of presenting your subject. No matter what convenience and savings these apps give, you won't get the message across efficiently if you can't present.

Yes, these apps were our saviour during lockdown, and in this age of austerity, they are extremely helpful. They have been a great success. Initially designed to disrupt the meetings and training industry, they have brought us closer together in a way never imagined before.