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07:00: Out of bed to the sound of my phone alarm. I slept in my sleeping bag because my host had provided sheets but no blankets or quilt and it was too late at night before I realised, so I just improvised. I had a perfectly comfortable night’s sleep.
07:53: Washed and dressed, packing next. Breakfast on the hoof.
08:24: Packed and ready to leave. Breakfast was the pear I bought days ago. It was perfect.
08:40: A baguette with jambon cru in a boulangerie — €3.50. It’s the first one I’ve bought since Cherbourg. I need to butter it myself! This time I have supplies.
09:00: The information booth [at the station] was open so I was able to discover the TGV leaves from platform 4. I have an hour to kill. Better safe than sorry. I’m enjoying my sandwich and a book in a quiet corner of the station concourse.
09:25: My train is on the departure board, but no platform is listed. I’m having a hot chocolate for €2.00 which is very delicious.
10:00: In my seat on the TGV.1
11:02: Arriving at Champagne-Ardenne TGV station. That was disorienting, travelling at 317km/h.
11:12: On a local train to Reims. It’s a ten-minute transfer time.
What was also disorienting was the door failing to open when we arrived at Champagne-Ardenne, despite lots of pneumatic hissing and sighing.2
11:27: Waiting at Reims Maison Blanche (on the outskirts) for a train to Reims Centre Ville, and the heaviest downpour since that grim day on the old train track in Normandy comes down. I’m standing in a partially effective shelter on the train platform.
11:35: On the platform at Reims. It’s pronounced “Rhazz”.
12:23: In a restaurant on a vibrant shopping street near the train station in Reims city centre. Catching up on emails and birthday wishes.3 I’m eating a rich and delicious Coq au Vin for €9.00.
13:22: Going to collect Aisling. Her train arrives at 13:53.4
18:40: At our AirBnB. €17.72 in groceries and €8.00 for a couple of cups of tea in a café.
Both shagged but happy to be in each other’s company again. Aisling was awake at 03:30 to start her day with an early flight, but all connections were on time and her journey through Paris was straightforward.
[When we met,] we had all of our baggage, so didn’t move far, just to a restaurant for plat du jour for Aisling and a cheese plate for me, all the time chatting warmly and so happy to catch up. We visited the tourist office and then we wandered towards the AirBnB that Aisling had arranged, stopping at a bar where we drank tea and endured terrible current pop hits on the TV.
Finally towards six we detoured to a Carrefour supermarket and picked up some bits for lunch and dinner.
The AirBnB was easy to find and our hostess Melanie is lovely. The accommodation is terrific — modern, clean design in a really old building with timbers everywhere. It’s spacious and clean. We ate a dinner of prepared lentils and crusty bread with a salad of lamb’s leaf lettuce, baby tomatoes and shallots, followed by tea and crème caramel. A simple dinner for my fiftieth birthday, but suitably monk-like for the existence I’m leading now. I didn’t want a phenomenally elaborate dinner in a fancy restaurant — I just wanted the simple joy of Aisling’s company. She reminded me that this year, we celebrate 27 years together.
My bafflement had been caused by the fact that the TGV doesn’t leave from Nancy’s central train station at all; instead, a shuttle bus leaves from outside the train station to bring passengers to a TGV station far outside the city.↩
I got off the train through another door a split second before the train left the station.↩
Today is my fiftieth birthday.↩
We met without a hitch on the train platform. I don’t think I’ve hugged anyone so hard in my life! It was so wonderful to see her and to hold her after almost two months apart. Aisling had flown into Paris and taken the TGV to Reims from Gare de l’Est. Her TGV rolled into Reims Centre Ville, unlike mine. 
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