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Crazily we left Brussels at 8 a.m. yesterday (snow, - 14° on the car dashboard) to make for the French coast. We made it & enjoyed a bitterly cold but brightly sunny day & a cosy evening of fruits de mer.

This morning we woke to find the snow had hit France, too. Shakings of the head and shrugs from the women at the fish stall where we buy 3 kilos of coquilles saint jacques. & so a hair-raising departure at 50 km along roads you just had to guess at. Then, by Amiens things were thawing & it was plain sailing back to Brussels by 3 p.m.. Phew.

But then what are birthdays for other than to remind yourself you're alive and each day is there for the taking.

(& I got my ukulele!)