Vieille Bourse

Considered to be Lille's finest building, with its facade of red brick, grey stone and carved golden stone, Vieille Bourse was built in 1651-3 as a Stock Exchange for mercantile trading. It is actually composed of 24 houses with shops on the ground floor, built round an arcaded interior courtyard that is now used by second-hand booksellers.

Notre Dame de la Treille

Rose window by Kijno

Lille's Cathedral.... more a curiosity than beautiful. Building work began in 1854, but the money ran out halfway through construction. Work began again in the 1990s, with the cathedral finally inaugurated in 1999.

Things I Loved About Lille....

Our hotel, the original 19th century grand hotel of Lille....

The streets of Vieux Lille at night....

The Belfry on the Commerce Building...

Macaroons!

Coffee and gaufres foures (waffles filled with vanilla cream) at Pâtisserie Meert, Lille's finest tea salon dating from 1761....

The details on the shop and restaurant facades....

Shuttered alleyways....

Random graffiti....

More on these and much more to come!

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The trip to Lille was to celebrate me reaching the grand old age of 38...with a full head of hair, more teeth than the average person and in reasonably sound mind!

37 Things I've Learnt in 37 Years...

Follow in my footprints.... and you'll get lost!

On the eve of my 38th birthday, I impart my somewhat haphazardly gained knowledge from the last few decades...

1. Do not believe your older brother when he tells you that your Barbie doll's hair will grow back, if you let him cut her beautiful long locks into a punk Mohican.

2. Similarly, do not believe your older brother when he assures you that your Baby Doll is fire retardant... when he starts a blazing fire in his walk-in cupboard and wants to use her to fight the flames.

3. Life may be like a box of chocolates, but there's no need to eat the whole lot in one sitting. It will make you very, very sick. Especially when you’re 5 years’ old.

4. Everyone thinks their family is weird. They probably are. But they’re the only family you’ve got and you only really realise how much you love someone when they are not here anymore.

5. Never cut a fringe… growing it out will take years and years of frustration. If you do persist in wearing a fringe though, do not ever attempt to cut it yourself.

6. When you hear the words "Let's have a round of shots!", leave the bar immediately. Do not look back.

7. Drunken disorderliness and flights of stairs are never a good combination.

8. Always watch your head. In particular, when you drop the soap in the tatty bathroom of your university halls’ communal bathroom, and retrieving it involves your head meeting a broken tile on the edge of a concrete shelf.

9. Head injuries bleed profusely and also get you immediate medical attention at the ER.

10. Head injury = shaved head = permanently messed up hairline.

11. Always wear sunblock. But if you do forget, at least lift your sunglasses sometimes – the tan lines from sunglasses left on a face earning third-degree sunburn are dreadful!

12. Do not pay good money to watch Quentin Tarantino’s “Dusk Till Dawn”.…. that’s 108 minutes of your life you will never get back!

13. Stop frequently on the way up to admire the view. And catch your breath.

14. Do not let your boyfriend out wearing your clothes and make-up. Even for a Rocky Horror Picture Show Party. Explaining to the police that you are not a pair of hookers can be awkward. Especially when you are incoherently drunk.

15. Some friends stick around for a lifetime – friends with whom we hope to grow old, their friendship a constant thread through the tapestry of life that migration, careers, marriage, children, and whatever else we throw in the mix will never unravel.

16. Sometimes you just have to let go of some people from your life… the ones that suck you emotionally dry for years, then do a disappearing act the one time you need their support.

17. It is possible to kill a potted cactus. Over-watering does not equate to flash flooding in the desert.



18. It is OK to fail sometimes... it may even steer you onto new paths that have better destinations.

19. Learning to ride a bicycle is an arduous task and one best undertaken in an area devoid of rose bushes.

20. A 9-hour hike up and down a sheer Swiss mountain with a sadistic mountain guide could mean that you are unable to bend your legs for at least two days afterwards, which makes for interesting toilet trips.

21.  Having a colonoscopy is not as bad as it sounds. It may also save your life.

22. Do not drink (large quantities) of cheap vodka mixed with passion fruit cordial. Ever.

23. Handwritten thank-you notes are the nicest thing you can give or receive.

24. The best way to treat angry, rude people? With extreme politeness... it completely takes the wind out their sails.

25. Always read the manual. Or at least ask someone who has.

26. Always read the small print. Very carefully. It may come in handy when you have to argue with your (evil, conniving) insurance broker.

27. Things invariably don't seem as bad the next morning as they did the night before. Apart from hangovers.

28. Do not wear maxi skirts on a windy day…. or you may find your skirt up around your ears when crossing a busy intersection...right in front of some bloke sitting in his car, waiting for the traffic lights to change. That bloke may turn out to be your future husband.*



29. Do not wear sling-back sandals if you are a clumsy ass…. not unless you fancy tripping over and sliding facedown a very steep, very muddy hill. In a very white shirt.

30. Do not go paragliding. In France, with a devil-may-care instructor. Or anywhere for that matter.

31. Do not under any circumstances ever suffer from the delusion that you are capable of skiing unless you have at least 12 lessons under your belt. Getting rescued off a mountain, in a blizzard, with suspected concussion is not nearly as much fun as it sounds.

32. Dogsledding is not for the fainthearted. Or those with a keen sense of smell.... husky sledding dogs are extremely flatulent. Blame their high fat diets, essential to keep warm in -40C.

33. Do not trust Egyptian bus drivers. Secretly they all think they are Paris to Dakar Rally drivers.

34. No job is worth scarificing your health or relationship for.

35. Buy the clothes, books and music that please you, not those that might impress others.

36. It is impossible to please everyone, all the time. And there is just no pleasing some.

37. I still have a whole lot to learn.

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* This is not our "cute, how we met story" (otherwise this could be a lesson in how to get a guy by wearing maxi skirts on windy days)...I'd actually sort of known him for quite a while by then. He did suddenly become quite a lot more interested after that little incident though...

And The Plonker Of The Week Award Goes To....

..... Cowardly 'Costa Concordia' Captain Francesco Schettino, who claims he only abandoned his sinking ship, because he "fell into the lifeboat when ship listed suddenly" as he was trying to help....

Photo of Costa Concordia aground from here

A completely unecessary, tragic loss of lives.

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Runner-up Plonker of The Week.... that bloke that lives up the road from me and owns the Audi. Although owning such a car (or more accurately being in possession of the appalling driving skills displayed by an overwhelmingly and disproportionately large number of Audi drivers - please note, I am not saying ALL Audi owners are bad drivers, just a lot that I have come across!) might not be enough to qualify as a Plonker (in some instances - again I am not accusing ALL Audi drivers of being or not being Plonkers)..... this bloke qualifies on the merits of his Audi car alarm, that has been going off in the small hours of the morning, for the last few nights.

Dear Bloke With The Rowdy Car Alarm.... when I go around to complain enquire if your wonderful car is still in good shape, as I have been woken up by its alarm for three nights on the trot, telling me that I "must be a light sleeper" does absolutely nothing to improve my mood. We'll see how heavy a sleeper you are when I'm ringing your doorbell at 4 am (in my pyjamas, a sight to behold) if it goes off again tonight!

You have been warned....

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Plonker - noun 1. Slang for (ahem!) the male organ. 2. Fool, idiot, despicable person.