Things happen for a reason

We are cursed. Weekends away sans enfants are clearly not meant to be.

We missed our train. How dumb and unlucky is that?

The trip to station should only have taken an hour so we allowed a buffer of an additional half hour plus the buffer of check-in time, another 30mins.

We were delayed by exactly an hour, meaning we arrived just as the train was departing. Only a four hour wait for the next one….great! (Well it sort of was great really – more later.)

Finally we're on the Eurostar and it's delayed. When we make it to Brussels station we find it's a bit of a mess but we just made it to the next train to Bruges, despite the fact that there were no signs indicating what trains were leaving from which platform.

On the return journey everything seems to be going well. We've decided we have the time so we'll have a pleasant walk to the station rather than catch a cab. That way we get to see parts of the city we didn't see during our stay.

This strategy was fine until we were hit by the gusts of wind and driving rain which seemed to have come from nowhere.

So, a little bit soggy, we get to Brussels station and we catch the Eurostar train in good time. The rain earlier wasn't enough though. When we arrive in Lille there's an announcement "We apologise but the train is broken and we need to mend it."

A little later came "We apologise but the train is broken and we are trying to find a different one."

And then there was "Could you please get off the train and wait, and when we find a replacement train, please get on it and sit in the same seats."

So after an hour of hanging around we swapped trains with the people on the next platform. I didn't quite understand what made our train OK for them but not for us. Someone had heard that our train was OK, it just couldn't go through tunnels. What, it was scared? It's headlamps didn't work? It had a claustrophobia?

Anyway, although I'm not sure I believe in fate, it could be that things happened for a reason. It could be someone telling us not to go away without the children or it could be that other opportunities present themselves.

You see in the four hours we had to kill while waiting for our train out, we went shopping. It was the first time I'd been to the Ashford designer outlet shopping centre. And I found, and had to buy, some gorgeous leather boots and they were such a bargain.

I think Dave was less impressed at starting our romantic break with shopping for boots (although they are very sexy boots…)