— 9 Jul 2023, 13:25 by Alex Hardy
We are here! I do fear that Ryan - our wonderful driver - took a wrong turning somewhere past Paris and we are now somewhere nearer the equator such is the heat, but I recognise the MCF building, so hopefully all is well. Never easy to breathe life into an 11 hour coach journey, though there were one or two highlights. It turns out that the coach has usb sockets, which will help charging their electricals. Some boys managed to spend the entire journey glued to a screen; they will soon have to learn the age-old skill of conversation with their gadgets locked away! The best moment was on the EuroTunnel, when two boys were seen peering through the windows of the carriage looking for fish. They will remain anonymous to protect blushes; suffice to say that the name of one fronted a band called the Attractions and the other was the enemy of Achilles. That will keep you all busy on Wikipedia. They have just enjoyed salad, spag bol and watermelon while we staff feasted on foie gras, lobster and a triple cooked emu soufflé. Obviously, they are all mostly overwhelmed about the three wicket win against the Aussies in the Ashes, well, aren't we all. At some point, there will be photos. Currently, there are only the ones we teachers took of each other fast asleep in embarrassing positions, but I have found the trip phone and will be snapping away demain matin, never fear. Very excited about the July sumo basho in Nagoya, my old stamping ground, available to watch on the NHK website.
Apologies to parents who thought there might be more info about their children in this blog. Clearly, you don't know me very well, but Bel is insisting I make more of an effort. They are all here (well, they were all on the coach the last time I counted at the last service station), they have all eaten and they are all going to go to bed and have lovely dreams of snails, frogs' legs and 2CVs. And they are all happy. For now.
