Poitiers – Paris – London

This most poignant war memorial stands facing the city of Poitiers near the top of long series of steps that lead up from the station. We are able to proceed into the town, this soldier, uncertain of what lies ahead, continues heavenward, holding hands with an angel. Is delivery to Heaven, the last act of his Guardian Angel?

In the large public square, in front of the Hotel de Ville, numerous tables are set for lunch outside the row of cafés to my left. I chose one at Café du Commerce and order a café au lait. There are only a few tables being used, more by the café door.

Four teenage girls are fooling around putting a social media post together. There chatter, giggles, laughs and singing are just the right side of bearable. It’s nice to hearing youngsters acting their age. They pose and pout for each other, all good clean fun. A few others join them, with one young lad, then they head off.

The trees are not all in leaf, but some have reached the point Seurat would enjoyed, when the leaves are still emerging and they all look like colourful dots against the bright blue sky. It is a beautiful setting today. I have a dry white wine before heading for the TGV to Paris.

My seat is by a window column and the blinds on my side have been drawn against the glare of the Sun. I read about Sun Ra in David Toop’s book ‘Ocean of Sound.’ If you have a strong interest in modern music and how it has evolved since electricity has been incorporated into music making, I strongly recommend it.

I then slept to Paris, where it was very warm. Line 4 took me to Gare de l’Est. I then walked round the block to the madness of Gare du Nord, I walked just to put my feet down in Paris before the Eurostar to London.

It is very busy around the station front and can feel intimidating to anyone walking there for first time. My advice is to pretend you know where you are going, act like you know where you are going, then ask an official for advice.

The passport and border control set up at the station for the train to London are a joke. The Eurostar terminus is cramped, congested and another frustrating bureaucratic step that travelling between the UK and our closest, therefore most important trading partners, our European cousins.

The war in Iran, the eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf of Arabia and as of today, Iraq is showing little signs of diminishing. The advertisers at Bank of America have chosen this month to launch their FIFA World Cup 2026 sponsorship campaign here in Paris. With the 47th President of the USA, the only ever FIFA Peace Prize recipient, is making fools of FIFA.

As main host of the three countries holding the bloated competition, the USA’s illegal acts of war threaten not only the future of the soccer tournament, but something much, much worse for the entire planet.

Any USA anything at the moment is stained by the blood spilled in this aimless, vicious war.

And so to London.

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