Tears

6pm Tuesday evening

We arrived in Calais with the sun in our faces.

I dropped Malcolm and Karen off with their luggage by the Terminal Doors. There was a line snaking around the front of the building. A fresh circle of tensa-hell. I went back to the car park to find anywhere to stick the car.

By the time I walked back to the Port Building Malcolm and Karen had it all sussed out.

It’s simple. You join the back of the queue and when you get to the front you get on the next ferry going. They’ve doubled the service so there is one going every 30 minutes. We’ll be docking in Dover by 9pm UK time.”

I had to turn away to ‘stretch my legs’. Having gone from 'not taking the volcano seriously' mode to 'matter of fact' mode to 'determined force of nature' mode this was it. I was home. The relief and the elation were too much.

I cried.