Eurostartling

London here we come

Then it was a dash to the Gare du Midi to catch the evening Eurostar to London with the family. Rapid rail transport is one of those areas where Europe’s startling technological development and the beneficial consequences of this are most tangible. When I started out in the EU institutions, Paris was a three-hour trek away by rail and London – well, a trundle to Ostend then the hydrofoil and then a trundle from Dover to London took all day (though veterans will remember that in the beginning you could take the hydrofoil all the way up to the Tower of London). Now, Paris is barely an hour away and London just two.  Indeed, I don’t want to sound a sourpuss but there’s hardly time to read your newspaper now. Anyway, it was the start of the sort of eventful weekend only a London, or a Paris, or a Berlin can provide…