liberté, égalité, fraternité

Mr Seagull* is today's blip by virtue of being the only pic I took all day.
As ever the 5 hour drive to the Tunnel took 8 grindingly annoying hours, and my joy at driving straight to the barriers was short lived when they announced another hours delay for departure. However a 4g signal all the way under the sea was technically impressive.

Arriving in France all the motorway signs are displaying the national motto (but French motorways are not a place to stop, even for Blip!), I've found it hugely poignant and yet somehow touchingly hopeful. I deeply believe that it takes love to conquer hate and that light is the answer to the dark - but to defeat terror then liberty, equality and fraternity are three truly powerful weapons, the French and the rest of the world need them more than ever now.

Driving into the long night it's made me wonder what motto we should have as a nation now? 'God and my right' seems to match the current mood of the small island I've just left - I really hope I come back to somewhere that's able to find a way to become more again, somewhere that knows how to be a light in the world again, somewhere we all want to live and love.

*I appreciate many folk aren't that fond of these guys, but being relatively far from the coast I love seeing these big birds, even if many of them don't seem all that wild anymore.