Birthday lunch

We did have other plans for my birthday, but when Gordon managed to get some bargain ferry tickets and a booking for my favourite restaurant in Calais, those plans were put aside and we were off to France. (A good thing we had our passports and a few Euros with us.) So, we caught a morning ferry from Dover, which is less than half an hour from where we are staying, and a couple of hours later we were sitting with coffee outside a café we know well in the centre of Calais. 

Then we had lunch at Au Cote D'Argent, right down by the sea and a place we have been going to for many years, although sadly it is often closed when we are travelling through Calais. Today, we made it and it was wonderful. A restaurant that takes food seriously and yet has a friendly, comfortable atmosphere. Delicious food, perfectly cooked, imaginatively presented and just in the right amount. How they do it for what is a very modest cost we have no idea, except that the fact that  it was today full of locals may be the answer. And this is the only restaurant I know where the chef comes out at the end of service and walks round asking all the diners about their meal and spends time chatting with people he knows (see extra). This is fine dining with heart. 

Two enjoyable ferry journeys (with a fine sighting) and we even managed a bit of shopping. Will this be the last time we will be able to bring wine back from France? A super day. 

And then there is our MP Rory. We certainly live in times where anything can happen.