Malcolm and Brenda had booked themselves a short holiday in Brussels, travelling there on the Eurostar train. They started from Southampton, taking the regular train to Waterloo. The journey was remarkably bumpy, so much so that they had difficulty keeping their coffee in the cups. On arrival at Waterloo, they had a short amount of time to change platforms to catch the Eurostar. By contrast, the journey in that train was incredibly smooth and the coffee in their cups hardly rippled when placed on the table. The fares for each train varied widely also. The return train from Southampton to Waterloo cost £75 each whereas the Eurostar was £50 each there and back.

They had two nights in Brussels, staying in an hotel in the centre of the city. The continental breakfast each day was a scramble and it was not easy to get enough food to be satisfied. That problem was solved by spending some time in a café of two.

The couple spent their time walking around the centre of Brussels taking in the beautiful architecture. Naturally they felt obliged to purchase some Belgian chocolates.

The journey home was marred by an objectionable Frenchman who had taken Malcolm's seat and utterley refused to move. Malcolm tried to make things uncomfortable for him but without success. There were no spare seats for Malcolm to sit next to Brenda but a kind Englishman offered to move to make a space.