It has been a good eventful six weeks. I left employment with the NHS at the end of August, had two weeks off between jobs and have now started with Northern Rail.

The time between jobs started brilliantly, with a weekend away in North Yorkshire with friends to celebrate A’s 40th/27 forever birthday. I then  took the opportunity to go see some of the world in more detail. I based myself in Brussels for a week and used the Belgian Museum Pass to guide me to parts of Belgium I haven’t explored before.

This took me to Bastogne (which I know for the one day classic bike race Liège- Bastogne – Liège and there is a very informative roundabout about it). Bastogne also lives off sandwiches, so it is my kind of town, and also has the regional museum of Ardennes, which was lovely, laid out as a timeline about this French-speaking part of Belgium that I’ve not really been to before.

The next day took me to Mons, for Van Gogh’s house – he was a protestant preacher for a while in the Borinage, the heavily industrial part of southern Belgium and northern France. Inspired by his father’s work as well as the realist art of the time (particularly Millet) and also writers such as Charles Dickens, van Gogh wanted to live and work amongst working class people. It was where and when he decided to become an artist – he has always sketched but found a calling to express everyday life through art, in a way that he was not successful as a pastor. The house is a national monument and was opened as a museum by van Gogh’s nephew, who also set up the van Gogh foundation and museum in Amsterdam. The house is a worker’s cottage, where he lived on the top floor.

Mons and Bastogne also have considerable World War history, both being in front lines at various points. The Battle of the Bulge started in Mons and Bastogne had a considerable barracks, which is also a museum today, with the national collection of vehicles and artillery from both wars. The Mons memorial museum is also the history of the town of Mons, really well curated. There was also a temporary exhibition on the triennial of political posters, which was excellent.

Having learned much in two days, I spent the next day in Brussels. First stop, the Atomium! Originally built for the World Exhibition, this gorgeous construction remains one of Belgium, and Europe’s, most popular attractions, and it is ace. The views from the top are fab, and the walk through different domes with light and sound installations is good fun. Then it was Autoworld, the permanent collection of which I’ve visited before, but I was able to see the last day of 90s Legendary Cars, and what an exhibition! Porsches, Ferraris, Alfa Romeos abounded, with innovations of the Smart car, the Twingo, the Saab 93… Together with a soundtrack of banging 90s tunes and film posters all around, it was a fab exhibition.

I also took the opportunity to go to the cinema a couple of evenings – there was a 35th anniversary screening of Terminator 2 and I also saw The Odyssey . Both wonderful films, and definitely ones to see on the big screen.

Terminator 2 is curious to watch now that AI is with us in day-to-day life, and acting without guardrails. For all the jokes that cyber security experts made about “Let’s not build Skynet, cos we know how that ends…”, it is exactly what has happened. It is very much a case that, as van Gogh hankered for, life imitates art, yet political choices are being made by the rich and corrupt, and the world is on fire. I know you know this, but it really hit home watching both of these films and has sat with me for a while. 

Next day – Roselaere and back to Flanders. I had been in and around Wallonia up until this point, practicing French, and now I was back in Flemish speaking territory. A chance to try out some amatuer Dutch, which I did, and also visit the National Cycling museum in cycling mad Belgium. And what a treat! Set in a former fire station headquarters, it has bikes, jerseys, caps, memorabilia as well as stores of cyclists from all over the world. Many professional cyclists have visited and donated gubbins, including Birnam Girmay’s winning bike, a framed Eddie Merck’s jersey and bikes from his son, as well as sets of kit from various cyclists including Cav, and much other gorgeousness. There have been five champion cyclists from Roselaere itself, so it has a pedigree as a town. There was a lot of local information and easy to access cycle routes. I hired a Blue Bike from the station at the end of the day and pootled round for 45 minutes to see more of the town, which is a lovely tranquil spot.

Next day – Waterloo! The local museum is the former inn where Wellington was billeted alongside his officers two days before the battle, and where he returned after the battle to mourn losses as well as write letters about the military  victory. It is not a period of history I know in great detail, it having fallen out of favour with the National Curriculum. However, to see part of it in situ and recognise the impact and importance was significant and very well explained. I pottered around the town afterwards rather than see the battlefield and virtual reality experience  museum that now exists at the site itself, content with what I had seen and learned in the museum. It gave me a bit of time in Brussels in the afternoon to walk through the lovely Botanic Gardens before taking an evening train to Paris.

Paris was Victor Hugo’s house, which is on Place des Vosges, a great little public park and chi-chi square in Paris. I didn’t realise his house was there but is a gorgeous museum with furniture donated by his family as well as equivalent pieces sourced. He lived there before he was a political exile in Guernsey, and was where he wrote many of his famous works as well as starting his campaign for heritage and preservation of historic buildings. He was a significant influence on the architecture and patrimony in France, including correspondence with Viollet -le-Duc, who had commissions to complete and restore Notre Dame in Paris as well as Carcassonne castle.

And now I’m in my second week with Northern, and loving it. I’m on the 05.41 service a lot to York, where I’m training for the role I’ve taken on, which is a senior operational role but without the trappings (and they are trappings) of Director level stuff I have been doing. Working for the railway, even this early in, is as rewarding as I hoped and as satisfying as doing a good job in the NHS. I will be forever wedded to the purpose and passion of the NHS and I was careful, I hope, not to burn bridges with trusted colleagues who I miss working with every day, so there is a route of return.

The last 6 weeks have reinforced what I already knew, but I’m grateful for the chance to do it out loud – take the opportunity, go where your skills sets are valued, go in with an open mind and big heart – and what’s the downside? I am really grateful for everyone’s support, as ever; and the perks of rail travel that come with this job? Heaven for a train geek like me 😉