troubled teachers

Chapter 37

They could tell they were moving quickly but with no landmarks or anything to see from the carriage, it was hard to judge just how fast they were progressing. Henry was sitting in the back seat of the car, fixated on his iPad whilst Emma and Regina decided to walk up towards the toilets. They had been sat in their car for over five hours and there was still at least an hour to drive when they reached Calais.

"It's weird but cool," Emma said when Regina asked her how she was finding her first experience of the EuroTunnel. "To think we're speeding along underneath the sea is a little creepy to be honest but it's exciting to think we're going to be in France in a few minutes."

"I agree," Regina nodded. "With Robin's fear of flying, we used this tunnel a lot. I always though it was quite fun."

"At least it means we get to drive our car when we get there. I hate continental cars. I always panic when I can't find the gear stick where it's meant to be."

Regina laughed but her next sentence was drowned out by the sound of a tannoy announcement stating they would be arriving in Calais in five minutes and for everyone to return to their cars.

"What were you saying?" Emma asked as they began to make their way back down the carriage.

"I was going to ask if you want me to drive," Regina said. "You did the whole stretch for Plymouth to Kent and we're still at least an hour from Bruges."

"I'm fine," Emma assured her. "I think there's another red bull somewhere in the car if I need it. Anyway, I thought we'd stop at Dunkirk on the way. Fulfil my two history geeks' cravings and all that."

Regina rolled her eyes as she climbed back into the Golf. Henry acknowledged their return with a grunt but didn't look up from the screen. Emma and Regina exchanged sidelong looks before they turned back to look at the cars lined in front of them where brake lights were flickering into life.

~

Dunkirk turned out to be a let down, with very little in the way of information about the World War Two battle which had occurred there. As it wasn't Regina's field of expertise, she was able to offer a curious Henry little more information than that which they found on a few small plaques around the seaside town. It did at least give Emma some time to relax with a coffee and Danish pastry in a cafe whilst Regina and Henry strolled around.

"From what I remember," Regina said as she and Henry stood on the windy beach, "the Allies were outnumbered two to one but they still managed to inflict more casualties and fatalities on the Germans. I think we lost more equipment though. Tanks, submarines, boats, that sort of thing. And somehow loads of our soldiers were taken prisoner. We had to evacuate in the end. We had lost too many tanks and the Luftwaffe were razing the town to the ground. There weren't too many civilian casualties compared to something like the Blitz later in the war but we retreated when we knew we didn't have the upper hand to try and spare local lives."

"Why is it called the Blitz?" Henry asked. "That's not an English word, is it?"

"No," Regina replied. "It's short for Blitzkrieg which is a German term for a type of warfare also known as lightening attacks. Basically the army delivers short, sharp blows, and then retreats. Such as the bombings. They didn't hang around, they just flew over, dropped their loads, and retreated back to Germany. The idea was the inflict as many casualties as possible without losing aircraft."