Food for Thought

When it comes to biosecurity, the French are taking no chances.
I have just spent a weekend in Normandy with my French journo friend Franck, getting a few miles under the wheels of my bike before the autumn gives way to winter.

I was due to travel over with Brittany Ferries on the Friday evening and was somewhat surprised, not to mention impressed, to get a text message from the French operator the day before reminding me that, "following the latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth, meat and dairy products should not be taken out of the UK".
Given this attention to detail, it was no surprise that the disinfection mats were already in evidence on arrival in France, and my French friend was quick to ask whether I had been anywhere near a farm in recent days (I hadn't)
It was also no surprise to find no such security on my return two days later to Portsmouth. I was able to sail though customs without so much as a sniff at the smelly Liverot cheese that was making itself rather obvious in one of my paniers, or a squirt of disinfectant on my well-travelled tyres.