Friday 19 August 2016

Tuesday 16th August 2016

The alarm goes off at quarter to five. I lay in bed for five minutes listening to Hounds of Love playing quietly. I felt this would be a the best moment of the day, the calm....

Outside, it was barely dawn, almost dark, and each morning would be darker, earlier. So it goes. So it goes. And of course as days in the northern hemisphere grow shorter, on the other side of the world, they get longer.

Looking out of the back window, there are traces of mist in the dip between Chez Jelltex and the rest of the village, this is an early sign of autumn I think.

There is time for coffee and watch the highlights on the i player form MOTD which I missed as Olympic Tennis was more important on Sunday and the football moved, my recorder didn't notice, so I got 55 minutes of the tennis, not even the end of it either!

Anyway, after completing the chores, and a quick double check of my travel documents, it is time to leave.

There is more mist along the Alkham Valley as we cruise along the A20, but above us there is clear blue sky, criss-crossed by fading contrails. And in the east the horizon turns pink to red as the sun makes ready to rise.

It is cool on the platform, but the train glides in some 15 minutes before departure, so we can get on, settle down and I can check on the mails from the weekend. I answer mails, send others on and make calls. I miss the moment the train pulls out, but soon we rattle to Folkestone West where we pick up more passengers, but even then the train is yet half full.

At Ashford we pick up more people, and again at Ebbsfleet; there is more mist, which melts away as the rays of the now risen sun touches it.

At Stratford I have enough time to stop for breakfast at the cafe on the station; they ask where I've been, I explain that I have had to travel through Heathrow for a month or so. I guess I made travel to Denmark sound exciting. Maybe it is and I'm just jaded? who knows?

A twenty minute run to the airport, and I can feel I'm smiling, must be the four hour shorter commute this week! And again the train is not full even after stopping at West Ham and Canning own.

Check in is fine, even if the queuing is a little crazy, makes me realsie that not all of what happens at LCY is perfect. Anyway, I am thorough security in ten minutes, and with a place to sit down and carry on dealing with work until the battery in my phone dies.

So there is just people watching to do, which is even more fun at airports, as the traveling classes mix and rub against each other.

The flight is called, and I guess there were ten of us on it, I get a row of three seats to myself, so get out the new copy of Rail, and so ignore the safety brief.

With the wind in the east, we have a short taxi and are in the air very soon, climbing over the River Lea where it joins the Thames, turning over east London and crossing the M25 before the ground is lost below the clouds.

An hour later and we are descending towards Denmark, crossing the cost about twenty miles south of Esbjerg, but I can see the towers for my project from that high.

We are down on the ground at twenty past twelve, and I am on the road with my cases by quarter to one, and in the office some 40 minutes later. The drive is pleasant with every combine harvester in Denmark busy at work getting the crops in whilst the country's only afternoon of warm weather fades. Summer flowers are fading on the road verge too, the seasons will soon change here.

I have smuggled crumpets and tea bags for friends at the office; so I distribute the booty before work begins, they are both happy, which is nice.

Work is, well, work. I get down to mails, fighting the fight and all that until half four, when as everyone else has left, I thought I may as well join them.

The hotel is busy once again, and after waiting in line I have a room on the 3rd floor on the side facing the harbour and afternoon sun. But not high enough to see the harbour. I have work to do, so crack on with the radio playing until it is time to go for dinner. And for that I have arranged a meal for the whole quality team at Flammen, a BBQ place opposite the hotel.

I am a minute late, but the guys are all waiting for outside with their healthy appetites, which is just as well as its eat as much as you can thing. There is salad too, lasagne, chicken nuggets, fries, sauces. But most of all its about the meat; roasted, broiled, pulled, stewed and the rest. We eat too much, drink a little too much too.

But it is good.

And there is football on TV, Copenhagen in the CL, but I am glued to Twitter as City play yet again, and win 1-0 against Bristol City.

Yay, us

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