Tuesday 16th April 2024

Monday evening, we gathered in the Kro’s restaurant for a special vegetarian meal of Danish food.

Quite a feat as Danes like their meat and fish, but there was a good spread and for us meat eaters, two bowls of meat balls to share.

I did introduce two of the guys to a local chilli tripel beer at 9.2%, which they agreed was very nice indeed.

We went to bed nice and early, so to be fresh for the workshop in the morning, but to be honest, I had been awake since half two, and with the travel and time in the workshop that afternoon, I was beyond shattered.

Tuesday morning, and after a good nine hours sleep, I felt much, much better, so after a shower, I met Henrik for breakfast of fresh rolls, Nutella and lashings of strong coffee.

Off to the factory at half eight, and ready for the results of another personality test, which showed I actually had one.

Then came discussions. Many, many discussions, either side of lunch and to three, at which point we broke for the “team event”.

I followed Henrik in the bus with my colleagues into Odense, parking near the centre, so we could meet the arranger of the event. And it was another of the “escape room” things, this time we were searching for an antidote to a virus. Blah, blah, blah.

There were 15 locations to find and riddles to solve. Only my knee made it clear that it had had enough. So, I bailed and found somewhere to sit and have a coffee and while away the two and a half hours the rest were doing to challenge. Only with me not really knowing when they would be done.

There is only so much coffee one can drink, so I found a place to sit and people watch.

I then got a phone call. A guy needed to change the van. I knew there was a chance this was going to happen., but the agreement I had with Avis was they would call me first. The poor guy was at the hotel, and I and the van were not.

I told him where to meet me, and half an hour later he arrived not in another van, but a seven seater car, but two of the seats were squeezed in the back. It was no substitute.

I was livid.

After some discussions, we found we could make it work, but not really very good. Anyway, by that time the event was over, and we got in the new car and drove across the city to a street food place. Its always street food.

We found a place to sit, then we took it in turns to find something to eat and drink, meet back up. I had a cheesy burger, which was pretty good, but the Indian guys had lots of Indian food, pigging out on familiar food. In fairness a couple of them have been in Europe for a couple of weeks, and needed a taste of home.

Kings of Europe no more

Back in the 70s, Dad and I used to tune into Radio 2, medium wave, from two minutes past eight on Wednesday evenings, to listen to the English Champions, usually Liverpool, play in Europe.

The European Cup, as was.

Either from Anfield, or from some place in Europe we could only guess what it looked like, but the calm tones of Bryon Butler would describe the games as Liverpool would score and control the rest of the game to win.

We would listen to it on the family radiogram, with the signal fading in and out in thanks to dodgy reception on medium wave. Liverpool would play Borussia Mönchengladbach, Sparta Prague or some team from Russia or wherever.

When Liverpool failed to win the European Cup, then Nottingham Forest or Aston Villa did. An endless stream of success.

Whenever an English, Scottish or Welsh team played, we cheered them on. The teams and clubs were clearly English, filled with mostly English players, who would also play for the national side.

Fast forward to the 21st century, and the bright new world of the Premier League and Champions League, not only Champions take part in the premier competition, but runners up, even teams that finished third or forth could qualify, thus making a mockery of the name, Champions League. Clubs are owned by billionaires or oild-rich Arab states, using the club and sports for washing their blood-soaked reputations.

Clubs might play in England with their traditional names and even in their tradional home grounds, but everything else has changed.

English clubs have used the monies from revenues of the PL and CL to hoover up the best players, leaving little to chance, and leaving most of the Eureopean game long behind. On more than one occasion, three out of the four semi-finalists were English clubs.

Domminance of the sport seemed assured.

In order to cement their domminance, domestic competitions were messed around with, replays scrapped as well as extra time in some cases, so to make the biggest clus with their bloated squads have the best chance to win in Europe.

This is not now enough for the biggest clubs. The FA is to be reduced, replays scrapped in that too, even when the big clubs are not taking part. Monies that those clubs in the CL make no longer filters down the football pyramid, instead it is shared with other big clubs, or spent in agent's fees.Last year the PL clubs spent nearly half a billion pounds on agents fees alone.

THese clubs no longer feel English and their ongoing success seems to be divorced from those who support mere mortal clubs. Whether Citeh win the CL or not matters not a jot to me or my club.

This week, four out of the five remaining PL clus in the three European competitions were knocked out, including Man City and Arsenal in the CL, liverpool knocked out by a team they scuttled out 5-0 three years back.

I no longer cheer for English clubs in Europe, as the televised games are behind a paywall I'm not prepared to pay for, It matters far less. Until the money that the big clubs earn and expect the rest of the game to facilitate filters back down the leagues, I will largly ignore them.

They matter not a jot.

Monday 15th April 2024

Back on the road again.

Or rather on the train, DLR, plane and then in the car.

Though Jools did have to drive me to Ashford for the first high speed train into London.

That meant being there in time to catch the ten past five train, and with at least an half hour drive, we had to leave home just after four, after getting up at quarter past three.

When it was still very dark.

Of course.

So early, only two cats wanted feeding, but at least the roads were quiet.

Not much to talk about at four in the morning, as long as I got to the station to catch the train. There was one potential issue, I got an e mail from BA at half midnight saying there was a strong possibility of strong winds at departure time, and the flight could be delayed. But it didn’t say not to travel.

So there I was on platform 5 of Ashford no longer International station (another Brexit “benefit”) waiting for the train to pull in.

It did at five past, and we harder early passengers climbed on board and settled in our seats.

Half an hour later I got out at Stratford, walked to the DLR station, waited five minutes in dawn’s pale light before getting on the train.

I had no idea what to expect at the airport. I have travelled when there has been similar issues and they were not letting any passengers in and the place just rammed. As it was, it was quiet, and having checked in I dropped my case off and walked to security, waited in line ten minutes and was through, so straight to the restaurant for breakfast of granola. It was the only remotely healthy option.

But the coffee was welcome.

Thing about City Airport is that is it very civilised, if expensive, and not packed, giving the impression not of an airport as such. Lots of places to sit down, and spend money. I bought some after shave, and found a quiet corner to sit and watch some You Tube on my phone.

Time passed.

The flight was called, on time, and we twenty or so passengers met and waited at the gate before being allowed to board.

It was running, but we were told the climb through the clouds would be bumpy.

Which it was.

But I got the great views over Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs and along the river to The City before the clouds enveloped us, and Fair Albion was lost to view.

I snoozed, but accepted a second breakfast of cold cuts, cheese and a bread roll with raspberry jam, time enough to snaffle that down before we began to drop into Billund. The clouds parted long enough to catch a glimpse of Blavand lighthouse and beach, before the lumping and bumping began again.

Always good to get onto the ground, into the terminal, through immigration which was painless, and collect my case, before walking to the car hire place to pick up the keys to a mini bus.

I am to be the bus driver for the duration of the week.

I easily find the bus, it was the only one in the lot, and after programming in the shipyard where the meeting was, set off through a green Danish River valley to the motorway. The road was lined with dandelions and daisies, but a few lesser celandines too, and further along some field horsetails were seen.

Onto the motorway and heading south, over the big bridge to Middlefart. Yes, you read that right. And on to Odense, once home of Hans Christian Andersen, the writer of many fairy stories, and on to the flat lands beyond, with the shipyard’s cranes looming in the distance.

I was allowed to drive onto the port, to the training block where the meeting room was, and so met colleagues I had not met in the three years since rejoining Vestas. They had all flown in from India over the weekend, and was a great meeting it was. All hugs and smiles.

The word “team event” can mean many things, but can be good and bad too. Time will tell how this pans out.

Come half five, we were done and a short drive with my four colleagues in the bus to the thatched hotel, ready for the formal meal at seven.

I went down fifteen minutes before the meal and treated myself to a bottle of chilli tripel Danish beer, robust at 9.2%, and found the quiet bar to sit in and contemplate life.

One by one my colleagues came down, and two of those from India rather liked the idea of the beer and they both had a bottle.

Dinner was a traditional Danish meal of roasted root vegetables and non-meat or dairy sauce, while those of us who did eat meat, there were meatballs.

It was all very nice and much laughing and storytelling was done. And being in the hotel meant getting back to our room and to bed at a sensible time.

Sunday 14th April 2024

There will be a break in blogs and picture uploads as I am off on my travels for work, and will not take my laptop with me. So, despite it being only four in the afternoon, today's post is coming, as I have to get up in the middle of the night to catch my flight in the morning.

So, Sunday morning.

Let's go to Samphire Hoe!

Why not?

Samphire Hoe has once of the largest populations of Early Spider Orchids in the country, certainly in Kent, but it being a country park, its best to go early before the dogwalkers and joggers are out in force.

So, down on the Hoe just before eight, parked up and instead of going along the sea wall, we go beside the railway. And even before we reach the gate to that track, I had found 19 flowering spikes, including one with 6 open flowers.

This is incredible.

We walk right along to Abbostscliff, and find close to 90 spikes, most already flowering. On the way we meet a nice young man, Joe, down from Surrey to check on the orchids, so we walk and chat.

We take him to the foot of the cliff, and we find another dozen large spikes there, and on the shelves dotting the cliff face we see another thirty of forty spikes, again most in flower.

But my knee was suggesting we had done enough, and it was a ten minute walk, 15 minute hobble back to the car, past the worm-danglers.

It was a relief to get to the car, and slump into the seat to drive home, to Capel, then back towards Dover.

Once home I check in for the flight, Jools makes breakfast and coffee, while outside the clouds part and we are blessed with warm sunshine.

Bacon butties are eaten for lunch, and then with ice pack strapped on, I watch Palace beat Liverpool to shake up the title race. Or give it to Citeh, depends on how cynical you are.

Saturday 13th April 2024

A return to the seaside, and once I had done some research, looked at Google Earth, I was able to pretty much guess where the Green-wings were.

It took some 30 seconds before the flowering spike could be seen.

Only two spikes, but where a couple of years there were none.

Council has been informed and so not mowed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now that the orchid season is under way, you might have noticed the volume of uploads has slowed down somewhat. That won't always be true, but for now, enjoy the calm.

And so to the weekend and Saturday.

Saturday was to be the best for weather, so we decided to go out looking for the Green-winged orchid. In the meantime I had looked at the original picture, triangulated using Google Maps, and realised there was a small mowed triangle of grass.

If only I would have walked another 50m the day before, I would have found them.

But to Tesco first, and a round up of the usual items. Then back to the car and straight to Deal, park where I had the day before, and walking along the path to the grassed area, I began to search with my eyes.

I knew at least one spike was in flower, so the colour should have been obvious

And it was when I saw it from about 10m away. One good spike in full flower and a second behind yet to open.

I lay down to get shots, and then the usual question:

Breakfast?

We drove to the Corner Café, and by then in high spirits, which the owner picked up on We explained the orchids found and showed him pictures, and he seemed really interested.

He also tol me about his small wildflower area, which I went to look at. And sadly his forget-me-nots were indeed forget-me-nots rather than Speedwells, but I did see hedgehog scat, which they did not know visited their garden, so they were pleased.

Not as pleased as I was with the big breakfast with added hash browns along with a pot of builder's tea.

From there we drove home, unloaded the car and had another brew, they day done.

And yet it was just half nine in the morning.

While Jools did some energetic gardening, I made Jools some meals for her to take to work. A recipe called coriander chicken I picked up online.

BY the time i had made that, made fresh brews, it was time to watch the first game of the day, and Leeds lose at home for the first time this season, 1-0 to Blackburn.

Then it was eyes and ears down for the main batch of games on the radio, and Norwich were away to Preston, who were just two places below. City scored the only goal 5 minutes from time, and that was that.

More football to follow and watch as we ate pizza, and somehow another day had gone.

Phew.

Friday 12th April 2024

After work on Friday, I went out searching for two orchid species along the coast.

One I knew, the Early Spiders at Kingsdown, but the other, Green-wing along the coast, I did not.

I had seen shots of the green wing, and thanks to background detail, I knew roughly where to look, but I failed to find them.

I drove to the beach, more overgrown than I remember, but I found three tiny Early Spider spikes in flower, this one being the best.

Species #4 for the season!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, and last day working from home for ten days, as next week I'm on my travels with work. So, I make the most of it.

Jools is off to yoga first thing, leaving me to put out the bins, including the new brown bin which replaced sacks, so not so many trips up and down the drive.

And then to work, where talk is of next week and our team event. Odd to think that I'll be meeting colleagues I've been working beside for over three years and have never met.

Last thing is a meeting regarding an audit report, in which I had suggested that things were not as they should be, I just thought the guy I was speaking to just didn't know. As we delved into the maze of documentations, it became clear that things were really not as they should be.

Chalk that one up to the auditor!

At two I am done for the week, set the out of office message, and as Jools was not yet back, but there was a car in the drive, I went out to look for some orchids.

I had heard about a new, but small, colony of Green-winged had been found just up the coast. I had seen a shot of them, so thought I could triangulate with the image seared into my mind.

I was wrong.

But Walmer and Deal were rammed, I got the last parking space and investigated the grassy slope, saw lots of what look like a cranesbill, and thousands of Alexanders, but no orchids.

Oh well, there's always the golf course.

But that for another day, so I drove back to Kingsdown, parked and made my way onto the SSSI.

At first I thought it too overgrown, but soon I saw rosettes of plants, and then the tell-tale spike of an Ophrys. Looking at the other side of it, I was rewarded with the familiar burgundy red lip and blue patterns of an Early Spider.

I took shots, then looked for others, finding two more just coming into flower, but that was it.

I walked back to the car, then drove up through the narrow street through the village, up to Ringwould and then back home.

It was four in the afternoon and the weekend had begun!

I decided I would like to sit in the garden, and also have a beer. So I had a beer on the patio, sipping a new tripel as the recently arrived swallows chirped and swooped in the gardens, searching for bugs.

It would have been tempting to go out for dinner, but I made chorizo hash, which is always a winner, and while we ate, we relistened to Ronnie O'Sullivan on DID. Always illuminating.

I tried to stay up to watch the Leicester game, but at half time I was so tired, I gave up. Didn't change the result, The Foxes lost again.

Thursday 11th April 2024

Thursday dawned overcast and foggy. Away in the distance, the sound of the fog horn at Dover could be heard, s it sounded its warning.

Jools was off work, of course, and had plans for her day. I, meanwhile, had work and would be expecting the carpet fitters.

For the last four weeks our house has been turned upside down, as we decorate and update the furniture and fittings of the back room and spare bedroom.

Furniture and objects from each room are stored in other rooms, mainly the bathroom (which has no bath), piles of books, clothes and documents were stacked, sorted and either dumped, recycled or shredded and dumped.

The back room looks great, and last weekend the spare room was decorated, all we needed was the tatty rug that had been in there replaced by fitted carpet. And on Thursday the fitters came with their bag of tools and underlay and carpet to complete the job.

Before then, we had to take the bed apart, a job that was far worse in anticipation than in practice, leaving just the wardrobe for the guys to work round and move about.

They were done in half an hour, amazing really, and once Jools came back from the pool, we put the bed back together, the chest of drawers was carried back in, and so the final stuff out of the bathroom was cleared, the house looked like a home again.

There is a plan going forward, with the upstairs hallway next to be painted and re-carpeted, and maybe next year for the living room then the kitchen.

So, the cats will get used to peace and quiet for a while and not have to hide when the workmen come knocking and banging.

They were gone very quickly, and peace returned to the house.

I vacuumed the new carpet, as it was covered with fluffy bits, and after Cleo sampled some last time, best got get rid.

And move the wardrobe back to its original position.

I then had a meeting, so could not tell Jools when she returned home that the carpet had been laid, instead she discovered it on the way to the back room.

And by five in the afternoon, everything was in its place, and all looked tidy.

I cooked dinner.

And that was that for the day, really. There was football. I mean, there's always football, but the lesser European competitions hold little allure, so I went to bed at half time, thus missing out on the news that Atalanta crushed Liverpool 3-0.