We have just rounded up the cats and taken to the cattery in preparation for a little road trip we are embarking on later today. It is work related for me, but Jools is coming along as it is such a beautiful area for us to visit. So, all is waiting for lunchtime when we set off.
Until then we are watching the birds in the front garden as they eat from the food we have scattered and as the snow falls once again. Although it snowed most of the night and into the morning, it has been a fine dust and so we have just a covering which, does not affect travel but does look pretty.
So, I left you on Friday afternoon before I left Esbjerg on my journey home. It is just a 40 minute drive to Billund fro there, and not along motorways, but along nice country roads and through small villages. In one village I stopped to snap the parish church, well kept as it was. I dropped the car off, checked in and tried to get into the business lounge, but once again I was denied entry; at least for free. So I went to the gastropub and had a large brown beer and did some more work whilst I looked out over the runway and waited for my flight to be called.
Northern Europe was covered in cloud, so there was nothing to see just the propeller next to me spinning. I read the Peter Hook book and time passed. On final approach the engines were screaming, and we were surrounded by cloud which looked like fog. The plane lurched and dived, I felt my fingers gripping the arm of the seat. And then we broke cloud cover at about 500 feet, and south east London was laid out below us. Roads were choked with traffic, but it was all lit up like a toy town.
Over south London we went before banking round over Battersea with the lit bridges further upstream reflected in the river. Back along the river we went with the houses of Parliament and the London Eye below us, over the City all lit up as if the advertise the fact that it is business as usual for them even if it hard times for the rest of the country. And then down, apparently skimming over the roofs of houses and flats in docklands, over the EXCEL arena and down, down onto the runway and merrie olde England.
Once we stopped, out of the plane, into the building and a ten minute wait to get through immigration, collect my bag and onto the DLR. My gosh it was cold, colder than Denmark and people were wrapped up like they were heading to the South Pole. Back through the Olympic Park, and with each trip a little more has been taken away, and the games slip further into memory. Although, there still many adverts and posters for the games at the airport and on the DLR stations.
Once at Stratford, I had a coffee, as I thought i would catch the next train to Dover rather than getting Jools to collect me from Ashford. So, I had an extra 20 minutes to kill, but the coffee shop closed at eight so I had little choice than to head to the platform to wait. And let me tell you the concrete box was mighty cold.
But the train arrived on time, and there were seats available, so I sat down and got the book out to immerse myself in the Joy Division legend for the last hour of my trip back home. Jools was waiting for me, and so it was back up the hill and along to home and supper.
And, for me, first task, after visiting each sleeping cat to give them a stroke, was to inspect the almost completed bathroom. It looks good, and I think we should be pleased that it was done in two weeks.
Saturday, and we head out for chores down Dover, then up to Sandwich to photograph a 13th century gatehouse. I had managed to miss it on all my previous visits, which happens. Fishergate is situated on the quay, and is impressive and a reminder of tougher days when Sandwich was on the frontline for potential invaders and so a town wall was essential. The walls may have mostly gone, but the gate house survives.
I snap it and the area around the gate, then we head off to Staple, about 5 miles away to photograph a church.
I know i really should make a list now of each church I have visited and photographed, but I checked my photostream and I could not find it when I thought I have been there. As it turned out, once we had found the church I had been there, but found it locked, but this day it was unlocked and so I was able to complete the task of recording it.
By now it was snowing hard, and even though it was not setting, t was mighty cold, so we headed back home for lunch and the last part of operation bathroom; putting together a set of Ikea shelves. The shelves were damaged, and we really should have returned them, but we just wanted to complete the room, so we made sure one of the basket cubes hid the damage and so the job was done.
I went to lay on the sofa and listen to the football, and in an upset, City score two for the first time since Christmas to win their first game since before the festive period. We now have 32 points will 11 games to go; nearly safe, then.
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