In all honesty, six hours sleep is not enough, especially coming after spending over half on Sunday travelling. But, there was work to be done, so I jump out of bed, grab a shower and get ready for work. I meet Graham for breakfast, and we discuss the upcoming audit and how to tackle it. We set off for the head office at eight, and find the place pretty empty as Denmark seems to think it is a right to take at least two weeks off in July. I won’t say any more on the subject, but it is frustrating that so many are allowed to just take time off.
So, at ten we meet up with the auditee and crack on with it. All went well as we asked our probing questions and he batted them away. And on and on it went. Until we reached the end of our questions and we wrapped up. Phew. There goes another nine hours.
We headed back to the hotel, and Graham suggested we head to the marina as there are some good places to eat there. I wasn’t convinced, but agreed, so I met him in the lobby half an hour later, and we set off in his car in search of dinner. We find our way and there is plenty of free parking, so we get out and head to the waterside, where it a scene from a holiday brochure. All yachts and boats moored up alongside a wooden pier, with the sun shining from a clear sky above, and it was hot, darn hot. So we walked round the marina to a restaurant called ‘Seafood’ which served seafood.
We got a table and ordered tiger prawns followed by baked cod. It was all rather wonderful, as well as the fine food, we could people watch as the Danes in all their holiday ‘finery’ sauntered by, mostly licking a huge ice cream bought from the kiosk opposite. The food was excellent, as was the service, and after eating the main course we were not encouraged to pay and leave. So we ordered cheese and crackers, and people watched some more.
After eating we wandered around some more, taking in the scenes as the evening turned towards night and the sun went down and the colour darkened and the shadows lengthened. I took loads of shots, some of which were OK, some not so, but that’s life.
At half ten we made our way back to the hotel and so ended another fine day in the go ahead world of wind power.
Tuesday. Due to the fact that the audit for Tuesday had been postponed, all I had to do was pack, have breakfast, check out and then drive to Esbjerg. Not a pleasant thin in a VW Up!, but then again, despite its tiny engine and small size it was quiet, economical and spacy enough for me.
The office is as it always is, albeit, mostly empty due to the holiday season. I get a desk and crack on with work. And that’s how the day passed, with just regular breaks for coffee. At five I head back to the Britannia to check in and relax, as I seemed to have lost several hours of sleep in the previous few days. I snooze listening to The Infinite Monkey Cage on the radio, before at half seven I meet up with Gary again, and we head to Bones for a huge plate of ribs.
Wednesday.
I wake up at just gone seven with the sunshine streaming in through the gap in the curtains. I pack, check out and have breakfast befre heading to the office for three hard hours of work! And as I am travelling through Amsterdam again, my flight leaves at 14:20, so I have to leave at 11 at the latest to be there in time to check in.
I was thinking the airport would be crowded, but it seems flights only begin in the afternoon, and it is only just filling up. So I head to the gastrobar for a sandwich and a half litre of Hoegaarden and watch the world go by down below in the departure hall.
We board the flight, on a Boeing something, over a 100 seats, and soon are lifting off into the clear blue sky. The flight is just long enough for the cabin crew to serve a round of drinks before we are coming down at Amsterdam and its time to get off and find where the flight to London is leaving from.
Schiphol is a well designed airport, all gates seem to be within a 15 minute walk and so well signposted, it seems impossible to get lost. I wander around taking shots, then spy an Irish bar so call in for a pint of Murphy’s before settling dwon at the gate for boarding time.
Another 40 minute flight, with the crew running down the plane throwing drinks at the passengers. I snooze instead. I wake up as we are flying up the Thames towards London: over the Dartford crossing and lower, lower, over the prison, back over the river and down back on the sweet embracing ground.
I have time to not be bothered about racing to catch a train, as I knew I would not make the five twenty one, so I get my case, which as I wasn’t in a hurry was the first one off. The up to the DLR, and along to Stratford where I have time to get an iced coffee before heading down on the platform to wait for the train to Dover. A couple of Eurostars thunder by, leaving clouds of dust and trash in the air.
An hour later I was at Dover, Jools was waiting and so we went home for dinner on the patio and watch the sun go down.
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