So, I suppose you're asking, why is he in bloody Sweden, and if its for work, why is he wandering around, eating salads, drinking coffee and looking at towers? And you would be very wise to ask such things. Sometimes I ask the same questions. And another one is, does anyone read this paperwork I produce? And would they notice if I just stopped?
who knows?
Anyway, we were in Sweden to audit one of our suppliers, the customer was entitled to do this, and it is my job to facilitate the audit, arrange it and coordinate the visit and actions. All exciting stuff you would probably agree. Or not.
So, Anni and I met at seven only for one of the customer's auditors there as well. Can we give them a lift to the factory? We really did not want to, as they should have their own transport, but in the spirit of teamwork we said yes, but be there at reception at eight. Dead on ten past, one of them comes out, promising the other is on the way. Five minutes later, with no apologies, he trundles up.
So, it was a two minute drive to SKF, and I book us in at the gate and their staff will come down to meet us and take us to the conference room. I won't go into any more details, but the day went well, and the customer was pretty happy. Happy enough to end the audit before two. and just like that it was over.
We had another 15 hours to kill before our flights, and they were heading to the airport to go home that night. Oh well.
We went back to the hotel, and I took to the bed as I was still tired and anyway, it was so darned hot outside that I could not be bothered to head out for a walk. Does not sound good, does it? Well, in truth my back had begun to play up,. so walking was out anyway. I trawled through the ten Swedish TV channels to find something in English to watch, and something that would be interesting.
So the afternoon passed into the evening, I met Anni for dinner, then we sat beside the pool chatting until it neared nine. Time for some packing action and some decent sleep before the trip home in the morning.
Friday. Up again at seven to meet Anni for breakfast. She has an earlier flight, so that means me having to wait over three hours for my flight, but hey, I'm going home.
Check out, load the car, fire up the sat nav, and off we go through Goteborg's inner motorway network and then out into the pine forests, past the lakes and to the airport. We hand the keys in, and Anni and I are leaving from gates at opposite ends of the departure hall, so we say farewell, but we will meet again next week in Denmark.
The British Airways desk is unmanned as yet, but the Brits heading home are already forming an orderly queue. It is really something in our DNA. I sit down and read a magazine. Time passes and a couple of hours before my flight the staff arrive and I join the queue. But as i was the only one who had used the online check in, I go to the baggage drop desk, get my boarding pass and I am first heading up to security.
Once through I have to buy something new to read, and then find a seat facing the departure board, so I know when to head to the gate. More time passes.
Yay, time to leave, so we board the flight, and soon are flying above the forests and lakes of Sweden until we enter the clouds and it is all lost to sight.
I snooze but do take the meal, which is a simple grilled chicken flatbread, but comes with a cup of tea. A proper cup of tea as well. Tastes like tea, which is always nice.
We arrive over Essex to find it covered in cloud, but I catch a glimpse of it through the occasional gap in the clouds. We are kept in a stack for half an hour, going round and round. Oh well, I'm in no hurry.
Finally we are given permission to land, so we get lower and lower, and turn onto final approach over Windsor Castle, allowing me the chance to snap it from my seat in 19A. And we're down.
Heathrow is a dreadful airport, so busy, but at least we arrive at terminal 5, which is almost civilised. Once off the plane we have to queue again for immigration. Unlike at LCY, the queue is huge and takes another half an hour.
Once reunited with my case, I head to the station to see a train just leaving. Bugger. We have half an hour to wait for the next one, which is not that bad, really.
The train arrives and soon we are speeding through the tunnel towards the Great western Main Line, and then into London, all in 15 minutes. But still at £34, a rip off.
I get a taxi from Paddington to St Pancras, so I could get a bite to eat there before boarding the train to Dover. I head to Yo Sushi and have four bowls of food, not sure what some of it was, but it tasted good. Just time to pay the bill and head upstairs to platform 12 and my train home.
It is nearly full, with those leaving work early settling in to a seat with a can of beer or something from M&S to munch on. I close my eyes as the train glides out, and we are speeding under East London towards the Essex marshes and home.
I have an hour to kill in dover, so head to the Rack of Ale for a pint or two and to wait for Jools. Not a bad way to end the day at all. I work my way through a couple of pints and half a pint of pork scratchings. And feel fine. Jools arrives and after she has a half of the lemon cider, we head home and the weekend can begin.
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