Saturday 12th September 2015

Thursday

Time to go home. Again.

Yes, another trip away coming to an end, but with what it was all about, this was really very enjoyable. The alrm goes off at seven, and after faffing around on the computer, I have a shower, get dressed and pack.

Due to the fact I am still full from dinner the previous evening, I skip breakfast and check out. My booked tax is waiting, so I decide its time to go to the airport. The driver is chatty, and understands when I say although I 'like' Holland, I find it uninspiring as the landscape is almost totally managed. Nature has so little space in which to play. As we join the motorway, he points out two apple trees growing in a small natural area: I wonder how they came to be there says the driver. I suppose someone threw an apple core out of the window, I reply. Is that where apples comes from, he asks? With hint of irony. Well, every apple pip could grow to become a tree I hear myself saying.

We reach the airport, and when he finds I support a Premier League team, he asks me how I think Man Utd will do: and when I tell him not so well, he wants to know why, quizzing me on many areas. He did not want me to go, which is nice, I suppose.

I leave the driver, happy enough with my views on the Man Utd manager, and make my way into the terminal. I get my boarding card, check in my bag and am through security and immigration in 5 minutes: all so painless. But I do notice that now all travelers have to go through immigration, nit just those who are travelling outside the internal boarders of the EU. I find a quiet place to have breakfast and a huge coffee. I have two hours to kill, so I open the Rev. Richard Coles book and pick up where I left off last trip.

I walk to the gate, past endless shops, cafes and other places to take our money. I pass them all. The gate is quiet, so I read some more, and the time passes quickly. Outside the sun beats down once again from a clear blue sky. A fine day for travelling.

All business class and frequent flyer card holders please board now: so, I board and am second onto the flight, and am greeted with row upon row of empty seats. Something i have not seen before. The flight is half full, I have two seats to myself, and so a window seat. I have my camera with me, to see if it can get better shots as we fly over the sea and Essex on our way to London. It does.

I get some fine shots as we lift off from the airport, the neat fields and reclaimed land of Holland, our windfarm way below and finally, the Essex coast: Walton on the Naze, Clacton, and the Saxon church at Bradwell on Sea. We turn down the Thames, before banking over Kent and circling to the south of London. It turns tighter than the turboprop from Denmark, so the shot down at the top of the Shard did not happen, but we lumped and bumped our way back along the river until we touched down.

Home.

Or at least, London.

Our bags are waiting on the carousel, but I miss a train to Stratford meaning once again I would have an hour to wait for a train home. So, I make do with a sausage roll and coffee overlooking the platforms, and tuck into more of the Richard Coles book. I go down to the platform just before the train is due, and now beacuse the school holidays are over, there are loads of seats available. So I pick one which matches my high expectations, then settle back to enjoy the journey, once we leave the long tunnel at Daggenham.

The sun still beats down, and feels so nice and warm sitting on the train. Into Kent and down to Ashford, Folkestone and finally, Dover. I flag another taxi down to take me home, taking the quick route up Jubilee Way to St Maggies. There are no cats waiting for me, so I make a coffee and tuck into some fruit for a mid-afternoon snack. It is three in the afternoon, and I am bushed I should write some mails, but I can't bring myself to swithch the work computer on.

I make some garlic and herb focaccia bread to go along with the insalata caprese, and once risen, I quickly baks, and soon smells delicious. Jools arrives home at six, so we eat, chat, listen to the radio and before we know it, it is getting dark. That's another day gone in a flash; and tomorrow is Friday. Meetings, and more meeting.