Saturday 23rd January 2016

Friday

At least it is Friday, right?

I slept through the alarm, but the smell of brewing coffee brings me to the world of the living. It should have been an easy day, but first of all I have to return the hire car into town, then get back ASAP as a hectic day at work in in the offing as various work tracks are nearing their deadlines. It would prove to be interesting if nothing else.

So, after a coffee, Jools goes to work and I clear the rubbish the car had filled up on the road trip, then drove to Tesco to fill the tank up before tackling the port traffic along Townwall Street to the hire company's office. All signed in, no extra charges, and 341 miles done.

Now the million dollar question: can they run me back home? Otherwise it would be a £15 taxi ride, or a walk to the bus stop and maybe an hour wait for the next bus home. Turns out they had a drop off in Deal, so no trouble, which meant I would be home by nine and be able to get close to a full day in work. As long as the IT worked, of course.

I was dropped off at the end of the road, a short walk home, back in the house make coffee, have breakfast, and switch the laptop on. 3MB of data is downloaded, and there is a plethora of documents to review, which is not nice at the end of the week. Meeting invites for later in the morning pop up too, so, better get preparing.

I make some bread rolls for lunch, and the rest to go with the soup for dinner, so I have to take breaks to check on them and to pop them into the oven. They smell fine, and taste better when smothered with butter and apricot jam. Yummy.

I have to wait online until it was gone five in Denmark, just to make sure I could react to any last minute requests to do work. But nothing happens, I fill in my travel requirements for next week, then switch the computer off and make another coffee.

I warm the soup up, so it is all ready to eat when Jools gets home at five; she is downhearted as her sisiter lost her job at the box factory that afternoon. Not unexpected, but that is 30 years service gone up the swanee, and between Jools, her sister and their Dad, they must have put in over 80 years for the LFB, all gone now. It was not just Cath who got let go, another tranche of people from all levels went. All a result of the takeover from tow years back and the leaving of the family owners. All things change of course, but not always for the best.

The day is best remembered for the driving rain which drifted in about nine in the morning, then as it abated, the fog rolled in to replace it. But at least there is no frost, right.

We have a quiet night, listening to the radio, and sitting with the cats. Such simple things make the travel and the nights away worth it.