Thursday 7th April 2016

Wednesday

Good morning, Germany!

Or at least Kirchheim unter Teck, my home for this day and a half. Outside birds were singing, and even with the door to the balcony half open, it was warm in the room. Anyway, work today, the reason I had traveled over, so better get up and attem!

I meet Daniel down in the breakfast room at half seven, where the main target is coffee. Lots of coffee. Dan is enjoying the peace and quiet of being away from his two young daughters, just for a night anyway, and the neverending loop of Frozen on the DVD player. A modern problem!

We meet again at the car at quarter past eight for the two minute drive to the factory, where we meet the senior management for some last minute alignment, then it is showtime.

Lunchtime is late, after one, and we are taken to a trucker's cafe nearby. But a truckers cafe unlike any you may get in Britain for sure. There is a restaurant, with choices from pepper steak to salads and local pasta. Like before I choose the lentil dish, which comes with two smoked sausages and a piece of smoked pork belly. And a huge portion of local pasta. It is a meal fit for two people, so I eat just the lentils and one of the sausages. It was then back to work for the last two hours or so, as loose ends were tied up, and the day was done.

When I was last there, with Anni just before Christmas in December 2014, we arrived in the dark, and by the time work had finished the next day it was dark again and we left for the airport well before dawn on the third day; so we saw nothing of the town. So, Dan and I drive to the centre of the town find a spot in a parking haus, called Krautmarkt, which I think is German for cabbage market. Sounds legit to me. From there we walk up the cobbled streets past ancient timber-framed houses, much bigger than their UK cousins, to the town hall. From there the main shopping street ran, so we wandered along, rushing past a Peruvian panpipe band that was making an awful racket.

We stop for a coffee and take a seat art the tables in the street, watching the world go by. As you do.

A little short walk further on and Dan needs the restroom, we look around and can find no public ones, so the only choice is to call in at a bierkeller, order more drinks so he can use the ones there. We take a table in the beer garden, bathed in the late afternoon sun and I manage to order a pils and einen dunklel bier (for mich). And all was right with the world. And we both agreed it was moments like that, as we supped great German beer, that made business trips worthwhile.

We amble back to the car, then drive the 5 minutes back to the hotel, for a bit of relaxing, or catching up on work mails before the main even of the evening; dinner with more beer. We go to the hotel restaurant again, as the food is good and wholesome, along with fine beer. And so eat, drink and be tired.

It is nine fifteen by the time we finish, I have an early start in the morning, so will travel to the airport alone. I say bye to Daniel, then go to my room where I find the Wolfsburg v Real game on TV, and Wilfsburg were already 2-0 up. And thats the way it stayed until the bitter end, with Real getting angrier and angrier, and resorting to the most annoying cheating tactics to try to get an advantage. Embarrassing to say the least, and the right result for football.