Friday 14th October 2016

One of the problems of working on the continent is the time difference. It does mean I will get the our back later in the day, but if you look at it like this: my alarm went off at quarter past five, but in good old British time, it was an hour earlier. Needless to say it was still dark. Very dark. Outside a truck was parked unloading the day's clean bedding and towels, and I mean I could spend all day looking out the window, or I could just go home. There is the finishing of packing, a shower and then put away the computer and the rest; and only now can I tell you that I had forgotten to pack the pile of paperwork I have beeun lugging around for the past few weeks. Lets hope there was nothing I'll miss in that.

I check out and pay the bill. I could have blagged a coffee, but think I should do that at the airport, some 45 minutes away. The roads are emtpy, and until I get within ten miles of Billund, there is nothing else on the road and so I put my foot down some, 90 or 100 or 110, who'd notice the difference? There are long straight roads to drive up, and when I do need to get past a slowe moving truck of car, I can just with a press of my big toe and away the car bounds.

As I ull into the over-full drop off area, there is light in the sky, but not much. And it seems like I have been up for hours and need a coffee. Badly.

I post the keys back, then walk over past the budget carriers desks to BA, where there is no queue. They take my case, then I walk back to the cafe for a roll and large coffee, so I can eat, drink while I wait for the queue at security to die down.

As I am putting my belt on, I see a familiar face, which means that Malcolm's shadow, Jesper, will not be far away. Indeed as I call out "See you"! in comedy Russ Abbot style, I see the jolly viking, Jesper behind. His face breaks into a huge smile when he sees me, which means that if nothing else the time before the flight is called will not be quiet.

We catch up, swap news, and Malcolm offers to buy coffees all round, which is always nice. Their life is always busy, but then so is mine I suppose, and so we stick together until the flight is called and we can go to board.

I am at the other end of the plane, and as soon as I am strapped in, I close my eyes, and even if I don't sleep, I might snooze. So I miss second breakfast, and I suppose I might have slept half an hour or so. Because soon enough the pilot comes on to say we had begun our descent into London.

I had chosen my set with care, on the right side of the plane, just in case the wind was from the east when we land, so I would have great views and so get shots as the plane turns over The Shard. Once we see the coast of Essex, I see that we are higher than normal, and further out to sea, so I am hopeful. We pass Southend out in the Thames estuary, but I get shots along the mile and a half long pier. We cut across Grain, then having flown over Ebbsfleet, the turn west for the circuit of south London.

It is misty, so the shots are not great, but as we get nearer London, the plane drops lower and the ground and urban sprawl gets clearer.

We turn towards Battersea, then turn even sharper over Vauxhall, I can't get clear shots, but I am still hopeful of the shots of the Shard.

In the end we are maybe a hundred yards away from the Shard, over the middle of the river, but I snap away and almost get the shot I want. Looking down I can see Tower Bridge, free from traffic due to roadworks. Then, over the tops the skyscrapers at Canary Wharf, getting lower swooping over the Millennium Dome and then we are bouncing down on the ground.

Home at last. Well, nearly. But the sun is shining, and it is warmer here. I switch on my phone and find there is some great news waiting. This means I will be bale to take the weekend off, or not be as busy as I was last week anyway. I pass the good news all around, then go about passing through immigration, grabbing my case and making my way to the DLR station, where I had just missed a train, and therefore would miss the early train home from Statford.

I big my friends farewell, and wait on the platform, making more calls. I realise I am drained. I mean really, really tired. I decide that under the circumstances, once home I would switch off the phone.

At Stratford I have a sausage roll and coffee and read some more Molesworth. There are people to watch too, and to ponder what their stories are.

I decide to walk down to the platform to try to snap a new Eurostar, but all is quiet. Seconds after I put the camera away, I see three headlights in the tunnel away to the west, and approaching at a ferrocious speed is a new Eurostar at full tilt, up the hill into the stations, rushing past with great noise, and back down the slope into the tunnel to Dagenham. IN a handful of seconds it had come and gone.

No shots.

When my train arrives, I take a seat in the front carriage, and close my eyes some more as we shake, rattle and roll through the tunnel into Essex.

I order a taxi to collect me from Dover Priory, so once I arrive I can walk out and deposit my case in the boot, and the Italian driver can take me home all the while moaning about the standards of others' driving whilst breaking just about every rule in the Highway Code. I do arrive home safe though.

I make lunch whilst Mulder and Scully sleep on upstairs. Molly does come in after a while and is happy when I sit on the sofa for a while. She snuggles up to me, and it would be easy to spend the afternoon like this.

Poor Jools calls to say that she has to work longer as she is so far behind at work, so I have the rad on as all day Radio 6 are playing tunes from 1979 all day. I can't take my ears off it.

At half four Jools comes back, so I make some potato bread and warm up some soup; spicy lentil soup. We are both shattered, but decide to watch a documentary that had been shown during the week on Painted Lady butterflies. Jools sleeps through at least an hour of it, and I struggle to keep my eyes open, but do manage it. But there is no chance we will stay up to watch The Don, so we go to bed.

It is the weekend.