Thursday 8th February 2018

Another day or meetings lay ahead. Ring, ring, seven AM, or half six, really, brings me back to this awful place. Or the quite nice hotel room of Scandic Vest (west). Sure, it was cold outside, but there had been no more snow, and away in the west, or was it east, the crescent moon and Venus were shining brightly, the moon much, much larger.

But there is work to be done, there is my case to pack and several trawls round the hotel room to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. I go down to the lobby, check out and load the car, go back inside to have breakfast, people watching as the tables fill up as more and more people come down to eat. I hear snatches of conversation as people plan their working day ahead, I have no one to talk to, just concentrate on eating and getting as much strong and sweet coffee in me, so to be bale to stay awake.

There is the drive to work, to the soundtrack on an 80s disco with Last Night a DJ Saved my Life booming out as I ran a series of amber lights getting to the office. I make it safe, find a parking space and prepare for the day's stresses. People arrive, we make greetings over the tops of the screens of the open plan office.

Too soon, half eight come round, and so it comes to play my part of bad cop, to Katharina's good cop. Or is it the other way round?

The day passes really well, I feel I have managed the time really well, and feel that even as we delve into the depths and mysteries of engineering change, it has all gone well. I will deserve my time next week without thinking about the project.

Anyway, the curtain rises, and we play our parts.

At lunch John sees some old friends in the canteen, it really is very pleasant, I begin to relax.

And all too soon the meetings draw to an end, we shake hands and John departs. I brief the team on what had happened, and find myself so very tired. Not tired, but worn out. At quarter to five, I go to the car to begin the drive to Billund where I had a hotel room booked. A few weeks ago, I had to battle thick fog one morning to get to the airport, I did not want to repeat that, so was staying a mile from the terminal, if I could get there.

The E45 was rammed with cars, as all roads in and around Aarhus are. I wait in line to join the motorway, and stop/start my way south until it was time to turn off. In the west the sun sank lower and lower, the sky turned pink and then red as the day ended. All I needed to do was get to the hotel.

Hotel Propellen is next door to Legoland, the original one. But when the theme park is closed, the hotel is fairly empty. I park up and check in, also taking a key to the fitness room.

I go to my room, change into my gym gear and go to the gym, do half an hour on the cross trainer, get hot and sweaty. All was going well until the i pod's battery went flat, and there was no music. I give up, and go back to the room, have a shower, dress for dinner, taking my book to read whilst I wait for dinner to arrive.

I had ordered Wiener Schnitzel, which came with almost half a pound of garden peas and some pan friend potatoes. But the schnitzel and peas was pretty much enough, so I left most of the spuds, preferring to drink all the beer before going back to my room to listen to some music on the radio until my eyes grew heavy again, and it was time for bed again. But tomorrow, I was going home.