Friday 21st February 2020

Dateline: Aarhus.

For some reason, I did not trust my alarm to go off at half five, so woke up every half hour to check it. I do get up at twenty past five, and so when I'm in the bathroom, it goes off and so wakes up those rooms on either side.

Anyway, I switch it off, get dressed and pack, one final check round the room which I fail to spot the bottle of congestion spray beside the bed. Oh well, I have two spare hidden in my work bag and luggage.

Downstairs to check out and out into the pre-dawn darkness and heavy rain.

Sigh.

This would be a long drive to the airport.

Out of the city is fine, but once on the motorway the heavy rain makes the lanes hard to see, and its all a bit of a lottery. I press on, overtaking when its safe.

I reach junction 57, turn off and then its a smple case of following the main road to Give then across to Billund.

I am on autopilot, so fail to notice the car hire return lot is being resurfaced, and so I have no idea where to leave the car. I find a lot of another company, so leave the car there, hoping it will be found.

It is still raining.

I walk to the terminal, and my well-timed plan of getting there just after all the budget flights had checked in failed as it was holiday week in Denmark, and half of Denmark was still to check in. I drop my bag off, and then join the back of the half mile long line for security, where, once I get near the front, my eyes roll more and more as I see inexperienced travellers try to sort out their cosmetics and laptops from their bags to be scanned.

I watched one young woman, dressed in a fashionable knitted poncho (are they a thing again), spend ten minutes sorting through her badly packed carry on bag, in the process blocking one of the scanners. Finally she is satisfied and pushes four tray-fulls of her stuff to be scanned. Her large bag is rejected, so much so it wasn't a case of taking out a few liquids, she had to empty it all out.

I left her to it.

Up in the departure hall, a man asked if I wanted to try a whisky?

At quarter to eight in the morning?

No thanks! Even I have standards.....

I find a place to sit down and check work mails, while all around me families are eating cheese rolls and Dads drinking half litres of Carlsberg.

My flight is called, and being a Friday, it is full.

I wait to be the last on, and as I climb the steps I see an old freind is on this flight, Annamarie the stewardess. I have seen here on and off each time I fly for over six years now, and we are now friends. She gives a little scream of joy when she sees me and gives me a huge hug.

Did I need anything: more food, more coffee? All through the flight I get the best service of anyone. I have to tell her I will be flying much less now, and she is being tasked with ground-based duties now, so chances are we might not see each other again. A shame.

I get two more hugs when I get off, so I walk sadly to the terminal to join another huge queue at immigration.

Sigh.

All this means is that I have no chance of making the early train to Dover, so I am very relaxed about things and begin to formulate a plan of things to do with my 55 minutes at Statford.

I go to Waitrose to look at their beer selection, I get three bottles that take my fancy, then to Foyles for some bookshop windowshopping, then finally to the Turkish cafe for coffee and a slice of baklava.

Yes, over sweet and gooey, but lovely. Meaning I was all done and on the platform at half ten, ready for the train to Dover.

Despite being half term, it wasn't that busy, and I get a seat at a table in the front carriage, settle down to enjoy the trip home, as it seems months since I did the trip. Last time must have been when we went to London at the end of November.

Nothing much changes, being cloudy and dull the countryside looks ready for spring to start, but I know in nooks and crannies there are spring flowers out.

Jools was waiting at Dover ready to whisk me back home in time for lunch, as she had done the week's shopping. So back home for lunch, but before that, to my surprise I do a session on the cross-trainer, seeing as I had been away for a couple of days. And once I had done that, then we eat.

After a shower it was nearly three, and too late, really to do anything else, so we put the radio on and fritter away the afternoon until it was time to prepare the chorizo hash for dinner.

Outside the wind is blowing again as another gale system sweept in from the west. At least I wan't in a tiny jet trying to land at LCY in it!

After dinner we watch the final episode of Good Omens, and somehow that is the evening gone.

How'd that happen?