Thursday 10th June 2021

Day four of the business trip, and nothing really has changed. I am stuck in the Premier Inn, Hartlepool Marina, there has been no room service, but I want not for such friperies, just a bed to kip and an internet connection in the evenings. Which I have.

And its close to work, meaning I can commute easily, then back in the evenings and a place, not very nice, to eat next door. And using the app ordering is easy and service is quick. My new friend, the draysman said he sat inside the previous evening and gave up after an hour waiting for table service, I got my food within ten minutes.

Anyway, the main part of the work was done, just some loose end to tie up and make friends and influence people.

I have breakfast, and set off to the local Sainsbury's to get lunch of pork pies, a pasty and some more fruit. And crisps.

Onto the yard, I have a temperature check and allowed on. I find a place to park, then walk up the mountain to the office to the table to settle in for work. Due to not being the auditee as such, I had kept up with work through the week, meaning I could really get ahead of work, which I do.

I speak to my department colleagues, find out the news from Denmark, and there is little new to report.

I had hoped to the see the partial eclipse, as the day had started off very fine indeed, but soon the clouds swept over and the sun was hidden for the rest of the day. So, no eclipse.

I plough on through the day, until four when I had received the audit report, and sent it on to those I needed to, I pack up, say goodbye to those in the office, and I am gone. I guess I could have gone home, but that would have meant a six hour drive and not getting hme to ten, and dealing with possible road closures once in Kent as they do road repairs.

So, I stay in Hartlepool.

I drove down the coast to Port Isaac to look at the massive bulk of the Transporter Bridge which linked this the north bank of the Tee with Middlesborough. Sadly, it was closed, and there was a small cafe doing little business as there was no passing traffic. I take some shots and return to the car.

The landscape is a cross between grass-covered dunes and more abandoned factories and other industial ruins, with them being linked by long closed railway lines. Bus stops still marked where once a work force used to arrive and leave by public transport, but now the sign sits in the middle of nowhere

I am pooped, so drive back to the hotel, take off my work boots and lay on the bed, stare at the celing and close my eyes.

Two hours later I wake up, and take a wander into the old high street, just a ten minute walk away where I had noticed a curry house, I could smell it from a hundred yards away, they had a table and I chose some kind of chicken chef's special with rice and a naan. And fruit juice.

Yes, a week away and no booze taken, and as a result the gout is back under control.

I wander back to the hotel, a chill wind blew and I dashed back to the room to pack ready for a sharp exit in the morning.