Thursday 10th March 2022

I found out at the party the day before that none of my colleagues were going into the office on Thursday, which kinda mean it was pointless me going in.

The old project team I used to work with still have desks in the old offices, and asked I go in to say hello, so a plan emerged to have a lay in, a shower, then pack, check out, have breakfast before heading to the office at about nine, where I could take part in a Teams meeting inbetween talking to friends.

What I didn't know was what a palaver checking in for my flight would be.

I won't like, I was feeling slightly fragile as dawn broke. I lay in bed, and so must have gone back to sleep, as time was getting on when I checked the time.

I would check in for my flights home.

First of all, checking in itself wasn't hard, but I had to supply two documents to get through UK immigration.

First of all was proof of vaccinations. I only have the cards that we were given at the time of the jabs, I took a photograph of the two cards, but now to get them off the i phone and onto my work laptop.

First of all, no card reader on my new work laptop, and just one USB slot. And no USB slot on the i phone either.

After trying to send the photo to myself, in the end I sent as an e mail attachment back to myself from the i phone and was able to open it on the work computer and download the shot.

Next up was an additional form, the Passenger Locator Form, a requirement of the Home Office. You have to create an account, then fill in several pages of questions. And once completed, send it and save as a PDF and attach that and the picture of the vaccine cards to the form and send to KLM at which point they would review and if OK< submit.

That took an hour.

I finished packing, went down for breakfast, where I was aware it was already half eight and I had my first meeting in an hour.

I eat fruit and have a coffee, and I am done, though a bacon butty would have done me some good. I check out and go out into the car park, load the car and drive to the office. And as it was after nine, roads were quiet, so I reached the office without drama.

It had been 25 months since I was last here, my colleagues are more than that, they're friends, and they had made clear I was to drop in.

I got hugs of each of them, and asked if I was OK.

I confirmed I was OK.

Since we last met, we have been taken over and I have had three bosses, soon to be a 4th, there has been a pandemic and now, possibly a world war coming.

I attend the meetings: the first one advanced training for a system we have yet to receive basic training for. It must make sense to someone. I lose focus pretty quickly. Second meeting IT fails and I had to restart the computer, and by the time I rejoin it was just winding down.

I say goodbye to my friends, and say I'll be back soon.

I had a road trip, a 90 minute drive to Esbjerg to visit my friend Brian who is recovering from a second heart operation. This was to have a bypass, and the news is he is feeling better, but has a long time in recuperation before he can return to work full time. For now he does four hours twice a week.

For the drive, it was motorway almost all the way, and not being rush hour, was easy driving, heck even the sun was shining.

I drive south for an hour to Kolding before taking the E20 east to Esbjerg. I had made this journey dozens of times, but I thought at one point I would never return, yet here I am.

I arrived in Esbjerg, called Brian to get directions to his house, it was easier to meet at the hotel in Hjerting, so I drive along the coast the 10km to meet him.

Brian has aged ten years since I last saw him, I suppose heart problems does that, but he looks well, and his face had good colour and there was a sparkle in his eyes.

I follow him to his house where I meet his partner and we have lunch of open sandwiches with breaded plaice fillets, which is the national dish or something close.

We talk a lot, what is clear is that he is happy, and eager to go back to work so not to let his colleagues down, but accepts it will take time.

IN the middle of the afternoon, we go in his car to take their dog for a walk at a nearby nature reserve.

Marbæk has mixed habitat: heathland, ponds and fir tree woodland, all along a lagoon, sheltered from the North Sea.

As we drove in, a group of the three adult and a single calf highland cows walked lazily over the road. We stopped to take shots.

A while further on, we park up and get out, walk up a track to the beach, turn north with the sea on our left before turning inland and back to the car. We hadn't gone far, but far enough.

We drive back to their house, where it was soon time to go to the hotel where Brian had booked a table for us to have dinner, and as a bonus, a former colleague, Steffen, would be joining us after he had driven hard for five hours from Cuxhaven.

Steffen was delayed, so he told us to order our dinner anyway.

So, we both order burger and Belgian beer, but sadly a regular IPA arrives, as I had to drive an hour afterwards, probably just as well.

Steffen arrives, more hugging, and we talk as Brian and I eat.

Somehow, two hours had past, outside the sun had set, and I had to drive to the hotel at the airport.

I had to leave.

It was dark, but I had drive this road hundreds of times over the years, but I managed to take the wrong turn off the roundabout off the motorway, so in ten minutes I found myself in Varde.

But I had been here before, I knew the way to take, but program the sat nav just in case.

After twenty minutes, I'm back on the main road, and making good time, passing a large turbine nacelle on the way. It was so wide that all traffic in the other direction, like me, had to pass on the verge.

I reach the airport at nine, try to refuel the car but couldn't get the pump to work. I was so tired, I gave up.

Since I was last here, dropping a hire car off, they built a new parking house where the old drop off lot was, but the signs were easy to follow, and I park the car in the first slot.

From there it was a ten minute walk back through the terminal to the hotel, I check in and was given a room on the ground floor. Simple but functional.

Time enough to write a blog, have a shower before going to bed. It was ten o'clock. I had to be up at quarter to four.

I kid ye not.

My flight was at six in the morning.

Night all.