Tuesday 8th March 2022

International Women’s Day.

For those who ask, there are 364 men’s days per year. Get over it.

I woke up at half six, some ten and a half hours after I went to bed. I didn’t sleep all the way through, but must have got at least nine hours.

I got up and had a shower, put on some clean clothes and am ready for the day. I go down for breakfast, have fruit and a very fine bacon butty made with the best Danish bacon they don’t send to England.

Then it was time to climb back in the car for the drive to work. Its not a hard trip, but at the bottom of the hill from the Art Museum, the road narrowed with cars jostling for the single track road.

Then up the hill, through the large university campus and then to the main road to the office.

We have moved to the old Vestas building, which in the day had even worse parking spaces than the one at the MVOW offices, but what with COVID and many more spaces meant that I had no trouble in finding a space. I called by friend Rune who was going to meet me at reception to take me to the office.

It was a happy meeting, we have not seen each other for 25 months, so we hugged and slapped each other on our backs. I signed in, and Rune took me to the office up a flight of stairs, through some security doors to a huge open plan office with more than 50 desks, the four of us occupied four at one end, the rest were empty.

I saw a few people I knew, but many who I thought I would see, have either left the company or in a different building. Through the day I just one person I knew, and that from a picture on the company website.

We used the canteen for lunch, which most Danish companies supply as a matter of course, so the company stops for half an hour to go and eat and socialise. I worked until three, at which point I had done eight hours, more than enough, so I made my excuses and left for the hotel. At least with these offices there is a back way back onto the main road into the city, so I was back at the hotel in 15 minutes.

I was supposed to meet my friend, Shaggy, but communication issues meant we hadn’t arranged a time to meet, and apparently he had had a bad day, went out for a walk with his wife, and at some point he realised he should have been doing something else. Meeting me.

I had sent him a post on FB, he answered, and in the end it was too late for him to come into the city. I had spent a hour in the lobby waiting, I was hungry and needed a walk.

I walked down through the town, then along the canal. I arrived at the smokehouse, but it was rammed. I walked on and found a burger place that had empty tables, so I go in an order their signature burger and a Grimburgen dubbel.

The burger was good, the potatoes not so good. But I had a table window, so I couple people watch.

A demonstration for International Woman’s Day went by following a marching band, sad that in 2022 that such things are needed for equality.

I pay, and walk back into the frosty night air, climbing back up the hill to the hotel, past restaurants and bars full of people enjoying the night. I am done, so walk back to the hotel, get the lift to the 9th floor and then to my room.

All done for another day.

Like being at work, and on holiday too.