Tuesday 18th April 2023

Holiday.

Celebrate.

Yay.

We got up at six, with three hours to fill before the taxi was due. So we had coffee, breakfast, another coffee and then had a shower.

Did some final packing.

Turned off power, emptied the bins, filled the bird feeders.

We got a text to say the cab was on the way, so with one last check of the house, we took the cases and bags out, locked up and waited.

We loaded the stuff in the car, and he took us to the station, making small talk as they do. We had an half hour wait, so we walked and took shots. Its my job.

The train arrived, and we got on, packing the luggage in the racks and settling down for the trip.

At St Pancras, we were called by another passener: Steve, AKA Kingsdowner was off on his own travels, down to the south of France by train. So we swapped stories before we went to the taxi rank to get a cab. We could have gone by tube, but its a job lugging cases up and down steps, easier, but no quicker to get a cab. And with the roadworks, would have been almost as quick to walk along Euston Road.

At Paddington we had two minutes to get onto the next train to the airport, so I had just enough time to take a snap, before we got on and it slipped out. Sadly the new Electorstars are poor replacements for the ole Heathrow Express units, not so much space.

At the airport we walked to Terminal 3, checked our two cases in, then waited 20 minutes at security, and once through there, tried to find somwhere to get lunch. We went to Wagamamas, which was procey, but good, and fairly healthy. And as always there is always people watching to do.

Our gate was announced, and after the short walk we find the tiny-minded already waiting to get on. Desite it being 20 minutes before it opened.

Oh well.

The flight was full, and I was in a middle seat between Jools and a little guy with sharp elbows. But it was only for two hours.

British Airways is cutting back, so no tea or coffee is served, just a 250ml bottle of water and a small bag og chips. The rest you have to pay, but the ladies in the row in front of us were celebrating a major birthday and the crew supplied them with sparkling wine and extra snacks, their smiles were huge by the end of the flight.

Once we had landed and waited to get off, we had the half hour wait at security which we all have to go through now thanks to Brexit. But after that, our cases were waiting, so we went through customs, and on the other side was a tiny guy holding a sign who would drive us to the hotel.

He took us outside, got his car and squeezed us and our cases and bags into his modest car. Then drow us into the city through untidy industrial zones and ugly motorways until warehouses were replaced by neat town houses and wide boulevards lined with trees. Traffic was mad, but he coped and got us to the hotel in one piece.

After dumping our cases we went for a walk, loking for supper, which after the first three places listed were cloed, we stumbled across a small bar in the corner of a blck of flats who did beer and tapas.

I spoke no Spanish, they spoke little English, but they provided us with a fine meal full of mystery. As we ate, dusk fell and the warmth went out of the day, so after eating up and paying, we walked back round to the hotel to get some serious sleep before a busy day on Wednesday.