Monday 15th April 2024

Back on the road again.

Or rather on the train, DLR, plane and then in the car.

Though Jools did have to drive me to Ashford for the first high speed train into London.

That meant being there in time to catch the ten past five train, and with at least an half hour drive, we had to leave home just after four, after getting up at quarter past three.

When it was still very dark.

Of course.

So early, only two cats wanted feeding, but at least the roads were quiet.

Not much to talk about at four in the morning, as long as I got to the station to catch the train. There was one potential issue, I got an e mail from BA at half midnight saying there was a strong possibility of strong winds at departure time, and the flight could be delayed. But it didn’t say not to travel.

So there I was on platform 5 of Ashford no longer International station (another Brexit “benefit”) waiting for the train to pull in.

It did at five past, and we harder early passengers climbed on board and settled in our seats.

Half an hour later I got out at Stratford, walked to the DLR station, waited five minutes in dawn’s pale light before getting on the train.

I had no idea what to expect at the airport. I have travelled when there has been similar issues and they were not letting any passengers in and the place just rammed. As it was, it was quiet, and having checked in I dropped my case off and walked to security, waited in line ten minutes and was through, so straight to the restaurant for breakfast of granola. It was the only remotely healthy option.

But the coffee was welcome.

Thing about City Airport is that is it very civilised, if expensive, and not packed, giving the impression not of an airport as such. Lots of places to sit down, and spend money. I bought some after shave, and found a quiet corner to sit and watch some You Tube on my phone.

Time passed.

The flight was called, on time, and we twenty or so passengers met and waited at the gate before being allowed to board.

It was running, but we were told the climb through the clouds would be bumpy.

Which it was.

But I got the great views over Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs and along the river to The City before the clouds enveloped us, and Fair Albion was lost to view.

I snoozed, but accepted a second breakfast of cold cuts, cheese and a bread roll with raspberry jam, time enough to snaffle that down before we began to drop into Billund. The clouds parted long enough to catch a glimpse of Blavand lighthouse and beach, before the lumping and bumping began again.

Always good to get onto the ground, into the terminal, through immigration which was painless, and collect my case, before walking to the car hire place to pick up the keys to a mini bus.

I am to be the bus driver for the duration of the week.

I easily find the bus, it was the only one in the lot, and after programming in the shipyard where the meeting was, set off through a green Danish River valley to the motorway. The road was lined with dandelions and daisies, but a few lesser celandines too, and further along some field horsetails were seen.

Onto the motorway and heading south, over the big bridge to Middlefart. Yes, you read that right. And on to Odense, once home of Hans Christian Andersen, the writer of many fairy stories, and on to the flat lands beyond, with the shipyard’s cranes looming in the distance.

I was allowed to drive onto the port, to the training block where the meeting room was, and so met colleagues I had not met in the three years since rejoining Vestas. They had all flown in from India over the weekend, and was a great meeting it was. All hugs and smiles.

The word “team event” can mean many things, but can be good and bad too. Time will tell how this pans out.

Come half five, we were done and a short drive with my four colleagues in the bus to the thatched hotel, ready for the formal meal at seven.

I went down fifteen minutes before the meal and treated myself to a bottle of chilli tripel Danish beer, robust at 9.2%, and found the quiet bar to sit in and contemplate life.

One by one my colleagues came down, and two of those from India rather liked the idea of the beer and they both had a bottle.

Dinner was a traditional Danish meal of roasted root vegetables and non-meat or dairy sauce, while those of us who did eat meat, there were meatballs.

It was all very nice and much laughing and storytelling was done. And being in the hotel meant getting back to our room and to bed at a sensible time.