So today was my travel day back to the UK, spattered with a
couple of meetings that will have to be done, it was basically a day to get
from Dunkirk, my overnight stop to home as quickly as possible and things
started well.
As I was finishing off my cleansing routine my UK colleague
contacted me and said, “anytime your ready he was and we could get off”. Ten minutes later we were at reception
booking out and setting off in search of petrol station to get some of the
continents cheap fuel before crossing into tax heavy Britain.
We had to divert into the town of Calais to find some of
this cheap gold dust, and that we did and next door to a McDonalds so a chance
to get some coffee also appealed. As we don’t
have breakfast as a rule we had both had nothing to drink. However the first “fly in the ointment” was that
in France it seems the fast food chains do not open that early. I suppose I am surprised that as the French
like food dealt with correctly, that all fast food owners are chased out of the
town and burnt at the steak. Steak, get
it?
Leaving the area forlorn and still in desperate need of a
coffee we headed toward the signs saying something something tunnel. Assuming this would be the channel tunnel we
were lucky to find our lack of French did not hamper us and we were checking in
and being a little early we made our way to the terminal building and got a
over welcomed and over priced coffee.
After a few minutes we were back in the car and my UK
colleague and our coffees were boarding the train and hoping to be back in
Blighty just thirty minutes later.
Another problem and once we were on board an announcement told us that a
problem with a train in the tunnel would mean a thirty minute delay. As travel reports on the UK radio would tell
us later we were lucky as the delays only got worse. As we travelled along the UK roads and the
nearly thousand or so miles of Europe travel had been much easier than I thought
it would be. I imagined that the road
positioning or overtaking would be a challenge but it turned out after a few
miles I hardly noticed it, the only real concentration was needed on the
smaller roads as we turned left or right at junctions.
I also considered the amount of driving done and the time it
has taken and for future I think for work I would not do quite so large a
distance again. Last year when I
travelled across the US it was easy as there wasn’t work today and a few hundred
miles a day which included sightseeing was easy but with work to do when you
arrive then I did feel it was too much.
For journeys to Dunkirk or that area I would certainly drive again and prefer
it to flying as it does work out quicker.
I had plenty of time to think about this as the journey from
Luton where I dropped off my colleague back home was spattered by long
tailbacks and a couple of stops in service stations to partake in telephone
conference calls. Again I will state
that I was clock watching to evade the two hour rule which has really gone to
my head.
I finally arrive home thirteen hours after leaving Dunkirk
and feeling very tired but once Friday night hits then I could start to
relax. I didn’t do a lot of work and
hence that’s why the laptop did not come out and the blog has not been updated
all that quickly.
For the following week there will be no updates as I have another
week of no travel, they are like busses you don’t have one for ages and then
two come along close together. But I
shall return the week after when I will be travelling to Luxembourg once again
for another four day trip. For now it
will be
Night all
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