I suppose my journey today started mid way through yesterday, Sunday. The reason I say that is because as Sunday progressed and thoughts started turning to work issues, the radio, TV and every gadget I had connected to the internet was telling me that there was a storm coming and that I was going to be heading toward it to get to the airport. There was going to be very high winds and torrential rain for most of the South and Midlands. Therefore mid way through Sunday afternoon I started checking the Birmingham Airport websites, the Swiss Air websites and of course the BBC. Whilst all were predicting doom and gloom on the roads and railways, apart from Heathrow making a statement nothing seemed to be troubling the minds of Birmingham Airport Officials. So at 2.00 a.m. I was startled by both alarms beginning at exactly the same time, oh the joys of RDS or whatever they call it that syncs clocks to within a second of the correct time. Dazed, confused and sitting up very quickly I switched off the alarms, cursed my job and got out of bed for the fastest of morning routines.
With the clock in the car showing a little after 2.30 a.m. and me being quite impressed with my speed at getting out of the house, but had to admit not the quietest as I firstly forgot my phone charger and had to go back upstairs, then my shoes and then finally my training shoes which it turned out were not even upstairs.
Outside, the weather was dry and hardly a breeze as I left my street and headed for the motorway. The first diversion came as I was about to enter the motorway and decided I wanted a coffee and praised the decision to make Goole McDonalds at 24/7 diner and got a delightful cup of coffee to enjoy.
The road was very quiet with not the usual number of lorries and even the cars seemed to be less than normal. I was soon at the M1 and progressing south with no issues until around Nottingham when the rain came and it steadily increased the further south I was going.
The clock was approaching 4.30 a.m. and I had a bit of time to spare so I pulled into Tamworth Services to use the facilities and at that point the rain was steadily falling. After taking a short breather and timing the rest of my journey so that I would not arrive at the Airport parking too early I set off. After a few minutes the rain was really falling hard and by the time I got out at the car park at Birmingham Airport and walked the few yards to the terminal it was belting down and I was soaked just walking about 50 yeards, but thankfully still no more than a breeze in the air.
The airport seemed much quieter than the normal Monday morning and so unless this was just a co incidence, the weather reports may have caused some people to cancel their plans or at least postpone them, but looking at the departure board and seeing not one cancellation for the planes before lunchtime, maybe the storm was not going to get this far north after all.
The flight to Zurich was fine but as we neared the landing site it seemed the wind was worse than anywhere, we were buffeted quite badly and I was pleased we got down in one piece.
The journey onward to Luxembourg was less exciting and before long I was trundling along in a taxi going to the hotel.
As I was in the taxi one thought that struck me and that was due to the fact that as we left the airport the driver almost collided with another car. This thought became more profound as we attempted to overtake another car on a roundabout and then as we approached another we needed the first exit and the driver moved between lane to see which one allowed him the quickest access onto the roundabout. I am amazed that when you see cars that have been in a collision how come more of them aren't taxis. My only guess is that there is some patrant saint of taxis that is looking out for them all the time.
The rest of the day was spent at the hotel working, which does sound boring but did give me a good chance to catch up with work and get plenty done.
After being up so early today I have decided that an early night should be in order and at just after 10.00 p.m. I am heading to bed, so
Night All
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