Monday morning came around with an aggressive intent, no sooner was it Friday and my day off, when Saturday battered down the doors of Friday and then Sunday sneaked in when Saturday wasn't looking. The fall out of all that was that I had to set off at 5.00 a.m. and the plan was to drive to Luxembourg. A few colleagues think I am mad but I enjoy the trip and as this was a journey on my own it is nice to have that solitude in the car. At times I like to turn off all the noise, e.g. radio and music, and just think. The other positive is that I have a lot of radio drama's on mp3 and as each lasts an hour it is amazing how quick the journey passes.
The journey down to Folkestone was pleasant only one slight hold up around the A14 and M11 but that didn't last long and that meant I was at the tunnel by 10:00. I got onto the 10:20 train and it was no time before I was driving out at Calais and onto the last 300ish miles to Luxembourg. Again the journey was pleasant with little traffic on the road, I had made a stop at the Peterborough services for some breakfast and another break when I was on the tunnel, so I made a third stop at a services about 100 miles from Luxembourg to stretch my legs and use the facilities and had to report that I found a toilet that didn't charge, that must go on the blog I thought, just a shame I didn't remember the name of it. My first stop once I arrived into Luxembourg was to visit the local Auchan, and it is a good one with plenty of choice to stock up with provisions and a few Christmas Presents. I would like to say that it would be a surprise who they are for but as I only buy presents for my wife and she does the rest of our family's gifts (I would include friends but we don't have any) it is not easy to guess who they are for. This was where I encountered the first problem, as I approached the barrier to take the ticket, of course it is on the other side of the car so had to literally climb out of my seat to reach over to get the ticket, almost wrenching my back out of joint making the climb across the seat and then having to dash back into my driving seat to get through the raised barrier. All very comical to the people walking by. This was repeated as I left the car park and had to put my ticket into the machine. By the time I had arrived at the hotel and had to repeat the operation to get into the hotel car park I had decided it was easiest to just get out of the car and walk around. The barrier seems to wait for me.
I finally got to the hotel just before 6.00 p.m. some 12 hours after I started out (remember the extra hour for being in Europe) and feeling remarkable fresh from all that thinking time. But that soon changed as the problem with travelling is that you then have to work when you arrive and that included a meeting with my Belgian colleague who was also staying in Luxembourg.
That done I had a chat with a new English colleague in the hotel until almost 11:00 p.m. before I decided it was time for bed and that is where I am now.
So Goodnight All.
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