Oh eight twenty five. My bags are packed and I’m ready to go. Actually only the one bag. A flying visit to Berlin in prospect for a meeting with our video production company plus seeing Stefan and Katya. The taxi arriveth at oh eight fifty as we are catching the oh nine twenty express train to London Town. Meetings (lunch and dinner) this pm and one at breakfast tomorrow with a highly interesting looking board games company.
The house is calm with the only noise coming from the dishwasher doing its work in the kitchen. Scrubbity scrub, slosh slosh, rinse rinse. You heard it from me.
Long experience has told me to finish packing the day before to avoid stress on the morning of departure. As a result I am not stressed. No last minute panics to find the (trusty Irish) passport or wallet. Check in will be during lunch today so I will try and remember to down irons momentarily to do this. It annoys me that as a lowly Exec Club Blue member I have to pay to reserve a seat so I don’t bother. In consequence the seat allocation is a bit of a lottery and it is worth checking in as soon as you are allowed on the off chance you actually might get a choice. If it was a long haul flight I’d pay the money as seat choice is far more important there, particularly on overnight flights. No long haul currently planned.
We are staying at the Hilton Berlin. Not stayed there before. It’s in a good spot apaz and handy for the Berlin Sound and Light Festival. Did look at the Kandinski as that is meant to be the iconic gaff in Burlin but the Hilton was offering such a good deal it was impossible to ignore. Also I’m only several gnats whisker widths away from regaining Diamond status and this will help. I decided some time ago that while Hilton continued to give us free holidays, breakfasts, upgrades etc I would continue with them but when that stops, that is when the Kandinski comes into play. While the money lasts 🙂
The wine fermentation continues apace. I press the grape cap back into place three times a day. It is typically up to two inches thick. Impressive to see the yeast in action. Adie, as one of the founding members of the Lincoln Wine Producers’ Cooperative, is standing in as grape presser downer whilst we are away and this process should in any case be over by Tuesday when we plan to press the grapes. Exciting innit.
Oh joy. The bloke sat opposite has haptic feedback on his phone keyboard. There is a spare row behind me but that would mean leaving THG on her own next to the happy haptic. Don’t get me wrong, He seems to be a pleasant enough guy. Already polished off a max bag of Walkers punchy paprika flavoured crisps. He has bought a split ticket. You can tell as the seat reservation indicator above him shows the seat is booked between Lincoln and Newark and then from Newark to London. He’s put his phone down now, phew. Hopefully he is not as addicted to his device as I am to mine. I’ve ordered a bacon roll with butter and brown sauce. He opted for a vegan sausage roll with brown sauce.
The train has adopted a very sedate pace between Lincoln and Newark. Presumably local byelaws still insist on them having a bloke with a red flag walking out in front of the engine. Dangerous things, trains, particularly if you are the carrier of the red flag.
The 09:20 is a perfect train to catch if you are heading down for lunch. The earlier direct train is at 07:30 which is fine if you are going to London to actually do some work but it does mean getting up unreasonably early. THG is off to see a show later on so I’ll drop her off at the hotel first before heading to Aldgate. We are staying at the Hilton Angel Islington. Convenient to get to from Kings Cross, not too far from where our Tom lives and about 100 yards as the crow flies from my place of birth, over the back wall.
Just seen two women with long blonde hair and bright orange hi viz Network Rail outfits walking along platform two at Newark Northgate. Northerly direction. Fwiw.
I’ve decided that I don’t want a second cup of tea on the train. Tastes a bit stewed, or metallic. It isn’t always thus but they were slow to bring it out today.