Back to Reality

Been a hectic but, on the whole, enjoyable week.

Sunday morning - 6:00 a.m., I and a colleague from our American headquarters were collected from the Park Hotel, Sheffield and after a quick scoot down the M1, we met up with another colleague at Leicester Forest East Services to form a 2-car convoy to Munich.

We had planned to fly but the Icelandic volcano made a 'ash of that! (Geddit? - made a 'ash of that? Oh never mind..... if I gotta explain it...)

Anyway - we stayed over Sunday night at a nice hotel in the Metz area - at a little place called Saint Avold. (Campanile - General Patton Way - very good hotel!)

Monday morning - 8:00 start and we arrived at the hotel in Munich about 1 pm. Quick shower and change then catch the "underground" out to the Messe (Exhibition Hall) for the Bauma 2010 show. Learned late in the evening that Belper Town Reserves had won their Cup Final - and I missed it... Grrrrr!

Tuesday - full day at the show (9:00 am to 6:30 pm) then back to the hotel and out for dinner at a restaurant almost next door where we watched the Inter v Barca game whilst eating dinner. (I was more concerned about finding news of the biggest game that night - Belper Town Cup Final v Matlock at Pride Park, Derby which I was, of course, missing! Sadly, Belper lost!)

Wednesday morning back at the show until about 2 pm when Chris (a colleague from our sister company) and I set off back to England. Again, we broke the journey this time staying at a small hotel "Le Cheval Rouge" (The Red Horse!) near Reims. The view from my window over the town square reminded me of 'Allo, 'Allo!

Anyway - Thursday morning - up at 6:15 to hit the road for 7:30 and head for Calais.

We caught the noon shuttle and then tackled that wonderful M25/M1 motorway drive. No comparison with the French motorways!!

Made it home late afternoon and went to the local carvery for dinner. Crashed into bed about 9:30 pm cos I was absolutely knackered. The round trip covered 1750 miles in all - in less than a week.

I didn't take a camera - which is highly unusual for me but I've taken some shots on my Blackberry and I'll share them as soon as I can figure how to get them on to my PC!

Today - picked up my son from East Midlands Airport. His aborted trip last week was rescheduled for this week - and you're now up to date.

By the way - if you ever need to use the shuttle - buy a "Flexiplus" ticket if possible! It's a bit more expensive but it allows you get priority boarding and access to the Flexiplus Lounge, where they provide you with a sandwich, crisps, bar of chocalate, a bun and coffee and a soft drink for you to either eat there or take on the train and enjoy whilst you're being transported under the Channel. There's fruit and allsorts of other stuff on offer too! I was very impressed!

Right - going to see if I can figure out the pictures - back in a while.....