It’s been one of those weeks – Monday was SUPPOSED to have been fairly easy for me…just a smidgen of paperwork to do before my trip to Hahn on the Tuesday/Wednesday.

I hadn’t figured in the Tim factor (AKA: fuck up factor) – as such I spent the day in the workshop trying to get the paperwork over there up to date, then making sure delivery notes etc. were all ready for stuff going out while I was away (I could have left it for Corina to do, but I like to be ahead in these things). After work, I had a quick computer job to do at a friend’s house, and then FINALLY home for dinner.

Early flight to Germany on Tuesday meant I was up at 4am (as was Lisa to make me a cup of tea before I left 🙂 ) to get to the airport for my 6am flight. Now, usually the Germans are very good with everything being arranged and things should have been simple (i.e. land, get my security pass, head to the hangar and do my thang). This time however, it seemed nobody was aware of me arriving, so I spent a couple of hours wandering around the terminal until I finally got a call that my pass was ready and I’d be picked up in 5 minutes to go airside.

The airport at Hahn is a small one, but has a very silly ‘important zone’ in the centre – this meant that everytime I crossed the zone I had to go through the security check (same as regular airport check) – as I initially was taken to the line station, I went through the check, then they realised all the test gear was in the hangar so I had to go there, tested/inspected some equipment there, then loaded the test gear onto the van and drove back to the line station (back through security) to test the jacks located there.

So, I’d got everything on my list apart from one item, and that definitely wasn’t at the line station, so I decided to go back to the hangar and make sure it wasn’t there or in the stores (it wasn’t), then bring the rest of my equipment back to the line so it could be loaded on the next flight back to Stansted (uh huh – another trip through the security check).

Still, finally got done, got my reports all signed off, cleaned up and was given a lift to my hotel (which was very nice), showered, then sat outside in the glorious sunshine with a beer (or 3 😉 ). Of course, my flight home was the 6am flight the next day, so once again I was up at 4am to make sure I had time for breakfast (just a light one: juice, coffee, couple of croissants, scrambled eggs and toast) before heading back to the airport and flying home.

As Lisa had the day off, I decided to take it off also, so we strolled into town, had some lunch at the Bridge (not the best service/food I’ve had there – Lisa’s fish was so dry it was practically dust), then walked along the river to the Rivermill for a beer before heading back home via the Olde Sun for more refreshments of the alcoholic kind.

Today though, it hasn’t stopped raining – hope it clears up for the weekend (indeed – hope it stops soon as it’s curry night tonight).

Less than an hour to go until I finish work – better go do something constructive I guess…