To Oxted...

I left the house late. I can't remember the exact time, but probably after 0900. I could check this just by looking on Strava, which recorded the ride, but it's on the other side of the room and I've just about made myself comfortable in front of the laptop. I'm never 100% sure where I'm going when I leave the house. I could go anywhere, there are many permutations, but I had in my mind a trip to Oxted where I could roll up at Caffe Nero, order a mug of tea and an apricot croissant and sit there reading. I'd bought myself a copy of The European as Trump is heading back to the White House and I wanted to read what some left-leaning commentators were saying about him. Not that I didn't know what they were saying about him. So I headed off, in the wrong gear at first (I had to circle the road a few times as I cranked the bike in to the right gear). I headed off in the usual direction: along Ellenbridge, up Church Way and then the B269 all the way to Botley Hill. Cyclists aren't liked by the car drivers on the 269. There have been times when somebody in a car on the 269 rolls down the window and shouts some obscenity or other. Today, no obscenities, but sometimes they honk their horns loudly and that always makes me jump, which, of course, was their intention.

There hasn't been any rain of late, but instead just a dreary greyness. I rode down Titsey Hill with my hands on the brakes and later rolled on to Granville Road heading for Oxted's high street. As usual it was busy. People walking to and fro and doing what you might expect people to be doing on a Saturday morning. I headed uphill towards the Caffe Nero and parked up outside a charity shop, padlocking my bike against a chunk of tubular metal designed specifically for people (cyclists) to do just that. I queued and eventually ordered an English breakfast tea and the aforementioned apricot croissant. I found a seat, opened my copy of The European and read Matthew D'Ancona's article on Trump in between sips of tea and mouthfuls of apricot croissant. It was great. I loved every minute of my time in the coffee shop and afterwards reluctantly headed outside for the gruelling journey home up Titsey Hill, but not before a quick look in the charity shop where I checked out two books by Iain Banks, one being Canal Dreams and the other I can't remember but they both grabbed my attention and I will read them. I didn't buy them, but I suppose I should have as they were something crazy like 30p. And then it was time to head home. I jumped on the bike and rode back down the High Street, heading back up Granville and then towards Titsey Hill, wishing I didn't have to do it, but I did and besides (as I kept telling myself) it's only 15 minutes of pain and it would be over, which it was and soon I was back on the 269 heading home.

I reached home around 1230hrs and sat down for a bit, drinking tea and eating bread and marmalade before heading outside and mowing the lawns front and back. It felt really good. The mowing took my mind off of things that had been bugging me. The rear lawn was large, the front lawn not so large but I managed them both and then I decided to clean the mower, get rid of the grass that was adhering to the blade and the underside of the mower. I'm determined to look after my new mower and try my level best to keep it in tip top order. I cleaned the whole thing and put it back into the garage and locked the door and then I came into the house as the light was beginning to fade and read another article from The European before watching Episode One of Series 9 of Shetland. I love Shetland, probably because I have this urge to go live there, not that I ever will, but I just imagine myself in a house by the sea, a real fire roaring away and me just being there without a care in the world. In all honesty I felt good. I hadn't felt this good for a long time. There I was sitting on the sofa watching Shetland, drinking tea, dunking a couple of Digestive biscuits and just loving every minute of it. I switched to YouTube to watch a few Steve Wallis videos, which made me feel even better. I love Camping with Steve, I love stealth camping and I like a good dinner. Tonight, a takeaway from Wagamama. I don't normally like Wagamama but I had a Katsu curry and it was wonderful. 

A lot of stress had been lifted and I was feeling great, I was feeling relaxed and at peace with the world... for a change. Normally, certainly of late, I've been preoccupied, stressed, unhappy and depressed and I'm not kidding myself that it won't return, but today, right now, I feel good.

Tomorrow, I'm heading for Tatsfield to meet Andy. We always enjoy our Sunday meeting and our chat and I am looking forward to it. There's nothing better than doing two rides in a weekend. I've had many weekends where I've only managed one (like last week's ride to Tatsfield) and probably the week before also; I used to record all my rides, but I don't anymore and that's another sign of my general despondency. I need to get back to writing more as it's good for the soul. But let's not get fretful, today's been an amazing day and I put it down to the ride and the lawn mowing, a strong sense of achievement mowing the lawns and especially cleaning up the mower afterwards. 

Coming home...

On my last night in Linz I took a stroll through the city in search of a decent restaurant. I walked up side roads in my quest and eventually stumbled upon Gottfried. It looked good, had an upmarket vibe to it and when I got inside and was handed the menu my suspicions were upheld. It was an upmarket establishment  with oddly depressing lighting that grated a little. It was also full but a table was found and I sat there looking at my fellow diners, some young, some old as I perused the menu. I wasn't going to pay 42 Euros for risotto and I didn't fancy a steak for 36 Euros so I settled for lemon chicken at 26 Euros. As I don't drink (it's been eight years now) I ordered a large bottle of mineral water and then awaited the arrival of the chicken. It was, in my opinion, awful. A small and thin piece of breast meat burnt around the edges and accompanied by mushy vegetables, mainly peppers, and, oddly, a sprinking of nuts. I noticed that somebody next to me had the same dish and I was tempted to lean over and say something disparaging about the meal, but decided not to. I declined dessert and left and then slowly walked back to my hotel. It was Halloween and there were plenty of people out and about dressed as witches or ghouls.

Breaking through the clouds heading for Vienna on Tuesday.

When I reached the hotel I couldn't be bothered to pack and eventually hit the sack. I didn't have to be up at the crack of dawn the next day, but I'm very much aware of how time simply runs away. I still had an early breakfast but this time, in addition to my healthy muesli, I ordered scrambled egg and a few sausages, two cups of tea and two small custard pastries (I love custard). And then the big debate, do I head for Vienna and the airport or hang around Linz for a while? In short, the latter, but I didn't really do a great deal of hanging around, no coffee shop for me; I packed up my stuff and then decided to walk to the station and not take a cab, it took around 20 minutes. 

Vienna railway station on the outward journey...nobody around.

It was a bank holiday and everything, even the coffee shops on the station concourse, were closed. I jumped on a train around 1000hrs, or just gone, and sat there looking out of the window in a state of preoccupation. On arrival in Vienna I took a train to the airport and after a little bit of faffing around doing the job of the airline staff (printing out a ticket for my suitcase, loading my suitcase on the conveyor) I headed for security, which was straightforward. Soon I was through and again time had run away. I had enough time to eat a snack lunch and then headed for the gate where I tried to charge my phone but none of the power points in one coffee shop worked so I had to move to the adjacent gate and use its power points. This meant that every five minutes I had to get up to make sure that my gate wasn't boarding. I was told that boarding wouldn't begin until half an hour before departure time and managed to charge my phone to 64% before I eventually did board. A woman sitting at the other gate agreed to watch my phone while I checked the situation at my gate, she was Dutch and on her way to Sarajevo but wouldn't be leaving until gone 10pm as she had missed her flight.We chatted briefly and then I unplugged my charged phone and queued up at my gate.

Lunch at Vienna airport on Tuesday

The flight was smooth, just like the outward journey, but it was dark so there was nothing to see. I started reading the National Geographic, which I'd purchased in one of the shops at the airport. The whole issue was dedicated to stress, something I have a lot of at this present time. I didn't order anything to eat or drink as I had a bottle of mineral water and that sufficed. The flight took around two hours and while we circled over Heathrow for some time, we eventually landed. I had the same seat as I had on the way out, seat 12F, an exit seat, and there was only one other person on my row  and he sat in the aisle, so we had an empty seat separating us. There was no turbulence, which was good, and towards the end of the flight we were all given a free chocolate, like on the way out a few days earlier. The difference was that the return journey's chocolate, wrapped like the one on the outward journey, was nutty. The chocolate on the outward journey was circular and didn't include nuts, I much preferred it, although the crew on the return journey were more generous and gave us two chocolates, not just the one. To be honest, when it comes to chocolates on planes you're better off flying Finnair as they offer Fazer chocolate, which is the very best in quality.

Everything was smooth running, passport control, baggage reclaim and then the Heathrow Express (I had bought a return ticket). I took the tube to Victoria and a short taxi ride from East Croydon. When I reached home I watched, yes, A Curious Life. It was much needed. I went to bed late and awoke this morning around 0700hrs, back to my normal breakfast and, thank God, no sausages.

The trip had been good and I'm glad I decided to go as I think I did myself a lot of favours, professionally speaking. I was in Linz to moderate a panel discussion and after a lot of preparation I think I managed to pull it off. I'm also glad to be home.