It’s Monday morning, and I’m sat in a coffee shop hundreds of miles from home. The day began for me at 6 this morning, rolling out of bed moments before the mobile alarm was due to erupt, and silencing it before sneaking downstairs to the clothes and bags prepared last night.
The much practised route to the station took on extra obstacles this morning in the shape of snow and ice - the remnants of our weekend winter wonderland adventure. Against all expectation I found the train waiting expectantly at the platform, belching steam into the early morning air.
It turns out miracles do happen from time to time - or rather, the world works as it should. My journey through three railway stations and four trains passed completely without incident; delivering me to my destination after several hours within seconds of the time the timetables had somewhat hopefully predicted. If you’re wondering about my sarcastic tone, this isn’t the usual pattern of events at all (witness the two hour weight I suffered recently when the entire british rail network gathered it’s resources to try and prevent my travel plans).
So. I’m here. Sat in a coffee shop, eating granola bar, drinking cappuccino, watching the clock. In a little while I will gather my bags once more and make the remainder of the journey to a meeting room in a corporate office. Two days of listening, writing, and talking stretch out ahead of me.
For the first time in a while I will have company in the hotel this evening (or at least, I think I will…). It all depends if my co-worker has booked into the same hotel as me… the one across the road from the office. You might think it would be a given that all of my colleagues would stay there by default because it’s so easy - and you would be wrong.
Anyway. Time is ticking. Time to get a move on.