...And Off We Go!

In about 15 minutes, I will put on my shoes and coat, grab my suitcase and handbag, close the door to my flat from the outside, descend the stairs to the ground floor, there leave a paper bag containing some sweets, a note and my keys at my ground floor neighbour's door (she'll look after my few house plants and take out the mail) and walk to the train station.

Getting ready...

All fits in nicely, with some room left for souvenirs.

Bye-bye, flat! See you Sunday in a week!

There, I will meet my sister. We will take the train to Stuttgart, there changing for another train to the airport. Our flight to Manchester will hopefully be smooth and not delayed.
Once in Manchester, we will patiently wait for our luggage to be brought out, then pick up our pre-booked train tickets (thank you, Internet!) and take the Transpennine "Express" to Leeds. From there, a local train should carry us to Harrogate, where we will take the 36 bus to Ripon.
Some time late afternoon today - I estimate around 5 or 6 pm - we should be at "our" cottage.

Phew!

Until yesterday, I still had a rather busy week. Tuesday saw me wrapping up a few tasks at one client's office. It was pub quiz night, too, and my team and I managed to get the highest number of points - unfortunately, the questions were so easy that four other teams did the same! The tie question set us back to the 4th 1st place; we still won a bottle of champagne and had great fun.

I have not asked my team mates' persmission to publish their photos, so here is just a cut from our group photo on Tuesday night at the Irish Pub.

Yesterday, I worked at a different client's office, with a meeting of a prospective new client in between. The new prospect has already asked for the draft of a contract, so all went well there, too.
After work, I went running with a friend. Today will be mostly spent sitting and waiting around, so the exercise was welcome.

Now I'm off - next time you'll hear from me, it will be reporting from Matchbox Cottage in Ripon!