All Dug Up

L gives me an early lift down to the train station. I’m catching the 6:52 down to London again and staying over again in the Holiday Inn at Swiss Cottage.

Last night there was another terror attack, this time on a mosque. Finsbury Park, where it was, is just two stops away on the tube from where I’m working. Just don’t tell L.

I arrive on site to find that they are digging drainage trenches on one of the weighbridges which will now be unusable for a week. I knew about this but wasn’t told it was going to take this long, so it’s going to be another frustrating day.

At least we get the other weighbridge up and working completely. There’s just not a lot I can do about the one they’ve dug up.

Back home L has an overnight guest, Daughter, who is looking for a cool spot as her flat is so warm in this unseasonably hot weather. The dogs, I’m sure, will recommend to her the slate floor in the hall for that very reason.

Meanwhile I’m on the Stella in the hotel. Sadly there’s not much choice in this hotel but I do get a proper (pale) beer later in the North Star.

(Monday 19^th June)

Cheap Coffee

It’s my first day on site working on an automated weighbridge at a recycling plant in Islington where they were supposed to have got all the equipment installed and working by this morning but they haven’t. So rather than installing my software, I spend my day helping out with that equipment and everyone is very quickly sick of me borrowing their phones.

It's sort of reassuring to know that it’s not the same at home without me. L says its lonely in the bedroom but it may be less due to my absence than to the fact that both the dogs opted to sleep downstairs last night. Although MD did give up on me eventually and joined L upstairs.

I had hoped to be down here just for one day but that clearly isn’t going to happen so on leaving site at the end of the day, I look for another hotel. I dip into an Italian restaurant and ask if I can grab a coffee and use their wifi. They agree, bring me a coffee and their access codes then charge me only £1.50 and this is in London! I consider stopping for a meal there but by now I’ve booked into the cheaper Holiday Inn at Swiss Cottage, so I head off there.

After eating in the hotel, I head out into the big city for a wander and a pint (a pale one obviously) at the North Star on Finchley Road. An odd pub that look recently renovated but still retain untastefully ripped furniture.

(Wednesday 7^th June)

First Stop London

We try a new system of getting to London today without the dogs. We deposit them in their plush accommodation for the week in Ruddington and then drive to East Midlands Parkway station. We leave the car there and get the train down to London. Seamless so far.

We have booked the Holiday Inn at Swiss Cottage but again we have managed to stay somewhere without any decent pubs. We do find some a few tube stops away in the Kentish Town\Camden Town area.

We have a drink in Tapping The Admiral but they have stopped serving food, so we move on to find somewhere else. The place’s name I can’t recall (was it the Oxford?) but they served a rather nice curry!

Then it’s back on to the Underground and to Lee Valley Velopark for day two of the Track Cycling World Championships.

After a disappointing opening day yesterday, Team GB come roaring back today. Laura Trott wins the Scratch Race, Becky James gets a surprise bronze in the Keirin and the Men’s Team Pursuit almost pip the Aussies for gold after Ed Clancy rises from the dead (after a career threatening back injury) to power them round but runs out of steam two laps from the end.

Afterwards we get the Underground back to Kentish Town and visit the Grafton, where the beer is outrageously expensive even for a 3.8% ale.

(Thursday 3^rd March)