I have taken just in time travel and scheduling to a new level over the last twenty four hours. I book opera a long way in advance and the weekend was planned with a view to staying in London. The Wasp Factory Saturday, Electra on Sunday with a museum visit or similar during the day and a possible bike hire.
This became problematic when the Cardiff Blues fixture list was announced, it always comes late due to the tyranny of television schedules. So the home match against Edinburgh was at 1405 and the opera started at 1930. I also had to deliver the opening keynote at a conference in Amsterdam today.
The net result of this was the following sequence of events
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Arrive home midnight Saturday, throw clothes from US trip into washing machine and stay up for 41 minutes for cycle to complete. Weight loss (now 20kg) means I have limited options and with another 15kg to go I don't want to buy a full wardrobe.
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Provide lap for cat who makes it clear my absence was a sin and I owe her half an hour of fuss which I provide before being allowed to go to bed. Cat then sat on pillow resting on my head and purring which is a remarkable soporific.
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Get up at 0630 for conference call, after feeding cats
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Start to set up macbook Air which has arrived! That means backing up the old one then using time machine to setup. Estimates two hours so back for trip and get ready to drive to Cardiff for match.
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At 1215 realise set up will not complete so persuade wife to monitor and drive eighty miles to Cardiff while listening to the audio book of Game of Thrones which is a suitably bloody preparation for rugby.
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Discover the Cardiff half-marathon is completing so my normal parking space is not available. Find somewhere finally and run (I can do that now which feels good) to walk up to my seat just as they kick off
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Good match (we win) with one of the best team tries of the last year. As the match draws to and end leave seat and watch last minutes from exit then run to car
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Drive 140 miles to Osterley Tube station at high speed while managing conversations with wife on MacBook configuration and listening to Game of Thrones.
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Park car, no time to get ticket so trust to luck and run onto to platform just making tube. Get off at Covent Garden and barge my way (rugby gets you in the mood for this) to the lifts then run to the opera house and sit down just as the doors close.
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Great performance of Electra and leave tweeting about how everyone dies, blood everywhere is an inadequate summary
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Make it to Osterley and have a nasty fall on the uneven pavement but then drive to a new (for me) Heathrow Hotel which turns out to be excellent value for money. Clear 100 emails on the iPad and get to bed at 0100
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Alarm goes 0500 shower check email dash to car and get to Business Car Park at Terminal 4
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Nightmare in security but make plane in the last cohort but stuck in centre seat
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Delayed flight but finally land in Amsterdam where I am picked up at the gate in one of the those trolleys and drive to my taxi (which is 20 minutes late). Prepare slides in 15 minute taxi ride and walk into conference get onto the stage and delivery keynote.
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End keynote, questions then into taxi back to Heathrow. Land early (thank God) and return to car
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Drive to Marlborough for Pilates lesson which I make with 3 minutes to spare
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Home, Test Macbook Air and everything is working. Clear critical email then cat takes me to the sitting room again for an extended grooming session, then out for an evening meeting and bed.
Tomorrow I have difficult conference call at 0700 then physio at 0800, then an hour at home followed by Heathrow and a flight to Frankfurt. Life as they say is interesting.
Cartoon from Gaping Void
