RAD Moose

Leaving the UK was very difficult, but life has a way of accepting a new situation as normality. We gave ourselves plenty of time to get to Manchester Airport, despite having to endure the indignity of Terminal 3. Little did we know that, during the renovations, they have converted the upstairs bit to the Sporting Chance sports bar. This was a significant improvement over the previous overcrowded eateries in that terminal, so we managed to grab a couple of beers and some Philly cheesesteak sandwiches. These were a bit weird, with an odd pesto and cucumber defiling them, while the bread really needed to be of the crunchy variety rather than soft. Still, it was acceptable enough and the price was alright, while the triple-cooked chips were decent enough. We ended up watching highlights of the previous weekend's Championship football fixtures and I'll admit it was a decent way to wile away time. Alas, what we didn't realise was that our plane would be delayed by an hour and a half, with our gate moving from 52 to 55 before this was even announced. This saw us having to wait with our bags in the queue for an inordinate amount of time, with the staff not telling us anything about what was happening. At one point, I was fearful we wouldn't get back to Berlin before the airport closed, but fortunately we just about made it, getting back to Spandau shortly before 1am.

This was a problem as Wolfie was due to start work at 5:30am to cover some work in Australia. This meant he barely got any sleep, while there was little time for recovery as we had guests coming over in the evening. As it was Procyon's birthday, he decided to come over for a weekend of celebration, with Wolfie's birthday being the subsequent day. With a weekend of different activities falling conveniently, Baloki also expressed interest, while Whiskian signed up about a week ahead of the trip. Procyon and Whiskian were both on the same flight, while Baloki had flown in earlier on the Thursday. While the latter got into Berlin on time, the other two saw their flight cancelled. With chaos at Manchester Airport ensuing, Baloki found them an alternative via Dusseldorf on Eurowings for high high prices, but at least it meant they could attend the beer cruise we had booked for the Friday. They ended up sharing a bed at the Heald Green Premier Inn, where we had stayed prior to Baloki's birthday back in May, while Baloki was largely on his own. He tried to go to the gay bar Woof!, only to discover it didn't open until 8pm. He checked into his hotel, the interesting Garner at Stresow which alas we didn't get to visit, and was mooching about for most of the evening. Coming out was looking difficult as, along with a full day of work, I had to do chores like washing the spare bed linen and going to the supermarket, but I somehow got things done by around 10:45pm. Not wanting to spend too much money, what with August being a very low income month, in the end we decided to meet Baloki by the River Havel and grab a few beers from a Spati. As it turned out, the Spati was heaving as a concert was tipping out of the Zitadelle (Zitadelle, fun for you and me!), meaning the centre of Spandau was quite a party zone. After the alcoholism of the UK, I decided to go for two alcohol-free Stortebekers, returning after I had finished my first, as we were having such a lovely time catching up and chatting by the river. We went home shortly after midnight, knowing it would be a busy weekend ahead, and had an enjoyable lie-in.

It was touch and go whether Whiskian and Procyon would make Berlin ahead of the beer cruise, which was scheduled for 6pm. They were delayed half an hour, but managed touchdown at around 2pm and got to Spandau shortly after 3pm. I advised them to get food en route, with Baloki kindly meeting them at Spandau station so I could round off my work. They then dropped their bags off and we headed back into town, with Jannowitzbrucke our destination. A quick walk to Markisches Ufer and we were dismayed to discover an already lengthy line for the cruse ship, despite it being 75 minutes prior to cast off. Even the literature that came with the ticket suggested queuing from 5pm, and I was worried we wouldn't be able to seat all five of us on the same table. These fears were unfounded as we got perched next to a group of three boring people who barely talked to each other, never mind chatting to us. It was unlike last year when we met the two probably gay Canadian guys and the Norwegian brewery man, with whom we facilitated a distribution deal with a Dutch brewer. The boring people were sandwiched between the gangway and the railing on the side of the boat, so we had to be up and down a lot as they went for beers. Meanwhile, we drank 12 0.2ml measures over the course of the three hours. It was a pleasant sailing perhaps key Berlin sights and cement factories, but the weather was less clement than it had been last year (fortunately it only rained briefly as we joined the queue, but it was a cloudy affair throughout). I was a little worried that Baloki wouldn't find it good value, not being a beer drinker, but he seemed to enjoy the cruising part. As the evening wore on, the cheers as we went under the bridges went louder, and although we were chased off a little towards the end, it was a pleasant evening indeed. Alas, there were no special beers to share this time and, annoyingly, around seven of the 28 beers weren't available, but still it was just about value for money.

With us having had food at around 3pm, and most of our friends having had just a snausage, there was a call for food before any further drinking. We tried going down to Kottbusser Tor to sample the Burgermeister there, only to discover it was closed. I remembered that the original location in the toilets under Schlesisches Tor station still existed and as the beer cruise after party was nearby, we thought we'd go there. I was toying with just getting fries, but with the cheeseburger costing a mere €5.95, I thought that was the better value. It was served quick and hot, with it being deliciously moreish. It was definitely the right call, and I was distraught when the final two mouthfuls fell from my packet and hit the pavement. Fortunately, Baloki let me share his burger, which dispelled the craving somewhat. Everyone else seemed impressed with the food and we then headed to Strassenbrau's new bar at Gorli. This was about a 10-minute walk away next to Gorlitzer Park, and was opened a few months back. It's very spacious, with a cocktail bar on the top floor up a flight of curved stairs. We got a free drink from here and settled in the back, with most of the activity outside out the front. Even the boring people were here, but they didn't recognise us. We ended up having two drinks here, before deciding we had had enough to drink and tapping out. Everyone was really tired too, what with Wolfie's early shift, Procyon and Whiskian's mammoth flight, and Baloki. We therefore made our way back to Spandau, calling off at the Spati on the way. We saw the fox back to his hotel and took the rest back to ours, getting Whiskian set up on the inflatable mattress and Procyon set up on the familiar blue sofa he calls home. While doing this, I asked how many moons Planet Procyon has and he said none and that it didn't matter. I then told him about tides and he reconsidered. I also showed them the British Pork advert from 1984 which has been doing the rounds since SNL UK parodied it. The Blobby Operation Grimthorpe one and the Chin Review swiftly followed. Procyon was not amused.

It was no surprise that Saturday was a late start, but this was beneficial. It was the Long Night of the Museums, which ran from 6pm through to 2am. We had done this with Seebass back in 2024 and when I mentioned it to Mr. P, he seemed to be interested. I had given them our proposed itinerary a few days before, while Baloki had been scouting around too. I suggested starting and ending in the same place, but going off and exploring whatever was of interest in the middle. I was aware that what interests me may not interest others, while as a resident of Berlin, my motivations may be slightly different to a tourist's. In the end, it all worked out rather well and I think everyone saw what they wanted to. Wolfie and I stuck together, with Seebass following us throughout, while everyone else split from us after the first museum and we met up under the bomber at the Deutsches Technik Museum shortly after 1am for an overpriced cocktail.

We headed into town at around 4pm, deciding to go to the Mall of Berlin for some pre-museum noms. En route, we noticed the main intersection in Spandau was closed, with a burnt-out white car surrounded by emergency vehicles. We don't know how this happened, and the car remained there for the next 48 hours, but the traffic was severely disrupted. The Mall of Berlin was chosen as it was quite central, while it had a variety of concessions so everyone could be well-sated. While there were definitely better options out there, Wolfie and I went for the nostalgia play of Pizza Hut. Their unmistakable thick deep pan crust was there, with as much fat in it as you could wring, while the quality wasn't too dissimilar to how it was 25 years ago. My last Pizza Hut must have been in York in around 2014 and I remember it being poor then. This one wasn't too bad, even if it was a mite spendy (but still not as bad as the €1 we had to pay to use the bathroom).

The plan was to meet Seebass outside the Trabi Museum at 5:50pm, so we mosied on down there with plenty of time. He was running a little late, and we had to wait outside until the museum could accept us as their ticketing system was set up for a 6pm start for the Long Night of the Museum tickets. This allowed Seebass to arrive shortly after 6pm, and we headed inside. Most of the others only hung around here for around half an hour, probably because we got engrossed in a documentary about the Trabant which must have been filmed in something like 2009. Still, it was fascinating, and I didn't realise that the Trabi was such a forerunner of a car, at least in the 1960s before it became something of a Communist joke. This museum had a nice selection of different generation Trabis, and some special ones too, including one that broke the speed record for such a vehicle and one designed by a man who decided to spice a Trabi and a Ferrari together. This was a good museum to visit on Long Night of the Museums as it wasn't really worth the €7 fee. However, when part of the combined €15 ticket, it proved to be good value indeed and the 45 minutes we spent here were very much a good start to the evening.

We were tempted to go to the Filmprogramm „Inventing Queer Cinema” at Deutsche Kinemathek over the road as they were showing five queer films. However, I didn't realise they were 90 minutes in length each, and we didn't really have the time. Therefore, we headed over to the Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation calling in at the Topography of Terror en route. We didn't realise this latter place existed, which sits on the former headquarters of some of the worst Nazi buildings. A bit of the Berlin Wall is here, while there is an exhibition hall that detailed how much the average German really knew about Nazi atrocities. What I hadn't realised was that the terrorising of critics of the Nazi regime had started so early, with public pillorying quite common from March 1933. The persecution of the Jews also started around this time and there were some sobering and disturbing images here. As this is a free exhibition, we didn't stay too long, and headed over to the DCfDER shortly thereafter. Part of the reason for this was Seebass's hunger and I knew that refugees were serving traditional food in the foyer. We bought some crispy burek and a beer, sitting down to watch an acrobat show near the lift area. Once done, we decided to check out the temporary exhibit, which was 10 artists' interpretations of life on the current Polish/German border. Post 1945, when Poland shifted westwards, many Germans were displaced from this region. Subsequently, many Poles were displaced from lands which are now Ukraine. Over 14 million people were affected and this was something I didn't know too much about. These photographs explored that. Some, such as German memorials to WWI soldiers in modern-day Poland, really highlighted the changing borders while others focused on domestic homes which had to be vacated. Some people returned decades later, searching for a sense of place that they never really found. Another topic also looked at youth clubs that operate on the Polish/German border, providing a changing link between the past and future. One of the photographers was there and gave us a guided tour of her exhibit, which involved her grandmother moving from Ukraine to Poland. There, she found the photo album of the former German family she displaced, and kept the photographs. The Swastika on the front was scratched off, but we know not by whom. This was a cause of some reflection, particularly concerning what is home and what isn't. The exhibition upstairs, that detailed the history of this mass migration, was fascinating from a political standpoint while on the middle floor there were stories from other forced migrations through history from Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Uganda, and other countries. I would have stayed here much longer, particularly in the top part about the German-Polish post-WW2 forced migrations, but we had other places to be. This is a free museum too, so I can just come back another time. The Long Night of the Museums does allow one to sample things and then come back for a more in-depth visit later should one wish.

With the evening getting heavy, we decided to check out Hamburger Bahnhof. It now houses a contemporary art exhibition, but we were more interested in the architecture. As we had to pass through Berlin Hauptbahnhof, we got to check out the new S15 platforms, which have been installed very recently. The authorities kept the construction of this very quiet as it just appeared from nowhere and looks very sleek indeed. A new line up to Gesundbrunnen from Hauptbahnhof is certainly very useful. There was an opening day furmeet back there on Friday in July I think, but I was working and couldn't go. I only found out about it about 40 minutes in advance too. Anyway, we frequently pass this building with its bright green frontage so it was good to finally enter. Built in the 1840s but closed down in 1884, this was the original railway station for trains to Hamburg. As you enter, this is obvious, but interestingly, the track bed had been replaced by 400,000 wooden cubes. This was part of an art exhibit called 'CHANEL Commission: Lina Lapelytė. We Make Years Out of Hours' and people could construct towers with them. Under the grey steel beams of the station, it was all rather surreal, and it was fun messing about for a bit. We explored a few of the halls, but not all of them. There was a Forgery exhibit in Hall H6, a long way from the main station, that was a bit of a bust. Wolfie was struggling to walk and when we got there, it was an arts and crafts thing with no spare tables to do the arting or crafting. We did see the corridor of 26 spherical lights all with the word EXIT written on them though. In Hall H2, we enjoyed 'What Still Holds' by Shilpa Gupta, with the huge concrete letters spelling TRUTH being my highlight. There were 21 pencil tips all stood end to end to symbolise fragility, and a dark room with swinging lights and whispering voices. At the end, there were messages on those old-style message boards you got at train stations in the 1970s, but I didn't really understand this one. It was an interesting quarter hour though and although I wanted to go and see some of the other rooms, Seebass wanted to head off, so we decided to move on to our next adventure.

That was 'Designing Berlin' at the Werkbundarchiv or Museum of Things. As we were making our way there via Museumsinsel, we stumbled across a glorious double-towered church, the Friedrichswerdersche Church. Built in the 1820s, this used to sit on a quaint square in a narrow neighbourhood until the East German government bulldozed most of it to make wide boulevards. Now the Foreign Office sits across from it, with this area being amazingly quiet despite it being just off Unten den Linden. The church has since been deconsecrated and is a museum for 19th century marble sculpture. This was interesting enough, but it's the architecture of the building that's most wondrous. The red tile roof is most striking and only one of the two towers was partially damaged in Allied bombings so much of it survived intact, which is rare for Berlin. You can also climb onto the first floor and find out more about Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the man who designed the church (Schinkel is more well known for designing the Bauakademie, Konzerthaus and Altes Museum in Berlin, and Potsdam's Nikolaikirche.). There is a full marble statue of him downstairs. Wolfie sat next to this while we went exploring upstairs, savouring in the wonderful view of the church from all angles. On one side of this there were marble busts of various famous 19th century people, most of whom I did not know. This was a glorious diversion from our planned itinerary and one that made the evening that extra bit more special.

The Werkbundarchiv is dedicated to design from the 20th and 21st centuries. Most things here were separated into form or function - so there were things classed by colour, or type, or utility - while many exhibits charted us through the different design styles from the functional 1920s through to the plastic-obsessed 1970s to beyond. Some of the exhibits highlighted the superfluousness of capitalism - chintzy commemorative plates and other tat for example - while there were some shocking things too like 'Choke a Duck' with real flapping motion and a plush cat that had been run over by a car, which were said to promote violence. One corner of this small museum was dedicated to Berlin design through the ages while another looked at what happens when a nightclub closes down. How do you document evidence? How much can you retain of the lifestyle and experiences enjoyed at this club. These were very interesting fundamental questions that I had never considered before.

By the time we finished here, it was approaching 1am. We could have gotten the complimentary blue line bus route - a number of different free buses (and one vintage S-Bahn train we didn't get to see) had been put on for the event - but we thought taking the U2 to Gleisdreieck was easier. There, it was a quick walk to the Deutsches Tecknik Museum. There, we met Baloki sat on a deckchair, Whiskian in the queue for drinks, and Procyon pottering around the planes. I thought there would be beer - had I realised there wasn't, I may have steered Baloki into ending at the Musical Instruments Museum instead - but my gin and tonic was nice enough. The bartender asked how I'd like it, by which he said whether I wanted enough lime to rip my face off (of course I did), and the drink he mixed was good. At €7.50, I only wanted one though. We sat on the roof, under the bomber, and chilled, while watching U-Bahn trains roll into Mockernbrucke station (which the security guard had to tell me which station it was). After half an hour, with the museum closing, that's where we headed. Seebass left us to join the U1 to Warschauer Str. while we headed west down the U7 back to Spandau. Here, we got more drink from the Spati, having only had one beer and one gin and tonic all evening (the others had stopped for a break at Hardy's Bar in Bulowstr.). As we were crossing the road, some dickhead in a fast car shouted abuse at us and threw some liquid which splashed the back of my leg a bit. It put a dampener on a good evening, but then it's always worth ignoring Billy Big Bollocks types who can shout abuse at pedestrians then bolt off at 40km/h in their car. I got over it pretty quickly and we had a nice wind down prior to bed.

After two days of pretty heavy events, we decided to take it easy on Sunday. This was useful, as I found out that my poem had made the Aberacon conbook and so I needed to update my website with this information. It was another late start, which allowed us to ease into the day. Whiskian, as he had done the day before and would do on the Monday, left the house early as he was interested in taking some street photography. On the Saturday, Baloki had joined him, but on Sunday the fox came around to our house for around 1:30pm. We then debated what to do, deciding to check out Spandauer Altstadtfest & WeinSommer in the town centre. They had converted the market place into a wine cellar, with a stage at one end with traditional live German music. As with any event, there was the usual medley of beer stands, sausage concessions, and other stalls, while Procyon refused to get his face painted as a raccoon despite Wolfie offering to stump up the money. Procyon wanted to get some Georgian food, but the queue was too long so we decided to swerve it, instead grabbing a Thuringer Bratwurst (it's always from Thuringen) from a different place. After a few minutes, Procyon gave up and decided to get a snausage too. We then walked around the market place looking for a place to sit. Baloki wanted somewhere out of the sun, which somewhat limited our options, meaning we ended up being tucked behind an Italian wine truck at the furthest point from the stage. I would have liked to have tried German wine, but with four of us, this spot was as good as any. We opted to get 0.1cl measures of wine, which to be fair were filled generously, and at the Italian place we had two glasses. We then did find another seating area near one of the German stalls, where we had a third glass. Again, this was meant to be 0.1cl but when chatting to the lady, she seemed to like us, and gave us 0.2cl at the lower price. This did mean that I'd had over half a bottle of admittedly nice wine on two slices of toast, necessitating a Pfannkuchen from Thoben as he left the area. It was a nice time sitting outside and absorbing the vibe, tainted only by the fact it's now the Dog Days of Summer, the best thing about that being the name.

With little else to do, we decided to go to our old stomping ground at Richard-Wagner-Platz as there's a bar by the river there which seemed like a good place to sit (again in the shade). Whiskian met us at the station, having had to wait about 20 minutes due to our own tardiness (the donut took quite a while to obtain). We showed our friends where we used to live on Guerickestr. and then made our way to the river. They have built an annoying green fence since we lived in the area in 2021, meaning you can no longer sit on the water's edge and dangle your feet in the stream. I suppose it prevents people from falling in though. We nabbed a few deckchairs, sat them by the river, and enjoyed a couple of beers while watching the boats move up and down. We liked the two kayakers with their dog the best.

After this, we went over to the Ethiopian restaurant Adis Ababa, which was nearby. Indeed, this was one of the reasons why we had chosen this place as a few of us were experiencing mobility issues from various causes. Wolfe was one of them, but is foot was holding up very well considering the previous few days' activities. The lady in the restaurant recognised me and I think was delighted to see us. We ended up ordering two sharing plates for three people each, which should have been fine for the five of us. Alas, we ended up leaving an awful lot of it, not least because they seemed to bring out an excess of delicious but dense spongy bread. The food was as incredible as ever, and I really enjoyed it, but we ended up leaving feeling quite bloated. This wasn't ideal as we made our way to BRLO, with Baloki deciding to call it a night beforehand and heading back to his hotel. We were initially going to go to the 501 Union Jack Whisky Bar, but beer was the preference. Alas, it sat rather heavy, meaning we could only have one before we were ready to call it a day. As before, we headed back home, but not before Whiskian caught a glimpse of a rather dapper pink suit in a bridal store. He resolved to go back the following day and see if he could buy it. He talked about it quite a bit once we had gotten home, where we chatted for a couple of hours and whiled away some time.

Monday was Procyon's actual birthday so after we had swapped cards and gifts (Baloki bought him a card with a VIP badge and a plush raccoon and gave Wolfie a fox for his birthday as there were no wolves) we left it to him to decide what we would do. The consensus was to go on the 7-Seen Fahrt down the River Havel, as this involved minimal walking and would be a nice thing to do on a summer's day. Whiskian, as before, headed into town earlier than us to do some photography, while he also had a pink suit to acquire. Alas, upon arriving at the bridal store, he noticed it was shut and you could only get in by appointment only. This was disappointing and we urged him to give them a ring, but I think time was against him, what with his flight being Tuesday lunchtime. It was a little touch and go whether he would get back to Spandau to take the boat trip, but he needn't have worried as, once we arrived, we discovered the stricken vessel still in port but the trip cancelled due to operational reasons. This put a spanner in the works and I had to rack my brain to work out what to do instead. Alt-Tegel was an option, but we decided instead to go south down to Alt-Kladow and take the F10 ferry over the river to Wannsee. While this wasn't the three-and-a-half hour ferry trip as promised, the 20-minute ride was at least some of it, while Alt-Kladow is where the cruise would have stopped anyway. With this being more walking than anticipated, Wolfie decided to stay at home, so we were a foursome for the rest of the afternoon.

The bus down to Kladow was impossibly slow, made worse by the schools tipping out and thus it being full of kids. We got there in the end though and had a quick walk through the village, stopping to admire the children's swing rides in the form of two hedgehogs and a fox. We took a picture of Baloki riding the latter, then walked down to the lake, settling in one of the shoreline eateries where we grabbed a beer. The F10 ferry is only every hour, but the one 35 minutes after we had sat down would have made the afternoon somewhat rushed. We therefore chilled and waited for the next one, boarding shortly before 5:30pm. We weren't sure whether we needed to purchase a new AB ticket or not, but the ferry staff were happy with what we had, and soon we were chugging over the lake with the sailors and novelty boats in the shape of a garden shed renters. I pointed out a few of the sites on either side of the lake before we docked in Wannsee some 20 minutes later. The last time I had been here, it was a Sunday and thus quite busy, but it was desolate at 6pm on a Monday despite the sunny weather. We went to a toilet which was partly flooded, with urinal backsplash on my legs, before we yomped up the hill and spied the high-end villas that dot the shoreline.

With little else to do, we caught the S7 S-Bahn back into the city centre, as Procyon had booked his birthday meal at a Korean restaurant near Stadtmitte for 7:30pm. En route, we got off at Grunewald where I showed everyone Gleis 17, the platform from which many Jews left for the concentration camps from 1941. The atmosphere here is noticeably heavy and the memorial is simple, yet powerful. I probably should have warned people what this was prior to going, and maybe it wasn't a great thing to do on someone's birthday, but we were passing and it's an important part of the city's history, so it was worth calling in. We were only here for a short while though, before boarding the train to Friedrichstr., from where we walked down to the restaurant.

Wolfie was waiting for us outside, despite us being 15 minutes early ourselves, and I was really happy to see him. Kit and Sandy were to be 15 minutes late, but we eased ourselves into our surroundings with local Cass beer and soju. I don't think I had this Korean rice wine before and it was surprisingly nice. The aniseed flavour wasn't too pronounced, while it was a mellow sipping affair. After debating whether we should get Bibimbap or Korean BBQ, we settled on the latter, not least because that's what everyone else was doing. We ordered the full platter of meats - marinated beef, belly pork, other pork, shrimpy bobs and tofu - and shared them all between us. The six pots of sides that came with each portion were varied, with the potato one my favourite. The two dips - a brown spicy paste and a salty oil - really worked to marinate the meat, while the whole concept of grilling in front of you is one I'll never grow tired of. The restaurateur demonstrated how to cook the meat and we all took turns, wrapping everything up in a lettuce leaf, as is traditional. There was plenty of rice too and it made for a filling, not too bloating meal. 

The Castle was the next destination, but Baloki made his way back to the hotel, largely because he had a very early flight. The remaining six headed up there though, despite having to wait 17 bastard minutes for the U6 to arrive. The service irregularity was now regular again though, unlike my current bowel movements. Getting to the Castle, we caught the tail end of quiz night, but still manage to snaffle a seat. We ended up staying here for three, pushing it as late as we could before having to get the RE4 out of Hauptbahnhof. Kit and Sandy had left after one, but the remaining four of us chatted and chilled, whiling Procyon's birthday into Wolfie's. The party continued back at home, where we shared out Ardbeg's Smoketrails whisky and ate a very large number of tzatziki crisps, Gut und Gunstig Pringles and sweet popcorn. I dread to think how much weight I've put on this weekend, probably far too much. I was also feeling somewhat tired after the weekend's festivities, with my mental health not being particularly strong throughout. Making things worse was the human shit in the toilet on the train, into which I accidentally trod. It looked like a squashed chocolate cake at the side of the bowl and my front left shoe just caught it. Everyone thought it was hilarious, but despite my best efforts at clean up, you could still smell it on my shoe. This made me feel very self-conscious, which made things in my head far worse. This contributed to a misunderstanding between Wolfie and I which, fortunately, we have patched up.

Everyone had to leave today, which made for a sad start to Wolfie's birthday. Baloki had gone independently, while Whiskian cut it fine to get his flight at 1:15pm. Procyon is off to Heidelberg, so I walked him to the station for the 11:37am train. He picked up a coffee from Espresso House - a coffee shop where he, Whiskian, and Baloki had spent some of early Sunday afternoon while we were getting ready - which means they have been there more often than I have. It seemed nice enough though. There was confusion about his seat reservation as the carriage numbers weren't right, but hopefully he resolved that on the train. Once I had seen him off, I went to the supermarket to do some food shopping before having to resume work following our long-weekend off.

The plan had been to go out tonight for Wolfie's birthday, but we are both so damn tired, we couldn't be bothered. We haven't even cooked yet so we will likely just go to McDonald's despite the number of Hello Fresh meals we have decomposing in our refrigerator. I have spent the day either sleeping or catching up with work, with the need to get new clients starting to become critical, while Wolfie has spent a good chunk of the day in bed too. With the amount of booze we have had this weekend, along with the rich food, we kinda feel a few days of normality is what's needed. Hopefully, we can celebrate his birthday properly soon.