Just in case you entirely missed me banging on about my busy working week last week and weekend, which started on Wednesday taking a train ride to London for an Exhibition, and getting home 11pm Thursday night so I could work in my office Friday. Saturday I had off - and spent it writing my vlog because obviously the first thing you do when you have free time is spend it trying to write something to entertain Steemians......one day I might even write something that does entertain you all!
So Sunday morning I started out early well it was supposed to be, but I didn't get to post my Vlog until well past 1am so nudged the alarm from 6am to 7am - don't want to be driving tired. Then I had to pack some clothes to take and sort myself out - because I did not get time on Saturday - and drink a few ☕️ so it was nearly 8am before I got in the car on this very foggy Sunday morning.
And off I went, 200 miles to drive...we've got a long way to go and a short time to get there.
It's mostly motorway for the whole drive, so engage cruise control and crank up the tunes - for this journey mostly Beats One - the One Mix, a perk of Apple Music they have hundreds of mixes done by top DJ's and you can listen back to all of them - Heading down I enjoyed mixes by Marshmello, Moby, Carl Cox and Claptone.
Getting close to half way through the trip, and it's looking a little brighter. Fortunately early Sunday mornings are pretty quiet on the motorway so this is an easy drive.
Three quarters way in and the miles just keep flying by, but the last section will be right into the heart of London Village - a quaint little backwater of the UK.
And so it starts, the journey into the centre of London. I hate driving into London, the roads make no sense whatsoever, if you use the inside lane it will randomly turn to a left only lane when you want to go straight on. If you go in the outside lane it will randomly turn into a right hand lane when you want to go straight on. If you stay in the middle lane you can guarantee the left and right lanes will try to merge force themselves into your lane and you either give way or collect dents just like pretty much every car that drives round London already has.
Bus lanes, 20mph zones with speed cameras, random traffic lights and left turns. It's a relief I'm not trying to navigate these roads on a busy day!
And we finally arrive, parking in Central London is not easy or cheap as you can imagine, last year when I did this show I discovered justpark.com where you can rent parking spaces behind shops and offices when they are not being used - this spot is just 5 minutes from my hotel which has no parking of it's own.
It's twenty minutes walk to the exhibition from here, I have walked it many times but today I am late and have a heavy bag so it's time to open up the Uber app - 2 minutes later my car arrives and delivers me to the exhibition door in double quick time, I'm becoming an Uber convert!
The exhibition opened at 10am, I walked in at 11.20am but it was not a problem as other people were on the stand including Haldun from Toper the Turkish coffee roasters agent they flew over from Turkey to support the event. Saturday and Sunday are public days, so we do not get many real enquiries about buying the equipment - just people taking photos and wanting to learn the process of roasting coffee.
The exhibition is still busy, but knowing you will not get any sales from the people you are talking can be off putting. But some are generally interested in the roasting process and how the machines work - and as you all know I love to share.
Official close of the exhibition was 5pm, they were still running competitions on the main stage at that time. 6.30pm and there are still stragglers of the public wandering around while I'm taking down banners. The shipping people come that will take away my crates arrive with labels for them - but they say the crate they have stored for me because we had no room on the stand - was not allowed to be brought back from storage until 7.30pm - and then they would bring back all the stands stored packaging - but it would be a slow process. 8pm and no sign of the crate, my Turkish helper is restless he has to fly back to Turkey in the morning. 8.30pm, still no crate and Haldun from Turkey says goodbye - it is 10.30pm for his body clock and he has to fly back to Turkey in the morning. 8.45pm and the crate finally turns up - which is nice as nearly everyone else has left the exhibition hall. It's me, a drill and a load of work to do.
First I have to open back up the small crate, remove all the packing I stored inside it for the big roaster. The I have to fit the crate panels back around the big roaster - they are not light and doing it on my own is harder work because you have to position them - taking them off was much easier. Finally I am ready for Rent a Man again - and go and request from the logistics people my man for five minutes which cost me another £30. He arrives quickly though and we get the 80kg red roaster back in it's crate - then I get him to help me lift the lid of the big crate into place - it's heavy and the crate is 8ft high, I'm 5ft 5 so that was going to be a challenge with no ladder. Once he does that I'm all set, off he goes to move more pallets around and I use the stand stools to stand on, giving me enough height to pull myself up onto the top of the 8ft crate to screw in the 12 screws that hold the lid down - the stand is opposite windows looking out onto Brick Lane and passers by keep stopping and staring in at the funny man sat on top of a big crate.
With the big crate done, everything else gets thrown (literally) into the little crate which I seal back up. 10pm and I am walking out of the exhibition centre and opening the Uber app. A quick drive back to the hotel and I grab a sandwich, spend a little time on Steemit (of course) and then grab some sleep.
Monday morning, wake up - start doing my #SublimeSunday post because I was too tired Sunday night. Half way through I go down for breakfast at the hotel, back to the room to finish the post and then leave London at 10.30am. Thanks to busy traffic it takes 4 hours to get back to work, although on the way I enjoyed more One Mixes including Martin Garrix, Tiesto, Robin Schulz, Goldie and finally 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Jax Jones with the most incredible uplifting house mix with edits after edits (as he says) - I cranked the Bose up to near max and everything in the car was vibrating, the miles just flew by and I played his mix a second time it was that good - 2.30pm I arrived back at work slightly more deafer and very wired 🤪
And that was my little drive to London Village and back, if you would like to see the route it is below, the dark blue route down the M1
The full video of the drive down
Some of my previous posts you might have missed
Market Friday goes to London Coffee Festival
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The C0ff33 Vlog |
Driving to and from Blackpool with @c0ff33a
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