I'm back now, and kinda tired

I'm now back in Germany after a nice lazy break back at home - I didn't even get around to posting anything other than the Happy New Year message the other day. I got back late last night, about two hours later than I'd originally thought I'd be back, thereby missing the last trains from the airport as well. Despite a rather confusing situation at the taxi rank I soon left the airport (and a cute Mancunian) for the short trip back to my apartment.

The day started just before 8 so I could catch the boat in time. It turned out that one of my friends and her boyfriend were heading back on the same boat, so at least there would be someone to talk to (if only I wasn't so tired from New Year still). We ended up sitting on the same table as a guy we both went to primary school with, who I hadn't seen for a few years. Last time I saw him I was out at home with my friends, very drunk. It was also the night I came out to them, and I'm sure (for some reason) touched this guy's chest, I've no idea why.

Unsure if it was infact him on our table, I leant over to my friend, hid behind a menu, and asked her if it was him. She didn't quite hear me the first time, but second time she did (as, I would have thought, did he). She took a quick peek and thought it was him too, so I asked him if it was. It was. Whilst trying to find out what he was doing nowadays, I found out he had a girlfriend. Which just me wonder even more about what it was that happened on that night out. Oh well.

I got into Liverpool on time then headed over to Manchester to spend a few hours in the city before I flew. I'd hoped to catch up with friends bit didn't manage to, mostly because I'd left it far too late to try and get in touch with anyone. Anyway, I did manage to grab a pint of Carling and some scampi and chips in the train station as my last British meal for a while. Bored, and without a working English phone whilst I waited a day for my new Orange Pay-as-you-go SIM card to take over from my old contract, I took the train down to the airport.

I was early and the check-in desks for my flight hadn't opened yet, though the ones next to them had, and showed that I could check in for my flight there too. With huge queues, I thought I might as well start queuing. Half an hour later, and about 3 places from the front of the queue, they changed the sign and told us that people on the Stuttgart flight had to check in at the desks that hadn't opened when I started queuing. I suspect I should have just stayed in that one and kicked up a fuss, but instead I just did as they said. I was mightily pissed, but duly went to join the end of the other queue.

I didn't want to push my luck at the front of this queue either, as it turned out my bag was 4 kilos over the 20kg limit. If I'd have been arsey instead of smiling at the nice check-in guy, he'd probably have made me pay for the excess. He put me back into a good mood thankfully - despite knowing as well that the flight was now 40 minutes behind schedule. After the security check, and yet another huge queue, I discovered there wasn't much to do, with shops starting to close and very little else there. I was happy that I found a copy of the New Scientist though, as other shops I'd looked in didn't have any left.

The best thing to do in a closing down airport is to sit in the bar and read your New Scientist until they announce your flight (which by this point is now 1h10 late). A few pints later, the plane came in and stopped slightly shy of where it was meant to on the stand. More delay ensued whilst they got a tug over to move the plane into its proper place.

I was so happy to get onto the plane and into a window seat, though sadly not by the guy I was eyeing up from the bar. I'd hoped to sit next to him and strike up a conversation, and perhaps meet someone who actually lives here, but I didn't see him when I boarded so I just resorted to taking a free row to myself. At least I had a nice view of lights out of the window, even if I didn't see most cities due to them being on the other side of the plane to me.

As for this morning, I was meant to start back at work but I was so tired there was no chance of me getting up and getting in to work, so I called in and extended my holiday by a day. I hope they don't mind tomorrow, when I finally show my face.