Essen day Trip 2006 plus some ruminations on previous Essen trips
When I first went to the Spiel games fair in Essen in 1989 the world was a very different place, I was thinner and Egon Krenz (what ever happened to him?) had literally just replaced Eric Honnecker as the East German leader. Basically Germany was on the cusp of reunification (the wall came down in November and the country was reunified late in 1990) and the Cold War was coming to an end. The world truly was a very different place in 1989.
My journey to Essen and Spiel ’89 I guess commenced back in 1982 shortly after I started my A Levels – Essentially I started role playing with some friends at Shrewsbury Tech and as a bi-product of this I purchased a copy of Games Workshops Apocalypse boardgame from my local games/model shop. As time went on I role played less and became involved in the postal diplomacy hobby, which in turn meant that I started to attend various UK based game conventions (Specifically Manorcon & Midcon – both of which I still attend incidentally).
Eventually the lure of diplomacy declined and I preferred to play games where I didn’t spend 7 hours on one supply centre only to be eliminated in the final turn of the tournament. Instead I choose to spend 10 hours of my time playing Kingmaker – well at least you can’t get eliminated and there is always a chance you could sneak a royal heir into your control.
However as I aged I found I need more variety than 10 hour marathon games – luckily for me it was around the late eighties that the first ‘German Style’ games began to appear in the UK and I heard about the Spiel games fair held at Essen.
So, back in 1989, Jan (an old school friend of mine who gamed as well– who incidentally won the1988 Manorcon/World Dipcon Kingmaker championship in the link above) and I decided we would attend Spiel ’89. We booked a few days of work and flew out to Düsseldorf from Birmingham on the cheapest flights we could find on the Wednesday before the fair. We didn’t book any accommodation – we just flew out – there wasn’t any Internet back then so pre-booking foreign accommodation was difficult and expensive. We thought we could find a cheap local guest house once we were in Germany.
On arrival at Essen, after getting the train from Düsseldorf, we got a list of guest houses and cheap hotels from the tourist information and proceeded to tour around them trying to find a room. Not such luck, as not only was Spiel ’89 on, but an international tennis tournament was in town as well. By late evening our feet were sore and we still didn’t have anywhere to stay – it was it this point we ran into a drunk German called Rudi – hearing our predicament he said he only lived around the corner and we could use his spare room. By now we were desperate so we accepted – though I do remember feeling the whole invite was a bit dodgy – which was probably the reason I wedged a chair under the bedroom door handle!!
Luckily Rudi lived within relatively easy walking distance of the Messe-Essen so we were at Spiel ’89 for the doors opening. Since 1989 I have been with a quite a few people when they have seen Spiel for the first time – I don’t think mine was very different – I was gobsmacked – I had never seen anything like it – I was in game heaven!!
Jan & Myself spent 2 days at Spiel ’89, and 2 nights at Rudi’s house. All in all he was pretty good host (though he was drunk, and very late, when he returned to let us into his house on Thursday night). As payment we gave him the largest bottle of whisky we could find.
I still have all of those games I purchased back 1989 (Die Macher & Schoko & co amongst them). In fact I would say this was the true begining of my game collecting, as from now on I truly knew this was a hobby I wanted to pursue.
1989 Purhases
The question I don’t know the answer to is why it took me so long to go back to Essen!! I think it was a combination of distance, cost and talking someone else into going with me (Jan seemed to acquire other interests outside board gaming – though he still is a good friend).
By 2001 I was living in Haywards Heath in the south east of England and for the first time in a couple of years I was also playing games regularly (Aka - Billygames ). I had also been travelling to Europe more regularly, including driving out to Austria on skiing trips, and it was whilst looking at a European road atlas that I noticed that Essen really isn’t very far from Calais and that it is motorway all the way - Circa 220ish plus miles. This coupled with that a day return on the Channel Tunnel is circa £40 and that the Folkestone end of the tunnel is only just over an hours drive from my house caused the mad thought to occur to me that I could do a day trip to Essen relatively cheaply.
So in 2001 and I did a solo day trip to Essen, departed at 2am on Saturday returned 10pm the same day, it’s a long day but it can be done. Basically I had a great day.
In 2002 I did the same thing again, this time taking a couple of passengers to spread the cost.
In 2003 I did another day trip, this time in my newly acquired and very fast TVR, with Colin as my co-pilot.
My TVR
I skipped 2004, though I went again in 2005 with Julian a gaming work colleague as my TVR co-pilot, this time however I opted to stay over night– which made the trip less tiring and allowed me to drink the German beer and eat some quality wiener schnitzel at a nice restaurant on Saturday evening.
Eating Weiner Schnitzel in 2005
It is now 2006 and it is Essen time again! It had been my original intention to do an overnight trip again, going out on the Saturday coming back on the Sunday. Unfortunately I could not persuade any of my local gaming friends to join me in the overnight stay. However Luke & Tony from the Burgess Hill group said they would be willing to do a day trip with me, Luke’s gaming dedication seriously impressed me as his partner was heavily pregnant and due to give birth around 10 days later! From my point of view a day trip is better than nothing and I guess I can wait till I go skiing in Austria in January to eat some wiener schnitzel.
Unfortunately babies have their own timescales and Luke’s optimism was just that and I had find a replacement at short notice (Though congratulation to him on becoming a father!) – luckily minutes after Luke had told me he wouldn’t be able to make it I had a call from Julian (who I had gone with the previous year) on a work related matter – by the end of the call I managed to get him to forget about work and talk him into going to Essen again (Well subject to his wife’s approval).
The basic problem with a day trip to Essen is that you have to get up very early if you want to be there in time for doors opening, this in turn means you need to get to bed early the night before. Unfortunately Julian was delayed getting to my house due to heavy traffic on the M25 on the Friday night before we go to Essen. Because of this I didn't get to bed till 9:30pm and I don’t get to sleep till almost midnight (You know how it is, when you need to get to sleep you darn well can’t!).
My alarm goes off at 1:20am – and I am out off bed and dressed in under five minutes – various mumbling and grumbling noises from the spare room tells me that Julian isn’t far behind.
In less than 10 minutes we out of the house and on the way to Burgess hill to pick up Tony. We arrive at his house at 1:40am to find Tony quietly waiting outside his house for us. So far things are going smoothly.
I press on at ‘speed’ towards Folkestone – by 2:45am we are at the Tunnel and checking in with the new automatic electronic ticket booths (Well they are new to me ‘cos I don’t remember them from last year).
I know it cost billions of pounds to build, but the Channel Tunnel is actually very boring – you drive onto a giant train and park your car – the train goes and 30minutes or so later you are in France!! Nowt to look at out the window because you are in a tunnel and nothing much to do in the carriage except sleep – which is what I tried to do!!
We got the 3:32am train and by 5:15am French time we were in France and heading towards Belgium. I have done this route a few times now and I know the way pretty well (ie Calais-Brugge-Ghent-Antwerp-Eindhoven-Essen) – the only thing I need to check with the atlas is which exit I come off the Antwerp ring road.
By 8:30am we are parking up at the Messe-Essen – we even managed to do it without a fuel stop – though the car computer was telling me I only had 9 miles left in the tank!!
After parking up we head down to the Messe – we purchase our ticket once the ticket booths open at 9am – I head back to the car for a quick doze to catch up on my sleep whilst Julian & Tony go for a quick explore.
Julian and Tony waiting outside the Messe
We meet up again when doors open at 10am – I have a list of games to get for myself, Luke, Dick & Mike (Hmm – I seem to have become a professional ‘game shopper!!) – I have therefore planned quick circuit of the halls to get as many of these as quickly as I can.
People waiting to get in
First stop is the Fragor stand where I pick up 2 copies of Hamln – the ‘cute’ rat pieces make this a most have. I then quickly scout around the second hand games stalls and manage to get a copy of Mississippi queen for 8 Euros to replace the one I accidentally threw out earlier in the year.
I then move onto the JKLM stand to pick up my pre-ordered copies of 1861, Underground & Kings Progress. Then onto the Valley Games stand to pick multiple copies of Die Macher, Age of Steam & Tempus. Luckily Jo had already picked up my pre-ordered Age of Steam maps from the nearby Winsome stand on Thursday morning.
Next was the Splotter stand where I got myself a long desired copy of Roads & Boats and a copy of Indonesia for Luke.
After one hour of shopping Julian, Tony (Both of whom had been buying games for themselves) and I already had a huge stack of games – so we decided it might be sensible to drop our purchases back at the car.
Coming back from the car we decide it would be sensible to split up and do our own shopping – we agree to meet on the steps of the Cafeteria at 1pm.
Before I can do anymore shopping however – I head for the cash point as I think I am going to need more money!! – It never ceases to amaze me that there is only one cash point by the main entrance of the Messe – the consequence of this is it take me 20 minutes of queuing to get some more cash. I felt particularly sorry for the German next to me in the queue who had managed to leave his money at home on the kitchen table!!
Once I have topped up on Euros I take a slower meander through the halls, taking time to see the games people are playing and compare prices of possible purchases.
Along my way I pick up the Ticket to Ride 1910 expansion and the new Powergrid maps (Benelux & Central Europe). I also spot Klaus Teuber signing copies of his new settler’s game – ‘Fight for Rome’ – So I get myself an autographed copy.
Klaus signing my copy!!
I had also been on the lookout for a copy of Commands & Colors – and I had been concerned I might not be able to get a copy at Essen as I wasn’t certain how much of the print run was left to be sold – luckily I spotted at stall with the 2006 version (with the improved rule book and unit crib sheets) so I purchased a copy.
By now it was getting close to 1pm and I began to fight my way back through the crowds to the cafeteria steps to meet Julian & Tony. I arrive to find Julian has arrived but not Tony yet – so I take the quick opportunity to nip over to the nearby Mayfair Games stand.
At the Mayfair Games stand I get myself a copy 1829 Mainline – getting it signed by Francis Tresham’s brother as Francis’s was not able to make the fair due an accident – I Hypothesise that like an incorrectly printed Penny Black one day it will be worth a lot more money than one signed by Francis himself …
I also get a copy of the Mayfair Version of Shear Panic (Which I failed to get last year) and Emira - All about sheiks attracting women into their harems and totally politically incorrect!!
I know some American gamers seem to either be uncomfortable or object to the subject matter of Emira– but with all the war related games people play and the morally dubious activities associated with certain fiscal based games (striping companies of assets/cash and dumping the shares in 1830 for instance) I do find this rather inconsistent.
Anyway, by the time I return to the cafeteria steps Tony has arrived and we decide to search out some food – though not before picking up a few copies of Shogun at the nearby Queen Games stand.
We eventually find a place to sit down in the courtyard between the halls – where over a few hotdogs we review our purchases and discuss what else we want to buy.
After lunch we dump our purchases back in the car before throwing ourselves once more into the fray. The halls have by now become very busy – you at times seem to shuffle along at an almost interminably slow pace – as a piece of advice to any Essen attendees please if you need to stop to look at something please do it in such a way that it doesn’t block the whole gangway!!
It's crowded!!
By now I was beginning to run short of cash again, and having no desire to queue at the cashpoint again I was trying to be more focused on what I actually purchased. My first objective after lunch was to get the 2 remaining games Luke had asked me to get for him: Leonard de Vinci & Ysaphan – which I quickly acquired.
With my remaining notes I got myself a copy of Through the Ages – was debating with myself whether I should get this or Imperial – but a telephone call from Jo in the UK had put me off Imperial slightly – so I took a chance with Through the Ages.
By the time I meet up with Julian and Tony at 15:45am again all I have left is a 5 euros note and some coins!! Tony has no cash at all left – Julian has 35 Euros.
As Tony wants to purchase a last 35 Euro game he borrows the cash from Julian whilst I scrabble together my 5 euro note and the coins in my pocket to miraculously afford the 17 Euros for a copy of Thurn & Taxis.
Final Purchases
As it is my desire to be on our way back to Calais by 4:30pm we say good by to Spiel 2006 and head back to the car. We have a bit of a panic when we are asked for 4 Euros by the car parking – luckily Julian still has some coins left.
A lot of games in that car!
The panic for the 4 euros is turned into a bit of fiasco when a second car park attendant asks us for another 4 Euros – I’m not sure we have the money – and anyway we have already paid!! We resolutely refuse to give up any more money and attendants refuses to accept our ticket we purchased just minutes previously. Unfortunately my Pigeon German which is normally sufficient for buying board games and getting beer lets me down when trying to explain our problem. In the end the attendant writes down my car registration (This amused us slightly – was he going to contact the DVLC in Swansea??) and we depart the car park.
Because of traffic the return journey back to Calais from Essen normally takes about an extra hour over the outward journey – today however the traffic is light and we do it in almost an identical 3 ¼ hours. Because of this we manage to get an earlier train back through the tunnel than the one I planned to get. Whilst in the tunnel I top up on Redbull (to make sure I am awake for the final part of the drive back to Haywards Heath) and we discuss what a great day we have had.
I know it is a bit of a Cliché about it raining a lot in England – but when we drive off the train we are greeted by heavy torrential rain – yep I’m back in England!!
The initial drive back to Haywards Heath is a bit slow (Basically I can hardly see the car in front because of the rain!) – However we drop Tony back at his house in Burgess Hill at 9pm.
As I’m still a bit ‘wired’ after drinking quite a few cans of Redbull (I know I’m probably not going to get straight to sleep) I suggest to Julian that he might like to go for a Curry.
So I finish the day with a Chicken Tikka and Prawn Masala Balti at my local Haywards Heath Curry House before returning home to go to bed just before 11pm.
My Balti!
All Gone!!
All My Purchases!!!
When I first went to the Spiel games fair in Essen in 1989 the world was a very different place, I was thinner and Egon Krenz (what ever happened to him?) had literally just replaced Eric Honnecker as the East German leader. Basically Germany was on the cusp of reunification (the wall came down in November and the country was reunified late in 1990) and the Cold War was coming to an end. The world truly was a very different place in 1989.
My journey to Essen and Spiel ’89 I guess commenced back in 1982 shortly after I started my A Levels – Essentially I started role playing with some friends at Shrewsbury Tech and as a bi-product of this I purchased a copy of Games Workshops Apocalypse boardgame from my local games/model shop. As time went on I role played less and became involved in the postal diplomacy hobby, which in turn meant that I started to attend various UK based game conventions (Specifically Manorcon & Midcon – both of which I still attend incidentally).
Eventually the lure of diplomacy declined and I preferred to play games where I didn’t spend 7 hours on one supply centre only to be eliminated in the final turn of the tournament. Instead I choose to spend 10 hours of my time playing Kingmaker – well at least you can’t get eliminated and there is always a chance you could sneak a royal heir into your control.
However as I aged I found I need more variety than 10 hour marathon games – luckily for me it was around the late eighties that the first ‘German Style’ games began to appear in the UK and I heard about the Spiel games fair held at Essen.
So, back in 1989, Jan (an old school friend of mine who gamed as well– who incidentally won the1988 Manorcon/World Dipcon Kingmaker championship in the link above) and I decided we would attend Spiel ’89. We booked a few days of work and flew out to Düsseldorf from Birmingham on the cheapest flights we could find on the Wednesday before the fair. We didn’t book any accommodation – we just flew out – there wasn’t any Internet back then so pre-booking foreign accommodation was difficult and expensive. We thought we could find a cheap local guest house once we were in Germany.
On arrival at Essen, after getting the train from Düsseldorf, we got a list of guest houses and cheap hotels from the tourist information and proceeded to tour around them trying to find a room. Not such luck, as not only was Spiel ’89 on, but an international tennis tournament was in town as well. By late evening our feet were sore and we still didn’t have anywhere to stay – it was it this point we ran into a drunk German called Rudi – hearing our predicament he said he only lived around the corner and we could use his spare room. By now we were desperate so we accepted – though I do remember feeling the whole invite was a bit dodgy – which was probably the reason I wedged a chair under the bedroom door handle!!
Luckily Rudi lived within relatively easy walking distance of the Messe-Essen so we were at Spiel ’89 for the doors opening. Since 1989 I have been with a quite a few people when they have seen Spiel for the first time – I don’t think mine was very different – I was gobsmacked – I had never seen anything like it – I was in game heaven!!
Jan & Myself spent 2 days at Spiel ’89, and 2 nights at Rudi’s house. All in all he was pretty good host (though he was drunk, and very late, when he returned to let us into his house on Thursday night). As payment we gave him the largest bottle of whisky we could find.
I still have all of those games I purchased back 1989 (Die Macher & Schoko & co amongst them). In fact I would say this was the true begining of my game collecting, as from now on I truly knew this was a hobby I wanted to pursue.
1989 Purhases
The question I don’t know the answer to is why it took me so long to go back to Essen!! I think it was a combination of distance, cost and talking someone else into going with me (Jan seemed to acquire other interests outside board gaming – though he still is a good friend).
By 2001 I was living in Haywards Heath in the south east of England and for the first time in a couple of years I was also playing games regularly (Aka - Billygames ). I had also been travelling to Europe more regularly, including driving out to Austria on skiing trips, and it was whilst looking at a European road atlas that I noticed that Essen really isn’t very far from Calais and that it is motorway all the way - Circa 220ish plus miles. This coupled with that a day return on the Channel Tunnel is circa £40 and that the Folkestone end of the tunnel is only just over an hours drive from my house caused the mad thought to occur to me that I could do a day trip to Essen relatively cheaply.
So in 2001 and I did a solo day trip to Essen, departed at 2am on Saturday returned 10pm the same day, it’s a long day but it can be done. Basically I had a great day.
In 2002 I did the same thing again, this time taking a couple of passengers to spread the cost.
In 2003 I did another day trip, this time in my newly acquired and very fast TVR, with Colin as my co-pilot.
My TVR
I skipped 2004, though I went again in 2005 with Julian a gaming work colleague as my TVR co-pilot, this time however I opted to stay over night– which made the trip less tiring and allowed me to drink the German beer and eat some quality wiener schnitzel at a nice restaurant on Saturday evening.
Eating Weiner Schnitzel in 2005
It is now 2006 and it is Essen time again! It had been my original intention to do an overnight trip again, going out on the Saturday coming back on the Sunday. Unfortunately I could not persuade any of my local gaming friends to join me in the overnight stay. However Luke & Tony from the Burgess Hill group said they would be willing to do a day trip with me, Luke’s gaming dedication seriously impressed me as his partner was heavily pregnant and due to give birth around 10 days later! From my point of view a day trip is better than nothing and I guess I can wait till I go skiing in Austria in January to eat some wiener schnitzel.
Unfortunately babies have their own timescales and Luke’s optimism was just that and I had find a replacement at short notice (Though congratulation to him on becoming a father!) – luckily minutes after Luke had told me he wouldn’t be able to make it I had a call from Julian (who I had gone with the previous year) on a work related matter – by the end of the call I managed to get him to forget about work and talk him into going to Essen again (Well subject to his wife’s approval).
The basic problem with a day trip to Essen is that you have to get up very early if you want to be there in time for doors opening, this in turn means you need to get to bed early the night before. Unfortunately Julian was delayed getting to my house due to heavy traffic on the M25 on the Friday night before we go to Essen. Because of this I didn't get to bed till 9:30pm and I don’t get to sleep till almost midnight (You know how it is, when you need to get to sleep you darn well can’t!).
My alarm goes off at 1:20am – and I am out off bed and dressed in under five minutes – various mumbling and grumbling noises from the spare room tells me that Julian isn’t far behind.
In less than 10 minutes we out of the house and on the way to Burgess hill to pick up Tony. We arrive at his house at 1:40am to find Tony quietly waiting outside his house for us. So far things are going smoothly.
I press on at ‘speed’ towards Folkestone – by 2:45am we are at the Tunnel and checking in with the new automatic electronic ticket booths (Well they are new to me ‘cos I don’t remember them from last year).
I know it cost billions of pounds to build, but the Channel Tunnel is actually very boring – you drive onto a giant train and park your car – the train goes and 30minutes or so later you are in France!! Nowt to look at out the window because you are in a tunnel and nothing much to do in the carriage except sleep – which is what I tried to do!!
We got the 3:32am train and by 5:15am French time we were in France and heading towards Belgium. I have done this route a few times now and I know the way pretty well (ie Calais-Brugge-Ghent-Antwerp-Eindhoven-Essen) – the only thing I need to check with the atlas is which exit I come off the Antwerp ring road.
By 8:30am we are parking up at the Messe-Essen – we even managed to do it without a fuel stop – though the car computer was telling me I only had 9 miles left in the tank!!
After parking up we head down to the Messe – we purchase our ticket once the ticket booths open at 9am – I head back to the car for a quick doze to catch up on my sleep whilst Julian & Tony go for a quick explore.
Julian and Tony waiting outside the Messe
We meet up again when doors open at 10am – I have a list of games to get for myself, Luke, Dick & Mike (Hmm – I seem to have become a professional ‘game shopper!!) – I have therefore planned quick circuit of the halls to get as many of these as quickly as I can.
People waiting to get in
First stop is the Fragor stand where I pick up 2 copies of Hamln – the ‘cute’ rat pieces make this a most have. I then quickly scout around the second hand games stalls and manage to get a copy of Mississippi queen for 8 Euros to replace the one I accidentally threw out earlier in the year.
I then move onto the JKLM stand to pick up my pre-ordered copies of 1861, Underground & Kings Progress. Then onto the Valley Games stand to pick multiple copies of Die Macher, Age of Steam & Tempus. Luckily Jo had already picked up my pre-ordered Age of Steam maps from the nearby Winsome stand on Thursday morning.
Next was the Splotter stand where I got myself a long desired copy of Roads & Boats and a copy of Indonesia for Luke.
After one hour of shopping Julian, Tony (Both of whom had been buying games for themselves) and I already had a huge stack of games – so we decided it might be sensible to drop our purchases back at the car.
Coming back from the car we decide it would be sensible to split up and do our own shopping – we agree to meet on the steps of the Cafeteria at 1pm.
Before I can do anymore shopping however – I head for the cash point as I think I am going to need more money!! – It never ceases to amaze me that there is only one cash point by the main entrance of the Messe – the consequence of this is it take me 20 minutes of queuing to get some more cash. I felt particularly sorry for the German next to me in the queue who had managed to leave his money at home on the kitchen table!!
Once I have topped up on Euros I take a slower meander through the halls, taking time to see the games people are playing and compare prices of possible purchases.
Along my way I pick up the Ticket to Ride 1910 expansion and the new Powergrid maps (Benelux & Central Europe). I also spot Klaus Teuber signing copies of his new settler’s game – ‘Fight for Rome’ – So I get myself an autographed copy.
Klaus signing my copy!!
I had also been on the lookout for a copy of Commands & Colors – and I had been concerned I might not be able to get a copy at Essen as I wasn’t certain how much of the print run was left to be sold – luckily I spotted at stall with the 2006 version (with the improved rule book and unit crib sheets) so I purchased a copy.
By now it was getting close to 1pm and I began to fight my way back through the crowds to the cafeteria steps to meet Julian & Tony. I arrive to find Julian has arrived but not Tony yet – so I take the quick opportunity to nip over to the nearby Mayfair Games stand.
At the Mayfair Games stand I get myself a copy 1829 Mainline – getting it signed by Francis Tresham’s brother as Francis’s was not able to make the fair due an accident – I Hypothesise that like an incorrectly printed Penny Black one day it will be worth a lot more money than one signed by Francis himself …
I also get a copy of the Mayfair Version of Shear Panic (Which I failed to get last year) and Emira - All about sheiks attracting women into their harems and totally politically incorrect!!
I know some American gamers seem to either be uncomfortable or object to the subject matter of Emira– but with all the war related games people play and the morally dubious activities associated with certain fiscal based games (striping companies of assets/cash and dumping the shares in 1830 for instance) I do find this rather inconsistent.
Anyway, by the time I return to the cafeteria steps Tony has arrived and we decide to search out some food – though not before picking up a few copies of Shogun at the nearby Queen Games stand.
We eventually find a place to sit down in the courtyard between the halls – where over a few hotdogs we review our purchases and discuss what else we want to buy.
After lunch we dump our purchases back in the car before throwing ourselves once more into the fray. The halls have by now become very busy – you at times seem to shuffle along at an almost interminably slow pace – as a piece of advice to any Essen attendees please if you need to stop to look at something please do it in such a way that it doesn’t block the whole gangway!!
It's crowded!!
By now I was beginning to run short of cash again, and having no desire to queue at the cashpoint again I was trying to be more focused on what I actually purchased. My first objective after lunch was to get the 2 remaining games Luke had asked me to get for him: Leonard de Vinci & Ysaphan – which I quickly acquired.
With my remaining notes I got myself a copy of Through the Ages – was debating with myself whether I should get this or Imperial – but a telephone call from Jo in the UK had put me off Imperial slightly – so I took a chance with Through the Ages.
By the time I meet up with Julian and Tony at 15:45am again all I have left is a 5 euros note and some coins!! Tony has no cash at all left – Julian has 35 Euros.
As Tony wants to purchase a last 35 Euro game he borrows the cash from Julian whilst I scrabble together my 5 euro note and the coins in my pocket to miraculously afford the 17 Euros for a copy of Thurn & Taxis.
Final Purchases
As it is my desire to be on our way back to Calais by 4:30pm we say good by to Spiel 2006 and head back to the car. We have a bit of a panic when we are asked for 4 Euros by the car parking – luckily Julian still has some coins left.
A lot of games in that car!
The panic for the 4 euros is turned into a bit of fiasco when a second car park attendant asks us for another 4 Euros – I’m not sure we have the money – and anyway we have already paid!! We resolutely refuse to give up any more money and attendants refuses to accept our ticket we purchased just minutes previously. Unfortunately my Pigeon German which is normally sufficient for buying board games and getting beer lets me down when trying to explain our problem. In the end the attendant writes down my car registration (This amused us slightly – was he going to contact the DVLC in Swansea??) and we depart the car park.
Because of traffic the return journey back to Calais from Essen normally takes about an extra hour over the outward journey – today however the traffic is light and we do it in almost an identical 3 ¼ hours. Because of this we manage to get an earlier train back through the tunnel than the one I planned to get. Whilst in the tunnel I top up on Redbull (to make sure I am awake for the final part of the drive back to Haywards Heath) and we discuss what a great day we have had.
I know it is a bit of a Cliché about it raining a lot in England – but when we drive off the train we are greeted by heavy torrential rain – yep I’m back in England!!
The initial drive back to Haywards Heath is a bit slow (Basically I can hardly see the car in front because of the rain!) – However we drop Tony back at his house in Burgess Hill at 9pm.
As I’m still a bit ‘wired’ after drinking quite a few cans of Redbull (I know I’m probably not going to get straight to sleep) I suggest to Julian that he might like to go for a Curry.
So I finish the day with a Chicken Tikka and Prawn Masala Balti at my local Haywards Heath Curry House before returning home to go to bed just before 11pm.
My Balti!
All Gone!!
All My Purchases!!!
posted by Richard Minson at 4:47 AM
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