Took the Docklands Light Railway from Bank to London City Airport. Used the DLR many times before to go to Telecity but this may have been my first time on the Woolwich Arsenal branch.

It’s also the first time I’ve ever given any thought to the area. Boy is it bleak. We are talking New York tenement type scenes. I may be exaggerating a little but I don’t think so. That’s how it felt. Blocks and blocks of flats with long external corridors open to the elements. Limehouse basin with its expensive yachts seemed to be a little haven amongst all the red brick and concrete.

Taking off on a grey day from London City Airport the view seemed to highlight the wasteland nature of the area. Large industrial plots with expanses of nothingness. Sewage works. Scrapyards. Dumps. Weeds.

I could visualise conditions on the ground. Not a place for strangers. You need to be streetwise. The police don’t get out of their squad cars. Psst wanna buy

It’s Friday, it’s Valentine’s Day and I’m on the way to the Isle of Man for the weekend before landing back for the LINX meeting on Monday.

There is no chef on this train so breakfast is a mere croissant and a bacon bap – the staff have striven valiantly to make up for the absence of the temperamental cook. I have visions of him flinging knives across the train galley  and storming off complaining about how can an artiste be expected to create magnificent dishes in such conditions. All I wanted was a Full English but hey… I expect he will be happier back at the Savoy.

Because the weekend is coming up hard on the rails I have permitted myself the luxury of

Slept for much of the flight back from the weekend in Lisboa. Certainly for most of Welcome to the Pleasuredome. Not a reflection on Frankie Goes To Hollywood of whom I am enough of a fan to carry their music around on my dog and bone.

Lisbon to London is only 3 hours or so – not a bad length of flight. I do know many in the networking game who regularly do long haul, in their pursuit of tier points and status. For such trips – SFO/LHR etc – a survival strategy is required.

Mine was always to get a skinfull in before boarding and I would then sleep the whole flight. On one occasion whilst travelling with someone who had been upgraded to First Class coming back from Seattle he and I settled in to the First Class Lounge before the flight. I polished off a bottle of posh champagne but he drank only mineral water, saving himself for the on-board treats to come.

Lisbon farewell.  It was great to see you. Very hospitable were you if somewhat cold but it being February I offer no complaints.

The brandy and the port kept me warm. Your generous portions were gratefully received. The tapas was good. The historic sights of the city were enjoyable, I climbed the castle ramparts and pictured Magellan, Vasgo de Gama and other intrepid Portugese of earlier times setting out on their voyages into the unknown.

As I leave the city, I thad my first experience of the splendid Portugese tart. A delicious custard concoction which made me wonder why on earth I had left it until the BA business class lounge to try one.

This was my first trip to Portugal but do have a Portugese story from my younger days.

When I was 19 I hitchhiked to Greece. It was a great adventure. Not in the league of Vasco de Gama but exciting nevertheless. There came a time, as I was sat in a bar on the beach one night, that  I needed