Not the ending we had envisaged...

Playlist

Rheostatics - Introducing Happiness

Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2024 Vol 26

Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2024 Vol 27

Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2024 Vol 28

The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico

Apparently, it's 30 years ago today since this was released, so I started the day with it...

The band's Dave Bidini bringing it into our shop started a thing for Rheostatics which eventually led us to travel to Toronto in 2015 to see them play...

Anyway, another lovely day, weather-wise...

Tonight we would be going home, so, our last breakfast at Schokochino...

We took a picture of the nice man...

We were in the light shade...

Back to the hotel and checking out, while leaving the bags - this was all that was taken from the fridge...

Another trip...

This time to Neukolln...

...for the first of three flea markets...

Loads of interesting stuff...

..and good views...

My interest was piqued by this stall but nothing enticed...

A plethora of African stuff - on zooming in later I noted "North African Groove" which I bought in Edinburgh just a few weeks ago and to which I'm giving a listen now as I type this up on the last day of August, in the ongoing project to get this up to date...

Onwards...

We liked Neukolln and will hopefully will return one day...

A couple of train trips...

...took us back to the University for refreshments...

...including coconut water...

...before walking round to the market at the Pergamon...

...where some classical items were taken for just two of your European Euros each...

(I have this one already!)

Anne knew this...

To the nearby art market...

...and a pendant...

...for the lovely lady...

...was followed by wurst & mustard for lunch...

...before getting back on the train...

..and a tram...

...to the Mauerpark...

Loads of records but no CDs...

I did not perform...

Cokes on Oderbergerstrasse...

...as people, again, queued for ice cream...

A good street...

One last visit to Morgenrot...

We sat inside this time - this the view...

...as I Shazammed the soundtrack for posterity...

And so, farewell to Morgenrot...

For tea, this time we both enjoyed the best chicken wraps in Berlin...

Bags were picked up...

...and we trekked to the airport...

...arriving super early...

...only to find our flight was displayed with an hour's delay (for now) and so we were even super earlier...

Through security and passport control...

...and hanging around in the Duty Free area...

Goodness knows how much this cost...

Finally to the gate - looking forward to getting home...

Nice skies - we would be in them soon...

But no...

With 10 minutes to the delayed boarding time an e-mail from EasyJet - flight cancelled!

Everyone was scrabbling around trying to get an alternative flight - even if it meant flying via other airports...

We booked one via Lufthansa only to have the transaction cancelled just as we were about to pay...

Eventually someone from the ground staff (not EasyJet) turned up and advised we all had to go back through passport control and those who had non cabin luggage would need to collect it...

We found a lady at the EasyJet desk...

She handed us a piece of paper with some info on it and said "just book any hotel and any flight and EasyJet will pay"...

So, we ended up in a very expensive hotel just next to the airport...

I managed to get a flight home on Thursday for around £500 - but only to find out later there was another page on the EasyJet site where we could get a free flight in exchange for the cancelled one...

So I booked that too - Wednesday, via Gatwick - a 12 hour journey instead of 2...

And hotels in town were offered too - even though it was now around midnight...

We stayed put and booked a less expensive nearby place for Tuesday night...

Now to cancel the Thursday flight (and pay £50 for the privilege as long as I did it within 24 hours)...

After going through a laborious process with a chatbot, when I hit the "cancel" button, EasyJet advised I'd booked it via a third party agent and so they could not cancel it...

I had booked it on EasyJet's site...

Fucksake...

And so, a sleepless night awaited, before attempting to phone EasyJet to speak to a human, tomorrow at 9am...

Not the ending we had envisaged...

Highlight of the Day : The markets...

Today's New Music:-