Time spent: 15h to shortly before 20h.
Average speed: approximately 100km/h (I guess)
Method of travel: black 2015 Mini Cooper S Diesel: “George”.
Soundtrack: Bob Dylan “Another Side of Bob Dylan”, brief moments of “Shot of Love”, cricket commentary from the 2nd Test of England versus West Indies, followed be “John Wesley Harding”, “Blonde on Blonde” and “Highway 61”.
A surprisingly easy journey. I just drove right across Germany, easy as you like! I’ve had far worse journeys that have taken a lot longer - various trips to Berlin and Munich that always ended up in terrible traffic jams, stress, and fatigue etc. This was nothing like that; a bit of pissing about in NRW, but on the whole remarkably smooth, and I really enjoyed it, surprise of surprises. Having the music really helped. After the slightly bitchy start I came across the BEST GODDAMNED ROAD EVER BUILT in the A38 heading into Leipzig too, and the rest was just heavenly. If tarmac could be art, this is it. It certainly puts NRW to shame, where putting your foot down is a juddering, uneven chore. This red-tinged, achingly flat and smooth motorway runs for miles and miles, and despite thinking that I would be Mr Sensible and keep everything at 130km/h or below, she whispered “make love to me” at around 16:30, and who was I to refuse? I averaged between 170 and 180km/h for a good hour and it was GLORIOUS. Only in Germany!
The car: George is a good car, and I’m realising that more and more. The only thing I don’t quite like about him is the automatic transmission; it gives a slight homogenised, less active feeling. But I love how for a “small” car he’s actually pretty powerful. He could do with a bit more “oomph” from around 120 - 150 km/h, but that’s what you look for in a more performance-oriented car, and I might see what I can do about that in a few months’ time.
The soundtrack: it’s a funny thing, I thought I’d get more out of it, as far as listening to Dad’s music would go. But I realised that even though I hadn’t heard a lot of it lately (not really by design, it was due to my old mobile having such a pitiful amount of space, so no room for music) that a lot of his music became “my” music well into adulthood, and I had forgotten that. I know a good deal of it by heart! So it didn’t really put me into much of a nostalgic mood the way I thought that it might. Dylan is awesome though, give or take a bit of shrill harmonica playing, and a few of the earlier songs being a bit..... I dunno - sophomoric? Unsophisticated? Terrible words to describe arguably the best singer-songwriter that ever lived, but not every genius is a genius all that time, it’s clear.
The hotel: pretty good. A bit of messing around in check-in which everyone hates, but it’s definitely of good quality. Enjoyed a “Vesper” in the cocktail bar after check-in, and am looking forward to the breakfast tomorrow.
Conclusions: a good day. Didn’t reflect, plot, scheme, or change the world in my head as much as I thought I might, but there’s a long way to go yet. Definitely a good start though, and I’m very glad I’m making the trip. Might change the format tomorrow and expand on a few things rather than boiling everything down to categories.
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