Up early to go to Salzburg (flying to Munich, then taking the train). On Tuesday I will get up early to come back, and on Wednesday I have a breakfast meeting in Brussels which will make the third early morning in four days. I know some of you are natural larks, or have small and active children, but I am an old owl of 41 and it goes against the grain!

Since I’ve been travelling both last Sunday and today, I am going to take next Friday off to watch my (American) assistant getting married in Antwerp. While she has been doing wedding preparations, I have had a temporary replacement in the office; she is from Montenegro, which explains the strange accent of the person answering the phone in the unlikely event that you call me at work.

I hope they do something resembling breakfast on this flight.