Away for a Week

I was in Altrincham all of last week giving a training course..it was enjoyable in so far as being the trainer is...I had a good bunch which made it a bit easier...I wouldn't say that I have a calling for the role, but it is good for the soul to occasionally get out of routine! It's exhausting standing in the front and having to talk,think, move, engage people all at the same time! A week also seems to be a long time these days, especially as Sunshine seems to change on a daily basis!

Needless to say I managed to fill each evening with catch-ups with friends...Katie & Mark (Katie cooked some fab lamb burgers and I didn't scare Tully too much this time!), a lovely evening with Marianthi in Manchester (I'm sure we walked further than we needed to....!) and a class night out...lots of good food and not too late nights...why am I so tired?!! Well, it would have been a bit rude not to make the most of my 'freedom'....but it was definitely good to get home...eventually...

OK, I'll forgive you....

In the last three weeks I needed a hire car for work twice....and twice the car never turned up! Well after all my cursing I think I will forgive Avis as I had a nice letter this morning telling me what they had found out about the first rental disaster and that I would be getting a corporate gift by way of an apology...ok I though it's going to take a couple of days/weeks to get here and it'll be a mousemat or keyring...Nope! A huge bunch of flowers and a bottle of wine....and on the same day I got the letter...in fact because the post only arrived at 1130 it was within an hour!!! Now that is an apology from customer service! Now they just need to make sure I get a car when I next need one!

So I have some flowers to make me smile and some wine to help me smile even more! Hoorah for Avis! It would probably be too much to hope for a repeat of the flowers....I mean who could be unlucky enough to have two rental disasters in 3 weeks!??!

Off to the Office

I'm off to the office in Altrincham today, my first trip since I changed my role from project analyst to support analyst. I'm off to a training course and I am quite looking forward to a few days without toddler duties! I don't think Peter is looking forward to it though given that Sunshine has been testing the boundaries for the last couple of weeks....still he did go to Portugal a couple of weekends ago so it is my turn!!

I've decided that although 0430 is a silly time to get up (although Sunshine has had us up this early all weekend!), arriving at Heathrow at 0540 for a 0700 flight is not a bad idea...especially as I checked in yesterday! No check-in queues...no bag drop for me today and only a little queue for security...the only pain being that I had to remove my boots, unload my laptop,take out my toiletries, take off my belt and jacket and empty my pockets! Still that is all par for the course these days!! Bag drop does have a few advantages after all.... Despite there being loads of signs, there is always one person who waits until they get right up to the check-point before they decide to undo their lace up boots! But, this is good for me, I wasn't the one tutting!!!

So now I am settled with a cup of Costly Coffee and updating my blog... oh and checking my (work) emails - well I may and try and use my time constructively!

Viking Night

As we were in Sweden doing a project and the pilot is underway, we celebrated by having a Viking night at Odinsborg in Gamla Uppsala.

This is me trying to balance on the stone on top of the mound which was used by the Swedish kings to hold court...it was a bit windy which is why I look like I'm struggling!

We ate at Odinsborg (Kings Graves) and this involved dressing up in Viking tunics and hats....

Eating without the aid of knives and forks (unless you were vegetarian....although strictly speaking I am sure any veggie viking would have been run out of town!) and drinking beer out of horns! Very tasty ribs and chicken accompanied by raw vegetables and a wonderful mushroom soup to start.

Team photo

Anyway, much beer was drunk (from horns or otherwise) and many songs sung....a good team-building night out!

There are some more photos here and here and maybe even some video at some point...but that may be going too far!

Because I only had my phone to take photos, most of the photos posted here are Nick's...Thanks Nick!

Amsterdam

This week was a filled with a three day meeting...in Amsterdam...so not so bad. It was fun. Maarten had organised everything well...we stayed at the Radisson SAS in the centre of Amsterdam and he had also organised evening entertainment...a canal boat ride and dinner on Tuesday and BoomChicago on Wednesday night for Best of Boom: The Director's Choice. All in all very good!
Thursday ended with me being stranded at Schipol after two cancelled flights because of dratted snow, KLM put me up in the Mercure Airport Hotel...just a shuttle bus away from the airport. With a care package, dinner, a bed, and breakfast....who could ask for more...? Well, me! I was looking forward to being at home after three long weeks travelling...ok so I was at home at the weekends...but still....


I got home around 11am on Friday...what a relief...my first flight cancellation experience....and I am sure I am relatively unscathed!

Uppsala at Night

I have had a couple of trips to Sweden in January, Peter has been a star looking after Sunshine...I don't know how he puts up with me!!
Anyway, we had a few good meals this last week...On Wednesday we went to Tzatiki and had some fab food..I was considerably stuffed at the end...no room for pudding...On the way back to the hotel, the lights in the trees alongside the river looked so pretty I just had to record the scene...I only had my phone...so the quality isn't as great as I would have liked...but still you get the idea!

Then on Thursday night we went to Kung Krål and had a fab reindeer steak with the best mashed potatoes in Sweden!
I will apologise now if Santa is late this Christmas....

Sweden

The last couple of weeks have been a bit mad for me and even more so for Peter....I have spent the bulk of the fortnight in Uppsala, Sweden for work. This means of course that Peter has had to resume the role of primary care giver for Sunshine! Fortunately I was home for her birthday...it just wouldn't do to miss her first one after all!

The first week was providing some training and the second in project workshops. This last week was livened up by the presence of collegues from the UK and some guys from the US...One of whom enjoyed riding around Uppsala in the middle of the night meeting the locals!

Uppsala is a lovely city and has a huge cathedral and loads of places to eat...we had Indian, Thai, Greek and on Thursday evening made a train trip into Stockholm...This was definately a GREAT idea! The train took around 40 minutes adnd after a temn minute walk we arrived at Mårten Trotzig. I don;t think I have enough words in my vocabulary to descrie he food but it was fan-bloody-tastic!! A little out of my normal price range, but absolutely fab! I had a salad to start and then the Reindeer....it was soooooooo tender that it melted on your tongue!

It was hard not to gobble it down in one go! The portion size was perfect...and wow! (I was hoping to post a picture...perhaps if I get the promised mailing....) If you are ever in Stockholm...GO THERE! :) I think that this has to be my highlight of the trip!

After dinner we went to the Glenfiddich Warehouse where not being a single malt kinda gal, I had a rather lovely cognac Gronstedt I think it was...I didn't have very much as it was charged for by the cl...! downtown Stockholm is not the cheapest place to be drinking single malts or cognac!! There are some pictures here...

Apparently it has been unseasonably warm in Sweden this month which was lucky as I can't quite get to my winter clothes at the moment - although this will need to change in the next couple of weeks!!

After months of quietness with work, it was lovely to have something to get my teeth into...nice to get out of the house and see the world, but even better to get home to Peter and Sunshine again!

Last day of work for the year

It seems to have come around quite quickly after all...Today was my last day of work for the year - it sounds a bit odd, altough I'll have a different sort of work to keep me occupied over the next six months!
As I had anticipated it was no less busy than any other work day in the last few weeks...
Tomorrow I will start my loafing and pottering whilst I wait for the impending arrival of Junior...I might even contemplate names!

...the next morning

I had a fortuitous escape last night...It seems that the boys decided to call me when they returned to the hotel...but rang the wrong room!

Brussels..

Well, I'm here! Not for as long as previously expected cos the customer postponed the project for a while..but hey I have a couple of days! Yesterday had an early start in the UK and I met DJ at the Heathrow...well on the plane as it seems he had a mad dash to catch the flight! The flight was not uneventful..I nearly wore half a bottle of water courtesy of the steward (who was most apologetic for the rest of the flight!)..I say nearly as most of it landed on the newspaper I was reading! Gideon from the Benelux office picked us up and we went off to site and met up with Glen...training commenced!

Yesterday evening was a bit of a beer sesh for the boys...starting at La Lunnette (at the recommendation of Rene...This resulted in 4 huge glasses of various contents being brought to our table..I think it must have been about a litre of beer! We moved on to a restaurant on the Grand Place called 'T KELDERKE
the food was good (if a little salty for my taste)... the company fab Glen and DJ in combination are...well, it certainly made up for my dullness in the beer stakes!

We went onto a couple of other, what can only be described as backstreet bars, but they are really hidden gems...free from tourists (but I gues Jan/Feb is hardly the tourist season!) I can't remember the names of either of the bars but I'll check today! In the last bar we played a game which involved throwing brass discs at a brass frog. Th ewinner being the person first to get to 5000 points...needless to say I had a girlie throw and completely missed the room let alone the target (which is shameful as I hadn't been drinking!) It would be cool to know what the game is called..so if anyone knows...?

All in all the boys looked after me well, and I was soon tucked up in bed ready for sleep and an early start this morning! Time for breakfast...

Off to Brussels...

My first week of working from home ironically won't be at home... I'm off to Brussels for a couple of weeks with work. I'll only be there during the week so my weekends are saved, but I have a feeling that there will be some long days...
I have been quite looking forward to the beer, chocolate and waffles...and the work of course 'cos I'll be testing a product I haven't used before so it will be interesting...must remember not to drink too much...