Meeting Time Again

I'm home before 23:00 for the first time this week. There's a meeting going on at the office - we've had 10 people fly in from around the world, 4 consultants from around the UK have come in, and we've also got a client here for a meeting, and our accountant's spending the day with us tomorrow. And since the last time we had a development meeting at the end of August, we've hired another 5 people, so the office has gone from really quiet to really busy in the space of about 2 weeks. Plus I'm still trying to catch up from being away... I like it when we have people visiting; the atmosphere in the office is great, but I tend to do a lot of running round, making sure everyone's OK, clearing up after them etc.

It was Jennifer's 30th birthday on Monday so we went out for a meal to celebrate. It wasn't a particularly heavy night because she and a few others had only arrived in the UK that morning on a red-eye from the US so they were pretty jet-lagged. Unfortunately no one had a camera so we couldn't take any pictures. Yesterday 13 of us ate at the pub next to the science park and I didn't get back till after 23:00, and tonight 6 went to the cinema and 10 or so went to the pub for a drink. I was part of the pub crowd, but I left early as I'm shattered and need my beauty sleep...

When we have visitors to the office I arrange for lunch to be delivered, and I've been a bit of a pig today. I don't usually have pastries and chocolate for lunch, so why I felt I had to have some today I don't know. Luckily I had already been to the gym so was able to offset some of the calories :).

I haven't been running since before we went on holiday - by the time we got back home, sunrise was at around 07.30 each day, and I wasn't keen on the idea of running in the dark. Now that clocks have gone back, it's light an hour earlier, so I'll have to try and make the most of it for the next couple of weeks, before sunrise gets later again, and go running before work. I plan to go tomorrow - but then, I planned to go today but the warmth of the bed and the lure of another half-hour of sleep tempted me away and I had to go to the gym instead. Fingers crossed I manage to get up in the morning.

And before I go, I've just seen the gorilla advert again, which is just genius. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out, so check it out here.

Cycling - in Central London

Yesterday I got the train up to London to meet Sarah, my marathon-running friend from uni who I got in touch with again recently via Facebook. She met me at Waterloo station, having brought her own bike with her and hired one for me, and we cycled through St James's Park, Green Park, Hyde Park and Regent's Park, then to the top of Primrose Hill for a great view across London (Sarah decided she wouldn't be cycling up Primrose Hill and walked up with her bike; I got about 3/4 of the way up before I had to stop and walk the rest of the way) and back again to Waterloo.

Sarah brought a picnic, which we ate in Hyde Park, then we fed the ducks (and geese, and pigeons, and starlings which flew up and caught the bread in their beaks in mid-air, very acrobatic...) before carrying on. Our route took us down part of Whitehall and through Horse Guards Parade, which was packed full of tourists and it was quite difficult negotiating our way through them, but once we got onto the cycle paths in the parks it was much easier. Not easier all the time - plenty of pedestrians walking on the cycle path, plus one woman who walked out in front of us and a kid who rollerbladed into my path after I took the trouble to move to one side so he could pass. We had to go on regular roads between Hyde Park and Regent's Park, but Sarah picked some fairly quiet routes for my first cycling trip through Central London.

Sarah's GPS said we cycled nearly 13 miles, but she forgot to set it going at least once after we'd stopped for a break, so we think it was more like 15 miles altogether. More importantly, we caught up with what had gone on in each other's lives since the last time we saw each other, which was over 10 years ago. Time really does fly...

I had a great day, not only catching up with Sarah but also remembering how good it is to ride a bike - the last time I did it was a year ago in St Lucia, and the time before that I was probably still in primary school. Rob's been trying to persuade me to get a bike for a while now (because he wants a new one but can't justify it while he still has the old one, so if I have his old one he can get another) and I think I will. I'm very saddle sore this morning though! Plus my knees are creaking a bit from cycling up Primrose Hill, and my shoulders and across the top of my back are aching from leaning over the handlebars, but other than that, a really great day! Now I have to think of something exciting for us to do when Sarah comes to Southampton next time...

More pictures here.

Back to the Grind

Turns out I had 308 e-mails - so you weren't far off with 289, Sarah. Your prize is you get to spend Saturday with me ;).

It didn't take too long to get back into the swing of things at work - I didn't really have a choice; 308 e-mails weren't going to file themselves... There's loads of work to catch up with, plus it's the end of the month so there's the payroll to do, including 4 new starters this month, and we've got 10 people flying in for a meeting next week so I had to organise hotels and airport transfers. Turns out the temp only lasted a day before calling in 'sick'. Reception wasn't manned on Tuesday, the busiest day of my holiday period and the main reason we wanted someone to cover (typical), then a girl came on Wednesday and spent most of the day reading the paper so she was told not to come back. Then the second week I was off, last week, they had a girl in all week who was very good, so I guess my return could have been a lot worse...

This summer was a weird one in the UK - it rained a lot during July and August, then September was quite dry and warmer than average, so the summer got stretched out a bit longer than usual. It was still fairly decent weather at the beginning of October, before we went on holiday - dry and not cold yet - but it most definitely turned to autumn while we were away. It's been quite cold this week and all the leaves are disappearing from the trees. The tree in our front garden has turned a beautiful colour, though - I left work dead on time today so I could get home before the sun went down and take a picture of it. I didn't want to wait until the weekend because with my luck all the leaves will have dropped by then.

I also got this one of the road in the science park leading up to our office - I really should have taken it earlier on this week as a lot of the leaves have dropped already. I don't really like autumn and winter months too much, I prefer the summer by far, but I do like it when the leaves all turn a lovely colour :).

I booked my flights to Florida today - 3 nights in Melbourne with Keri and the kids while Rob, Keith and others have a meeting, then 4 nights in Hollywood, north of Miami, doing more hanging out with Keri and other techie widows during The Spring Experience. Can't wait! South Florida in December is great - Christmas preparations everywhere, yet it's still warm enough to be wearing shorts...

Home Again

We're back home and it's freezing! We put the heating on as soon as we got into the house at lunchtime and it's just getting warm now, 8 hours later. We even resorted to putting the fire on in the living room, and it's really toasty in here now, but the rest of the house is still taking a while to warm up.

The flight home was better than expected - I managed to get about 4 hours' sleep. It didn't feel like it - I woke up every time I moved, which was a lot, and I thought I hadn't slept much at all, but I must have because before I knew it, it was 09:00 and there was only an hour and a half left before we landed. Just before I move off the subject of planes, why is it that people coming back from holiday insist on wearing their holiday clothes on the plane? It was 10 degrees in London today for goodness' sake (that's 50 for you US folks), and people were wearing shorts and flip flops! More fool them, they must have been freezing.

So we're back now, and trying to stay awake until bedtime. Actually, I am; Rob's already asleep, although he didn't sleep much on the plane. I've done three loads of washing and have the last load in the machine right now, and a huge great pile of ironing that I'll tackle in stages this week.

It's been two weeks and three days since I last checked my work e-mail; officially the longest by far I've ever gone without looking. I was going to go through them this afternoon but I've resisted the temptation - what's the point of taking the day off work then spending all afternoon doing work stuff? So I have no idea how many messages are in my inbox, but I predict that it will take most of the morning to get through them...

Oh, by the way, photos are here.

5 things that tell me I have a tan

Apart from the actual changing colour of the skin, of course.

• The hairs on my arms turn blonde;
  
  
• The skin on my face gets less greasy and I get fewer breakouts - but it also gets more irritated by the salt water and stings quite a lot;
  
  
• I get 'old lady hands' - they look browner but also more wrinkled;
  
  
• All the marks on my skin that were once scars and then faded come back, and go darker than the rest of me - this year, among others, I've got a mark on my arm where I burned myself on the oven a couple of months ago, and lots of scars on my legs from when I got bitten half to death last year in St Lucia;
  
  
• The freckle on my chin appears - the one that only comes out after a few days in the sun.
  

Reading this back, I'm even less sure than ever why I want to get a suntan, but then I remember... Without a tan I'm really pasty!

I can snorkel!

I know, I know, everyone else learns by the time they're 10, but I didn't, and now at the age of 30 I've finally got the knack of it. If you knew me in 2004 (and I don't think many people who read this blog actually did), you might know that I had an attempt at snorkelling when Rob and I went to the Maldives, and it didn't go very well. I had never done it before, a boat took us a little way away from the resort to a nearby reef and the sea was quite choppy. I couldn't get my mind around the fact that I had to breathe through my mouth, not my nose, and there was no time to learn because the group of people we were with were already swimming off. I got a bit panicked, swallowed a load of sea water and ended up swimming straight back to the boat. Rob came with me because he couldn't see much anyway, being short-sighted and not having his glasses on, so we just sat on the boat and waited till the others came back.

Yesterday, however, we went a little way into the water, where we could still stand up, and Rob taught me how to snorkel. It still took me a few attempts before I could put my head under water, breathe through my mouth and resist the urge to hold my nose, but once I got the hang of it, I loved it! The only trouble was, there isn't much to see in the waters just off the beach here - there was an old tyre on the sea bed a little way out, with lots of green stuff growing on it and a load of fish swimming around, which was great to see, but once the novelty had worn off that, there wasn't really anything else. There is a reef about 20 minutes' walk down the beach, but what I really want to do is go back to the Maldives and see all the stuff I should have seen last time!

Another positive is that I haven't got a mosquito bite for 4 days now. I think it might be related to the fact that there hasn't been any rain since Friday either, and there's not much moisture in the air. It does mean that the temperature is much hotter during the day, so we tend to go inside for a few hours at lunchtime then venture out again around 3pm, but I'd rather that than be constantly itching and come home covered in bites, like last year!

Soooo Relaxed...

OK, they have a business centre here so I couldn't resist a quick post. Despite the fact that it was almost a direct flight - we touched down in the Bahamas to let some people off - we still spent the best part of 12 hours on the plane. The resort was a 15-minute ride from the airport, and it's really beautiful. Within 10 minutes of arriving at the resort I managed to get three mosquito bites, but I guess that was to be expected - they always seem to have a thing for me. I did OK for the next three days but then yesterday, despite being slathered in insect repellent, I got five more bites. Still, it's a small price to pay for such a lovely place. Our room partly overlooks the pool and partly the beach, which has the softest white sand I've ever walked on, even softer than in the Maldives.

Our days so far have consisted of a gym session around 07:30, then back to the room for a shower, then breakfast, then reading by the pool, then lunch, then more reading, maybe a nap, then shower and change for dinner. I decided a few weeks ago that it was just too much work getting a tan - it's too tortuous, lying there all day, feeling like I'm going to melt, then it only lasts about 2 weeks after I get home - so while I'm not exactly avoiding the sun, equally I'm not worried about catching every ray and coming home browner than I've ever been. Which is just as well, because the last couple of days were quite overcast, yesterday in particular. This morning there was quite a heavy downpour and the sky has been quite bright and clear since then, and I've definitely got more colour.

There is a spa here (an essential for us when booking a holiday) and it's fantastic - facial yesterday, and on Saturday something called 'Little Drops of Caribbean Rain', where they drip aromatherapy oil along your spine... Food is excellent - there's just one 'proper' restaurant at our resort, plus a poolside one serving burgers and salads etc, but the resort is one of a load along the beachfront and we've eaten at a couple of neighbouring restaurants so far. Our favourite is Hemingways at the Sands resort, which is 10 minutes' walk up the beach - the food is great and it's also quite a bit cheaper than the other restaurants we've tried so far, so I'm sure we'll be going back there soon. We're going to try Orchid tonight, which is at the Alexandria, next door to our resort.

This morning we went kayaking in the sea, which was good fun, and yesterday we practised a bit more of the croquet that we'd learned when we went away for the weekend in August. Rob won, again - I just don't have the whole pivot action thing right yet.

I've taken some pictures, but I don't have my cable to download them to a computer so they'll have to wait till I get back. If I've got any news, I'll post again next week. But then again, I might be so relaxed by then that I'm unable to peel myself off my sunlounger... :)

Holiday Time!

It's 05:50 and we're waiting for our car to arrive to take us to the airport. So all will be quiet on this blog for a couple of weeks. More when I get back!

Not long now

Haven't done much all week other than work and sleep (and go to the gym) - I've been preparing as much as I can for all eventualities over the next three weeks because, in case you weren't following my countdown timer at the bottom of the page (and if not, why not???), we're going on holiday on Sunday. A meeting has been scheduled at the Southampton offices for Monday to Wednesday of next week with people flying in from around the world, plus we've got three new employees starting in the next two weeks and a couple of other things going on, so I've organised a temp to come in for the duration of my holiday to make sure that things go as planned. Greg (my boss) told me yesterday that as I've been working 'like a Trojan' all week, I could have Friday afternoon off, but I didn't think I would be able to, as I had so much stuff to get through before going away. However, a couple of extra hours yesterday and today mean that I think I'm on top of things now (touch wood) and I just have a couple of things to do tomorrow, plus the handover to the temp, Julianne, who's coming to the office in the morning, so I might just make it out the door before 5pm. I've typed out a list of what's going on every day - who's in the office, who's a new starter, who's travelling, who's onsite with clients etc - so hopefully Julianne will have all the information she needs in case there's an emergency. And if she doesn't, well... frankly, what do I care; I'll be on holiday ;).

Well Done Sarah!

Congratulations to my uni friend Sarah (we got in touch again recently through Facebook) who ran the Berlin Marathon yesterday in a fantastic time of 4:06:24. Well done mate!

I run 4km at a time. That's less than a tenth of the distance Sarah ran yesterday... Puts it all into perspective a bit.