Christmas 2008

Vivienne arrived the night before.

We were up at a respectible time, had breakfast, then on to the mamoth present opening. Mini treasure hunt for George's last present - MP3 player.

Lunch of stuffed turkey breast, triffle and absolutely delicious 2005 Christmas Pudding (from Dad).

Lazy afternoon & evening in front of the telly.

Annie & Davids for Christmas drink

Went to Annie & David's for a drink in the evening.

Busy weekend in London

Friday we got the Christmas tree and it was then duly decorated by Jayne, George & Will.

Saturday morning first thing, we were up at 05:00 to take Will to the bus station to catch a bus to Heathrow.

Aunty Brenda phoned saying she was not well with a bad cold. We had planned to go for lunch, instead we just called in mid afternoon to drop off some presents quickly and say hello. After this we called into see Sherryl & Rebecca briefly before continuing up to London to stay with Vivienne.

On Saturday evening we went to see a play in the West End called "No Mans Land" by Harold Pinter http://www.theambassadors.com/tickets/london/dukeofyorks/4829/no-mans-land.html Excellent acting, Jayne & George enjoyed it however it was not really my thing - too many words and no story!! Still it was an enjoyable evening.

On Sunday we met Stephen & Bridget for lunch. They were finishing packing up their house and were due to move on Monday

Sunday evening on the way home we called in at Henley to see our friends - Sue, Craig, (Toby the brown lab) Jan & Ken (at home with a cold).

Few days in Warsaw

Went to Warsaw for a few days with work - UQS workshop. Clive & Richard picked me up first thing Monday morning and we drove to Heathrow. Sadly no flights available from Bristol. We had already checked in online so although it was a losw trip up, had no problems with time. Flight was at 12:00. Had a look around Terminal 5 - first time and I thought it was very nice.

Monday evening went to a great restaurant called Piwna Kompania. Very lively, very cheap and lots of meat! Had a wander around the old town which was very beautiful with all the xmas lights. Excellent Christmas tree with many changing lights.

Weather was clear and cold - below freezing. I bought a long wool/cashmere coat - lovely.

Dinner on Tuesday night was in the old town again, this time at a restaurant called Senator. Very elaborate surroundings and good food. Vodka to end :-)

Flew back home on Wednesday evening.

School Ball

Xmas shopping with George

Picked up George from school and then went into Bath for xmas shopping. It was great and we got most of the things we wanted.

Dinner party

Catherine, Chris, Alice, Louisa (friend of George at school) around for dinner.

Menu

• Warm Chorizo, potato, egg & rocket salad
• Roast haddock, beet greens, carrots and orange/star anise dressing
• Apple, cranberry, pumpkin & pecan strudel with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup

George stayed at Jess's last night. The girls went into town - very busy.

Bath Christmas market started last night

Claires for the weekend

Car passed MOT.

Went to see Claire for the weekend. She lives near Kings Lynn - Norfolk.
Drove up Friday night, picking up Vivienne on the way.
Beautiful day on Saturday and went to Holt. Lovely place - expensive shops. One shop only sold cookbooks :-)
Very nice cafe/restaurant for lunch - Byfords http://www.byfords.org.uk/

Quiz night in the evening at Claires village hall.

Returned Sunday afternoon

Beer night at school

Beer tasting night at school in dining hall. Went with Chris and tried about 16 beers - very nice :-)
Penny picked us up afterwards

UQS Workshop in Madrid

Few days in Madrid for workshop however not feeling well with a cold. Stayed in the hotel for one of the nights and had room service - a first I think!!

Went on Monday 3rd and came back wednesday evening.

Birthday weekend

Birthday weekend - trip to Manchester to see the Cycling

George headed up to London on Thursday to meet a friend from Spain. On Friday she took train from Euston to Stafford.

Jayne & I headed off Friday afternoon and after a very slow trip picked up George at Stafford. Checked into hotel and then went to restaurant Friday night. Huge traffic jam and were late. Restaurant was Michal Caines at Abode in Manchester. Food was great, although dessert a bit of a let down. Place was a bit too 'buzzy' to appreciate nice food.

Saturday & Sunday spent at Manchester Velodrome. Really exciting time. Met Chris Hoy. Drove back Sunday night - home about 9:00

Rufus' first birthday

End of British Summer Time so an extra hour in bed.

Iced chocolate cake for Rufus' 1st birthday. George made trifle. Went around to James & Lisa's for Rufus bithday party. 30 or so people at the party. Lots of sandwiches & cake :-)

George & I watched a couple of episodes of Heroes in front of a fire.

Car into service

100,000 mile service for Lupo. Still going OK.

Penny, Chris & Kate for dinner. Menu was:

• Spicy squash soup
• Mushroom & chicken risotto
• Date & apple creme brulee with apple crisps
• Flourless chocolate brownies

Had to be careful with menu - Penny doesn't eat wheat, Chris doesn't eat red meat or shellfish

Last day for Kiruba

Took Jayne to hospital in Bristol to see about knee.

It was Kiruba's last day at work today. He worked for me since August 2005. He is going to Apertio in Bristol as a programme manager. Lunchtime drink at local pub.

School half term for next 2 weeks

Chris here

James & Lisa for lunch

James, Lisa, Cicile & Rufus for lunch. Normal affair. Beautiful warm day - last of the summer.

Paris for UQS workshop

Chris, Stephen and Angie here for weekend

Grat fun and big dinner party on Saturday night.

There were: Chris, Steven, Angie, Vivienne, Jayne, George, Andy, Elaine, Sheena, Tim, Annie, David, Charlie, Hattie & the Chef.

We had...

• Antipasti of vegetables - green beans & walnuts, roasted mushrooms, tomatoes & goats cheese
• Spaghetti with shellfish
  
• Tenderloin of pork and red cabbage
  
• Panna-cotta with dried fruit crisps
  
• Rosemary scented chocolate truffles
  
• Chard & Pear tart - unusual but delicious
  

Trip to Paris - Software Factory Heads

Very worthwhile trip to Paris to meet Software Factory Heads (VPs). Left on Monday evening.
Nightmare coming home - was meant to fly back Thursday evening but flights cancelled due to strikes. Ended up staying in hotel in airport on Thursday night and flying back on Friday, via liverpool!

Further complications - had new phone and it stopped working (SIM updates) on Wednesday.

Hotels all extremely expensive at the moment (300€ per night - normally 110€) and very difficult to find.

Met Chris, Steven on Train back home

Trip to Madrid

Left 14:25 on Monday and returned 17:10 Wednesday. Stayed in central Madrid hotel - same as Jayne & George. Location good, room nothing special, very expensive, fantastic buffet breakfast. Travelled around on Metro - to/from work and to airport. Alarm didn't go off one day and I had to catch taxi to office in a rush

Presentation to Business Analysts forum - London

Trip to Warsaw, Poland

Left Tuesday morning (06:25) and returned Thursday 09:25

Richard staying in apartment

Week in Italy

Monday 11 August - sitting on the terrace of our apartment, in the late afternoon sun - delightful. Has been a fantastic & relaxing week here.

Arrived Wednesday 6th in the morning and spent the morning looking around Pisa. It was very busy with tourists and the wait was too long to go up the The tower so we just wandered around and looked at it. Need to come back off-season. Lunch at pizza restaurant away from the madding crowd and the beef with rocket & parsesan was excellent. Also saw some Sedgeways for hire - again another time. The 3 mobile broadband connection I bought in the UK worked perfectly and allows easy and fast mobile internet connection from the terrace. £50 for the hardware (one off charge) and then £10 for 1G of data which lasts for 1 month.

Thursday was spent locally around Aulla and on the terrace. First off was a short bike ride around the area. Lunch at the apartment. For the evening we went to the Festa San Lorenzo near Malgrate. Basically lots of tables & benchs layed out, you order your meal and spend the evening eating. Very busy and great value - about 50€ for all the three of us could eat & drink. Pasta, porchetta, bread, vegetables, local wine, huge pork spare ribs. Great fun!

Friday - early start and went to Parma. Very warm but not many people. Jayne & George went around the clothes shops and I went around the food shops. Lots to discover. Nice lunch in a quite square just south of the main street. Beautiful Parma ham (obviously) and rabbit. Found a nice ice cream place and indulged. Home late afternoon for a relax and quiet night in.

Saturday - Bike ride first thing - went up to Monti, then Terrarosa and back home - a good ride. Pontremoli in the morning - market day. Very busy. George bought her new trendy rubber watch. Evening went to another festival in Monti, although just for a look as we had already eaten. This one was a truffle festival. Went and saw Angela (who's B&B we stayed at last year) and had a lovely time outside drinking some wine and chatting. Met her fried Paolo who is an underwater photographer. Arranged to go to a restaurant on Monday night near Equi Terme.

Sunday - Morning and George & I went off in search of the Via Francigena (pilgrims road from Canterbury to Rome) Goes past our apartment. Went and took some photos and looked at the local routes. In the evening went to yet another festival, this time the local one in Virgoletta. Theme for this one was ballroom dancing, however we were tired and left before it started. Still we had our fill of porchetta (roast pork) and pasta. Beforehand had a drink at Bar Nello.

Monday - Bagnone first to see Catherine and sort out bank & community charges. Bagnone was very busy as it was market day. Back to the apartment for lunch on the terrace and then after a quick nap did the cleaning.

James & lisa for lunch

Menu:

• Fishcakes with parsley sauce
• Local Barbequed Guinea fowl with sage, prosciutto & Lemon - delicious. Boned & rolled
• Apple & date tart
• Brazillian chocolate cake

Rapunzel performance at school

George was stage manager

Graeme, Marion & Alaistair here

Morrisons here from Saudi.

George in rehersals all day - went through most of the technical parts of the play. She is stage manager and enjoying working with the new lighting man.

Very windy this weekend

Nigel & Jo for dinner

Day was spent preping for dinner with Nigel & Jo. Menu was:

• Butternut Squash And Pea Risotto
• Slow Roasted Salmon With Red-Miso Lemongrass Broth
• Crème Au Chocolat Bitter Avec Sa Gelee Au Cacao (chocolate creme brulee & chocolate jelly)
• Warm Berry Compote With Lemon Mascarpone & Pepper Tuiles

It all went well. Choc Creme Brulee was a bit grainy. Berries were excellent, although slightly tart.

Lupo into garage

Took car into Grants of Bath garage in Batheaston to get gear lever problem fixed. Earlier this week took to Larkhall garage but they were useless. Car not ready as expected as the key had been lost.

St Albans weekly meeting

3rd trip to St Albans for UK Broadband recovery program. Problems with train again.

Fathers Day

Fathers day in UK. Got new REM CD (Accelerate) from George. Went to Wheelwright Arms (in Monkton Combe) for dinner. My car broke down outside pub - problem with gearbox inhibiter switch - couldn't move gear lever or start. Ended up calling RAC who, after fiddling with it, managed to start it.

Jaynes birthday

Render removal progress

Before ..... After

17 June, 21 July, 28-29 July 2007

25 August 2007

21 March 2008, 19 May 2008

Annies 50th birthday

Spent Saturday making Annies 50th birthday chocolate cake - for about 130. Cake was of a tennis court with model of Annie on top. Sunday spent icing the cakes and birthday in the evening.

Trip to Paris & Macaroons

Trip to Paris to continue Service Delivery handover and also process workshop with Jacqueline.
Flew Bristol - Paris in morning. Day spent at Issy le moulineau.
Dinner at Le Petula cafe in StGermaine - down a quiet side street. Friendly service.

Upgraded room at Meridien again :-)

Wednesday 21st at Issy again in Process Workshop with Accenture.

Bought macaroons at Laudree for Jo as thankyou for doing model of Annie for her cake. Had to queue out the door.

Dinner at Chez Clement in Opera. Fab profiterols with hot chocolate sauce. Lots of tourists there but over all food was good and not too expensive.

Evening flight from Paris - online check-in was definitely worth doing!

Trip to Paris

Trip to Paris to start handover of my activities to Marie-Jo.

Caught train & bus from Bath to Bristol Airport. Good service.
19:00 flight from Bristol.
Dinner at Le Plomb du Cantal - sausage & cheese - excellent. Pouring with rain.
Stayed at Meridien Montparnasse and got an upgraded room - pity I was there so late.

Thursday morning & afternoon was spend on handover.

Wandered back to airport via St Germaine, seeing lots of lovely shoe stores.

Lunch with Clint & Theresa

Clint (from Worldcom in Colorado Springs) and Theresa were over in the UK for a few days. Had luch with them at Marlborough Arms tavern and then gave a quick tour of Bath. Beautiful weather

Back from NZ

Fairly uneventful trip flying back from New Zealand. Luckily plane was not full so had two empty seats next to me - luxury!
Caught the afternoon bus from Heathrow to Bath.

Rain again & Kingsland

Raining today. Went into Kingsland and bought necklace & earings for Jayne & George. Had a coffee in busy cafe - "Roasted Addiction". Bought pies for lunch at excellent deli - Fridge. back home worked with Dad on Ruby photo presentation.

Murawai beach

Nice fine day. Drive up to Murawai beach (just past Kumeu). Stopped first for a coffe at Bees Online Honey Centre for a coffee and cake. Murawai was amazing, completely full tide covering all the sand, lovely rolling waves about 5-6 ft. A few people out surfing
Drove back, stopping at Lincoln Rd, Henderson to try and find some Vita Stout for Mum - no joy. Emailed Andy D.

Went to Prego, in Ponsonby Rd, for lunch of pizza. Quite nice place with wood-fired oven, although service was slow and pizza dough tasted a bit stale. $85 for lunch.
Called in to Lynmall for bit of food shopping and then into doctors surgery to get disabled badge organised. Doctor will call Dad tommorrow.

Spent late afternoon with Dad on the computer going through pictures and music.

Evening was spent at Andy Daniells & his wife Shelly with some old friends - Barry, Ken, Derek, Nancy, Tim. Lots of reminiscing about the trip to Europe in '84. Next year it will be 25 years! We should start recording the memories. Andy & Shelly coming to Ireland, UK & Italy later (Oct/Nov?) this year

Stone chips & Queen Street

Beautiful fine day. Spent morning at home laying stone chips at bottom of stairs.

Lunch at home and then went off by myself to Queen Street, looking for sunglasses & beads. First stop was Jervois Rd to book restaurant for Saturday night. Tried Pure but was full. Ended up booking Andiamo. No luck with buying anything, dispite looking at Victoria Park Market, up & down Queen Street and New Market. In Queen St there were more Aisans than kiwis and all shop assistants were Asian. Very american manner as well (grating). Slow trip from New Market to home at 5:00 - took an hour. Called Faye in evening

Kaiua fish & chips

Improvement in weather and we headed off to Cleavdon. Looked around The Wool Shed but no purchases. Had coffee and muffins there. Drove the scenic coast route to Kaiua for another excellent lunch of fish & chips. Back via southern motorway and stopped at Aunty Aida's in Howick. Pasta & sausages for dinner.

City Council, Devonport, Paving Slabs

Went to City Council first thing to sort out Code Certificate for bathroom. Then headed to Devonport for coffee at Stone house? cafe. Quick look around shops but no purchases. Stopped at Hilaries briefly on the way back. Lunch at home.

In the afternoon relaid paving slabs. Pork with carrots & rice for dinner

Rain & Tim

Weather forecast was right! Went to Placemakers first thing to get some sand, cement & bark chips for a couple of little jobs in the back garden. The rain started so it will have to be a later time.

Went and saw Tim in the afternoon for a few hours - good to catch up. He has just started a contract with Air NZ. Swapped stories and photos. Hope to organise a dinner with various people for Thursday night.

Did some stuff with Dad and the computer and then early night

Matakana farmers market

Early start - up at 6.00 as we had decided to go to Matakana farmers market - about 1 & a bit hours north. Weather OK although very changeable between sunshine and showers. Easy drive up - very glad we left early as later there was loads of traffic. Matakana is just east of Warkworth and is a small place that has been regenerated with nice shops and a weekly farmers market. It was starting to get busy when we got there and people continued to come. About 20-30 stalls - not unlike Bath market, selling veg, honey, nuts, pickels, bread, olives, whitebait fritters, smoked mussels, cheese, a little meat, olive oil etc. Bought some veg (Kale for dinner) and some bread.Had a lovely coffee and muffin at a great place - Matakana Patisserie, which is run by some very enthustiac bakers. Lots of cakes, breads, savouries to choose from. We bought a couple of pies for a later meal.

Another excellent shop along the high street was - Stubbs Village Butchery, wher I bought a lovely sirloin roast for dinner (about $25 for just under a kilo). They had all manner of meat related bit and pieces and also run a regular cooking school. Excellent place. Left mid-late morning heading back to Auckland. Loads of traffic now on the road - never realised the highway was so busy. Drove through Warkworth - another pretty place. Stopped at a vineyard (there were plenty along the way) and got an unoaked chardonnay and rose.

Ended up at Puhoi Cheese factory/cafe for lunch. Food nothing special but nice outlook.
Continued towards home and stopped off at Albany - Mum had heard of a shop (Icebreaker) that sells merino wool clothing. After driving around and then getting directions we finally found the place - next door to some shops we went to last time. A great selection of wool tops and I ended up with a thin jumper and navy wool coat for me. Excellent value - 3 items about $300.
Carried on home getting there mid-afternoon.

Cooked Roast Beef for dinner including a yorkshire pudding - George would have been proud of me. Another early night however still not sleeping well. Forecast for tommorrow (Sunday) is for rain getting worse during the day

Off to NZ

Took George to school and then finialised packaging at home before Jayne took me down to Bath bus station for 9:45am bus to Heathrow. Arrived at about 12:30

Much bigger queue at check-in than last year. Wandered around shops, bought chocolate & mags for Mum & Dad, bagel for lunch and then flight took off on time about 4:30. Fairly uneventful flight to L.A. - listened to MP3, watched I am Legend and got a little sleep

Got more sleep from L.A to NZ although flight was quite bumpy 4-2 hours before NZ. Bags slightly delay comming off plane and then straigh through customs/bio

Great to see Mum & Dad again - they look well - and then I drove to Peter Buck Rd. Gave presents - chocs, mags, saucepan, coffee etc. Had a good sleep until about 11:00.In afternoon went down to Lynmall for food shopping. Stopped at Mt Albert for some veg and fish. Feeling tired so early evening. Didn't sleep that well and was awake for several hours

Trip to Paris

Trip to Madrid & Paris

Orange Spain Service Delivery workshop with Lucien.
17 March - Flew Bristol to Madrid
18 March - Flew Madrid to Paris
19 March - Flew Paris to Bristol

Georges 15th Birthday Party

Some pictures from the party. More are here

The menu was:

• Olive oil foccacia bread
• Barbequed legs of lamb
• Chicken & seafood paella
• Roasted root vegetables
• Chilli con carne
• Pavalova
• Brazillian Chocolate cake
• Traditional triffle
• Liquorice & pear gateau
• Rhubarb & Strawberry compote with orange biscuits

Trip to Paris via train

Caught Eurostar to Paris.
Gare de Nord -> Montparnasse - 25 mins - via RER, Denfert & Red line (good)

Back from Italy

Finalised the packing of the car, not as muc this time and left about 08:00. Foggy start but turned into a lovely day later and as always spectacular thru the swiss alps. Lunch at Gottard service station, after the pass. Not long after entering France decided to take a 'short cut' around Colmar/Strasbourg. Absolutely beautiful villages and scenary in Alsace after we left the motoway - west of Colmar. Definitely worth revisiting. The detour, through Nancy & Metz was not really a short cut.

Got into Luxembourg and had real problems finding a hotel near Arlon. Eventually we backtracked and stayed in an IBIS near the motorway.

Very, very foggy start the next day and we eventually got to the ferry on time for 14:00 sailing. Back home about 19:00

Week in Virgoletta

Arrived late Sunday afternoon and oh joy, the sofa and matress had been delivered. Spent the rest of the day unpacking and assembling all the furniture. Great to be in the apartment. The main street of Virgoletta was in the process of being repaved and the couple of times we got to relax on the terrace in the sun there was a concrete mixer in going full force. Still it was good to look out and see all the comings and goings beneath the terrace - one of the plus points of being at the entrance to the village

Monday 18th - main activity after breakfast was heading off on my bike to do some local food shopping. First stop, Bagnone market - only very small. Cycled into Villafranca and stocked up on some meat, bread & veg. Afternoon was more tidying and assembling of furniture and then drive to Aulla to hardware store (Brico) and supermarket for more essentials - wine & beer. Dinner was gallo (rooster, so I found out later) with tomato sauce - actually quite tasty.

Tuesday 19th - Had a bit of a sleep in first, then went to the cellar to get the bike for another outing. The door closed while I was in the cellar and to my surprise there was no door handle inside and also no phone signal! I was a bit stuck, however eventually managed to get a passer-by to let me out. Went for another ride down to Villafranca, some more shopping (a door handle!) and a coffee and pastry at Bar Nello. Only 1.70€ - a bargain.

Wednesday 20th - Skiing in Cerreto Laghi - about 1 hour from the apartment. Got there late morning and in hindsite would have been better to either start much earlier for a whole day skiing or later and just get half day from 12:30. There were 2 main chairlifts working and the runs were good intermediate level.

Thursday 21st - George and I went into Aulla looking for mirrors and outside chairs. Not a lot of luck, although George found a good shoe/handbag shop. In the afternoon did a big food shop in Aulla supermarket for wine, oil and other bits to bring home. Met a lady and genteman who spoke english and had just bought a house in the village. She is a journalist for Italian Vanity Fair.

Friday 22nd - First stop Sarzana to get outside chairs and mirror - success this time! Also picked by a Sony 20GB MP3 player, on special for 39€. Tried to get kettle fixed however had to go to service shop in La Spezia - it was closed. Lunch of a sandwich and then wander around clothes market. Jayne not feeling well so went into Bagnone to get some medical supplies. Tried the local takeaway Pizza place - "Non Solo Pizza" - excellent!! Packed up ready to come home

On the way to the apartment

Started off from Viviennes at 7:30 and easy drive to Dover to catch ferry at 10:00. Beautiful sunny day for driving. Started from the ferry on the other side at 13:15. Had our list of service stations along the way and that was useful. Drove for most of the day and stopped at hotel in Colmar about 21:00.

Sunny and very cold (-4) the following morning, again great form driving - started at 08:15. Soon entered Switzerland and got stopped at the border rearding the bike on the back and the temporary number plate. Sorted it out and off we went again. Beautiful drive thru the mountains - all covered in snow. Lunch at services near Bellinzona (a world heritage site) in Switzerland, south of the Gottard pass. Into Italy and then got stopped again at the border for the same reason as before. At least this time the guard was much friendlier.

Arrived in Virgoletta at 16:25

Terracotta Warriors

Working from home today and in the afternoon packed up the car. Picked up George at 4:30 and then mad dash to London to meet Vivienne at British museum to see the Terracotta Warriors. Fantastic exhibition with lots of info on the history and how they were found. There were about 10 figures on display in London, out of about 1000 that have been excavated. There is estimated another 5000 still to be uncovered. They date from Qin dynasty (220BC) and were only discovered in 1974. The individualism and attention to detail on the faces was truly remarkable.

Dinner at Gourmet Hamburger Kitchen place in Putney (again) and then on to Vivienne's for the night