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.