Keane concert & flat tyre

Picked up George & Liz from school and headed up to London. After much traffic and some navigation problems arrived at O2 arena (was The Dome) at about 7:30. Made way to Tower Bridge (More London) and met Vivienne and Angela for dinner at Strada. Was nowing as we arrived - late! Great view of Tower Bridge. Lovely to see Angela again - just back from Patagonia.

Left about 10:30 and made way back to O2. Picked up the girls, they had a fab time. Were in back row at top of stadium. Said it was huge. They bought the T shirts.

Didn't get far from the stadium and got a flat tyre. Couldn't get wheel off so called AA. Eventually got it fixed and then drove back home - getting into bed about 3:30am!

Snow still around from last week

Busy week for George

Yes it was...

Monday - went to comedy play at school
Tuesday - Charlies birthday - dinner at Wagamama
Wednesday - Jazz Concert in Chippenham
Thursday - Keane concert London

Plus

Monday - received Stephens Stag party invitation - to Amserdam. Booked flights
Into the office Tuesday & Wednesday
Tuesday - melting snow and rain caused river Avon to rise and flooded some of central Bath - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/7881283.stm
Wednesday - Andy asked me to be Godfather to Hector
Friday - Marian here, wardrobe wood arrived
Booked trips to Marseille & Warsaw in coming weeks

Got to London for Testing workshop

Snow again overnight but managed to get out of drive and caught train to London. No real problems.

Met Eric & Matt in London for workshop.

Caught 4pm train home

Meant to be in London

Planned trip to London for Testing workshop. Woke up and about 6" of snow so didn't go anywhere. Managed by phone.

Georges school was closed today and tommorrow.

Back home from Madrid

Workshop in morning. Left for airport mid afternoon by metro. Took about 1h30 from office to gate. Plane was delayed a bit due to step problems. Jayne & George had lot of snow previous day/evening

UQS workshop all day

All day in workshop. Problems with phone made it very difficult for Clive & Richard.

Got back to hotel about 9pm and out to local restaurant - nothing special.

Madrid and delay at Bristol

Trip to Madrid for UQS work. Planned departure from Bristol was 13:45 - actual was about 3 hours later! The flight before us took off on time and then the snow came, closing the airport for a while. Still eventually got there OK. Collegues Richard & Clive were not so lucky - there were going from Heathrow and had to turn back because of weather.

Dinner at restaurant Lateral (mainly tapas) in Plaza St Anna (lots of pubs/restaurant). Was good.

Decided it would be useful to have a compass. Coming out of a new metro station it is not always clear which way to head - especially at night.

Hotel was Senator in Gran Via - excellent location, good traditional hotel.

Snow in London

Lot of snow in South East england and London on Sunday evening. Didn't get to Bath/Bristol until later....

Tony Kofi jazz saxophonist concert

Went to Tony Kofi Quartet concert in Chapel Arts Centre in Bath. Nice evening.

http://www.myspace.com/tonykofi

Week of 19 Jan

Yesterday went for nice bike ride after Sunday lunch of roast beef and excellent yorkshire puds. About 25 miles from Tormarton to near Malmsebury & return.

View Larger Map

Physics exam for George on Monday.

Wagamamas for dinner

Paris - SSDM Workshop, start of GCSE exams

First GCSE exam (Biology) for George on Monday. Next was Chemistry on Wednesday afternoon.

Workshop in Paris this week for my programme - Simplified Software Development Methods.

Monday morning caught 08:00 plane from Bristol. Had nice lunch in brasserie La Chope in Rue Daguerre. Roast poisson, glass of wine, chocolate pudding and coffee - €26. Headed on to the office for the afternoon. In the Evening stayed at new hotel L'Aiglon in Montparnasse - small but nicely decorated. Worked in evening preparing for workshop. Went for walk to Les Goblins (30 mins) and pizza for dinner. Cold and clear outside.

Tuesday - morning in the office and final preparations. Most people arrived after lunch and first deay went well. IN teh evening went back to Rue Daguerre @ Denfert Rochereau and had morrocan for dinner with 3 others - one from France, two from Spain.

Wednesday - workshop all day and again went smoothly with good participation. Left early eveing with Dave from UK and headed back to airport - stopping at Notre Dame on the way. Back home about 11:00

KJO & Viennese Waltz Ball

George played in Kingswood Jazz Orchestra at Viennese Waltz Ball at the Guildhall in Bath. Article in Bath Chronicle. George not in picture.

While waiting to pick George up, saw the interesting sights of Bath on a Saturday night.

Back at school and cold

Georgina back at school on Tuesday. Very cold (-7C) , but clear this week. Went into work a couple of days - rest working from home

Italy for New Year

Friday 26 December - Boxing day

The morning was spent packing, clearing up and getting ready for trip. Drove to Bristol airport for flight at 16:45. Arrived at Milan to cold weather and some snow on the ground - a good sign. Easy drive to the apartment, stopping for dinner on the way. Not much open. Took about 3 hrs.

When we arrived at apartment the central heating wasn't working again - pump had seized up. Hot water OK though. Into bed about 1am

Saturday 27 December

We forgot the cellar key so had to call in at Catherine's, pick up the keys and get the plumber around. He arrived late morning and after a quick tap of the pump with his hammer it worked OK. Cost €30 - still I know what to do next time. Did some food shopping and got the apartment organised. Takeaway pizza for dinner - yum. No credit cards taken

Sunday 28 December

Potted around the apartment and did some reading. Baked some chocolate muffins. Prepared a beef caserole. Made minestrone soup.

Angela & friend came around late afternoon. At 9pm went to a place called Vico - above Bagnone. Old medieval village and they have a 'real nativity'. Basically people of the village dressed up and doing old crafts - weaving, bread making, shoe making, blacksmithing etc in some of the cellar rooms in the village. Very realistic, friendly and lovely. Also a Mary & Joesph, baby Jesus (with a dummy!), donkey and cows in the stables. Afterwards some nibbles, cake & mulled wine. Delicious.

Monday 29 December

Headed to Cerreto Laghi for skiing. Had to buy Snow Chains. Got there about 12:00, had lunch and then after sorting skiis and boots (€16) bought an afternoon pass (20€ each). George & I had a great time skiing, Jayne read book in a local restaurant. Weather was mainly foggy with sun breaking through at the top.

Sausages, Rocket & pasta for dinner.

Tuesday 30 December

Nativity scene - Bagnone

Beautiful sunny but cold day. Jayne & I wandered out to Aulla for a little shopping. Coffee & pastry in Bar Nello. Went into bike shop to look at shoes. More expensive then UK. Sorted out new bank account in Bagnone. Very efficient bank manageress. George mainly stayed in the apartment doing some study and reading. Went to laundrette to wash towels & sheets. Dinner was chicken, stuffed with green beans and mozzarella.

Wednesday 31 December 2008 - New Years Eve

Post office first to pay water bill and post card to Mum & Dad. Coffee & pastry in Bar Nello. Went to Aulla for some food shopping - very busy. In the afternoon prepared some chocolate puddings for dessert. Went to try and find english speaking people in the village to see about chimney. Found a lady from Israel (Manuela)

Started to rain in afternoon.

Angela phoned saying her friend was sick. Original plan was to go to their house on the coast for New Years Eve, instead we went to Angela's @10:00pm. Cotechino (like a salamie) and Lentils were our traditional dinner. A couple who were staying at the B&B came around for pudding and seeing in the New Year. Lovely evening.

Thursday 1 January 2009

Lazy morning packing and tidying up the apartment. Left about 2:30 to drive back to Milan. Easy trip back. Car wouldn't start when we picked it up. Had to get it jump-started. Quite cold -2C. Back home about 10:00pm

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