Day 1330 & 1331 (17 & 18/08/2013)

Saturday started with another talk to the journalism students and a few of the speakers sat in, so quite a bit of pressure but it seemed to go OK.

Then I had about an 8 hour wait at the airport before my flight home. Thankfully they had a TGI Fridays at the airport, where I could sit comfortably eating some lovely food, next to a plug for my phone and free WiFi. This was heaven.

OK it might look a lot but it was over several hours and I did need to catch up.

Got back to the UK then a long drive home so I didn't get back until 3 am.

It was great to have Kelly back, so we had a nice Sunday roast dinner, at her request, as apparently they don't have that in London. Glad she's enjoying herself there, even if we do miss her lots. Fingers crossed that she gets a permanent job doing what she wants soon.

Day 1329 (16/08/2013)

I had a day off and had intended to go to listen to some of the other lectures but I had a lazy day in bed sleeping and watching the telly. This was possibly due to Latvia being 2 hours ahead of the UK, so that 9 am start the previous day was actually a 7 am start, and I don't really do those anymore.

I stayed at the hotel and had dinner, but again it was not great but bless them I think they make an effort.

In Lithuania it looked crap and tasted crap, whereas in Latvia they make it look nice but haven't quite considered the taste yet.

Day 1328 (15/08/2013)

In Riga and giving 3 talks today to Investigative Journalism students at The Stockholm School of Economics, which went down quite well but was quite tiring as I had to make an allowance and a few changes for the fact that everyone else in the room was from various country Nordic & Balkan countries, so were not native English speakers, but were fairly easy to understand.

 

 Riga looks quite nice and was much better than Lithuania but the food was not brilliant.

 

 

Day 1327 (14/08/2013)

A long driver to Stansted in mixed weather then a few hours to wait before the flight, so time for a combined breakfast, lunch and dinner visit to Frankie & Bennys.

It was very nice and just about set me up for the day.

RyanAir are handy but you are treated a bit like cattle, crammed in with very little space.

It was strange arriving at an international airport to be met by a driver holding a card with my name on it, he even had a Mercedes to drive me in but he was only a taxi driver, so it was not exactly film star treatment but quite handy.

The hotel is quite nice and it should be an OK couple of days as there is good free WiFi and a nice restaurant nearby.

Tonight we are all if different countries, with Kelly still up in Edinburgh at the festival and Thomas roped in at the last minute to cover the Wales v Ireland match in Cardiff for his photo agency. Fingers crossed for both of their careers.

Day 1326 (13/08/2013)

Still busy getting ready for this weeks presentations.

Day 1325 (12/08/2013)

Busy working as I have to get everything done as I'm off to Latvia on Wednesday for a few days to give some presentations.

I've been put in the Hotel Albert, which looks and has WiFi and the write ups in Trip Advisor seem quite good and better than Lithuania.

Although it looks OK I'm already looking forward to getting back in the UK on Saturday night.

Day 1323 & 1324 (10 & 11/08/2013)

We spent Saturday slowly coming home visiting a few places like Bideford and Lynmouth, where we had Fish & Chips.

On Sunday had work to do but still had to cut the grass then make dinner. We had nice mussels for starter followed by a lovely roast beef.

We are missing Kelly lots but it was nice to get roast potatoes in goose fat and Yorkshire puddings made with beef dripping.

Yum Yum Yum.

Day 1322 (09/08/2013)

We stayed in a lovely room at The Sail Loft extension to The Red Lion in Clovelly.

As well as being a lovely room it had a great view of the sea, which was only about 20 feet away.

 We also had a lovely view from our table at the restaurant.
 

Then some very nice food, with a grilled mackerel starter for me,

and a three eat and roast vegetables for my wife.

The Skate main meal with horseradish mash,

and a bream fillet with a potato pancake for my wife.

And really nice afters.

It was a lovely evening.

Day 1321 (08/08/2013)

Got our new dishwasher fitted.

They were very quick taking the old broken dishwasher out and fitting the new one but speaking to them they get paid for each fitting they do, so that's why they don't hang about. The main guy explained the quickest appliances he had fitted was 15minutes from knocking on the door to leaving the house.

The fitter didn't really explain how the new dishwasher worked, he just showed me where the power switch was and told me to read the instructions.

I'm thinking that quality isn't their hallmark but they were OK.

Day 1320 (07/08/2013)

Busy in the office all day, as had a few urgent jobs to get done.

Apparently my cars lights are OK. It has day time running lights that are a lot brighter than the side lights that you use when its getting dark. That can't be right but apparently it is.

Should be getting a new dishwasher fitted tomorrow, which will be nice as the old one has been broken for over a year.

This will be quite handy as we end up buying a lot of washing up liquid but have about 10yrs worth of dish washer tablets.

Day 1319 (06/08/2013)

After being in The Star at the weekend, Thomas went a bit more up market today with a named entry in The Times.

He is off to Exeter football tomorrow, which doesn't sound great but they are playing QPR, so there should be some interest in it.

I changed my car over today, as I get them on three year deals. I picked a silver coloured car as the scratches on my last car showed up as silver against the red paint, so now the scratches shouldn't show up.  

After I drove away I realized how much I didn't like the car; its uncomfortable to drive, the seat belt is in the wrong position and pulls across my throat, the steering wheel is too small, its got an annoying screen taking up all of the room on the dash board where I used to rest my phone and the lights don't work properly, so it has to go back to the garage tomorrow.

I know I should have gone for a test drive first but I've had about 6 or 7 of these type of Peugeot's, so they are basically the same. I really only agreed to get this this car as it has digital radio & bluetooth.

Day 1318 (05/08/2013)

Busy day doing work but we had a new boiler fitted.

Its got a cute blue light and works properly, so that's two reasons whilst its better than the old one. It was a pain being without water for a couple of hours, then sweating buckets while he tried out the heating.

I'm picking up my new car tomorrow, so had to download my new car insurance documents but struggled to set up my on-line account with my insurer as most of the questions meant nothing to me.

I can't remember any teachers from school as I'm in my mid 40's and hated most of my teachers
I'm not really a pet person, I know we had a cat when I was about 3 but I can't remember its name & don't really care
I can't remember who I first had a crush on, as I'm in my 40's now and have fancied people for most of my life, why not ask Kylie or Dannii
I can't remember where I first went on holiday as I'm in my mid 40's but my Mum would know
I didn't really have a best friend at school, I hated school and my school years
I have hundreds of cousins, its a bit cruel to ask which is my favorite
I can't remember which was the first film to make me cry, I'm in my mid 40's and have seen thousands of films. I know I have recently seen the re-makes of Day Of The Jackal and Edge Of Darkness and both were crap but neither made me cry
Did we even have House or Teams at my last school. I can remember who was dealing drugs at school and what stolen goods were being offered around during the lessons but that's about it
I can't remember the name of the first airline I flew with but I can tell you I shared a small bottle of Mateus Rose with my new wife during the flight

Why not ask questions like Wine, Red or White?; Crisps, Salt & Vinegar or Cheese & Onion?

Day 1316 & 1317 (03 & 04/08/2013)

The football season is here again so Thomas is off to Bournemouth to photograph a match, so fingers crossed that it goes well and that he gets a few publications over the next few weeks.

Kelly is back for the weekend and going to see Granma up in Bristol with my wife today.

I'm in the office but not working too hard.

Update - Sunday 22:00 - Well after yesterday Thomas was both in a national newspaper (well The Star is more a paper than a newspaper);

And he was also on The Football League Show on the BBC (OK it's hard to see him unless you know him and where he was sat but its him).

It was a lot easier going to Mum & Dads for breakfast on a Sunday.

We had diner at the Worlds End, for a change, 

and I had a lovely ham eggs and chips.

Will Miss Kelly as she goes back to London tomorrow.

Day 1315 (02/08/2013)

Catching up in the office and after a haircut to cope with the heat I popped round to my Mum & Dads new place to set up their internet & telly in exchange for lunch.

Then Kelly came home for the weekend, which was nice.

Day 1314 (01/08/2013)

A hot hot day in London but I had a good meeting at the St Pancrass Hotel, where Dr Fox was at the next table.

Then we continued the meeting over lunch at the Yo Sushi bar.

After the meeting on the way back to Paddington some idiot lent against the panic button on the tube and we had to be held for 5 minutes whilst it was sorted out and reset.

It was very embarrassing and I apologised but it was right next to my elbow and I didn't realize.

Then at Paddington I exchanged my first class ticket to get an early train but had to go second class but at least I still had my first class receipt so could stock up in the first class lounge beforehand.