Day 1868 & 1869 (07 & 08/02/2015)

A busy weekend still catching up from being away and now getting ready to go away again.

We went over to Bridgwater to do the flowers and on the way back stopped off at the drive-thru Costa Coffee to warm up with a lovely latte and a selection of little tarts.

It was great and I take back everything I ever said about putting up a drive-thru coffee shop.

My new laptop arrived today but will take quite a few days to set-up with all the software that I need.

It should be easier to cart around a smaller & lighter machine, albeit one that is a lot more powerful.

Did a lovely roast beef on Sunday, with Beef Dripping Yorkshire Puddings. Very nice.

Day 1867 (06/02/2015)

After going away to the Middle East the other week and missing home and not wanting to go away again for a while I have been invited to give a talk to some Health Insurance Investigators in Adelaide, Australia.

The aren't paying me but they are flying me over there, putting me up in a nice hotel for 4 days and I only have to speak for an hour.

There are a few drawbacks to this trip, apart from not being paid, the 4 days travelling for only 3 days there, the dreaded jet lag which always gets me but mainly when they booked the flights they booked me in economy, not even premier economy or business class but economy, me with the normally travellers.

Also I had about three other things booked that week, so have had to re-arrange another course and offer them a discount, I had tickets to see Stewart Lee and I have attached a meeting 12hrs after flying back.

It's an experience so it would be wrong to say No, so I didn't.

Went for a swim & a steam today.

Still trying to catch-up on my work.

Day 1866 (05/02/2015)

A busy day, still catching up but appearing to achieve very little.

In the afternoon I went for a quick swim then had a meeting with people in a similar position to me, don't ask it's another long story but thankfully there was food.

It was a fairly nice lasagne, followed by the second part of the meeting at another venue, where there were sandwiches & cake :-)

Nice to have Thomas back after his few days in London getting his camera sorted.

Day 1865 (04/02/2015)

Still busy, which isn't helped by not being able to concentrate much on work.

Went for a swim & steam again and thankfully haven't put much weight back on after the gap from the gym.

They had lovely cupcakes at the gym today for a cancer charity but I didn't have any, honestly.

In the evening I had some more porridge & banana, its lovely and it was sort of a diet day.

Day 1864 (03/02/2015)

A busy day and up early doing something to play the long game (don't ask it was just something I have to do to make sure people don't take advantage of me).

Thomas was off to London to get his camera & lenses serviced and checked and my wife was off to Bristol for Children Of The 90's.

She even looks lovely on the inside.

In the evening we went out to The Worlds End.

Even though I have had lovely meals in some very special restaurants you really can't beat Ham, Eggs & Chips at The Worlds End.

OK the Salty Caramel Sundae was an extravagance but it is really nice.

Day 1863 (02/02/2015)

Getting back to normal life in the UK, so started the day with some porridge & a banana.

My favourite.

Went for a swim and a steam in the afternoon, will hit the gym next week.

Very slowly catching up with my work.

Day 1861 & 1862 (31/01 & 01/02/2015)

Busy in my office catching up on stuff that has come in over the last week and making lots of changes to my website.

Had a Chinese with Thomas in the evening when he got back from his football, whilst my wife was in Bristol seeing her mum.

I think the Chinese must have decided to give me a little welcome home treat. They must  have thought he doesn't need that extra rice and so added a nice hot & sour soup and some banana fritters, which were lovely.

First of February today and its looking good so far.

For dinner we started with some Tesco's Sushi

then duck breasts for dinner, which was lovely.

Day 1860 (30/01/2015)

This was a long day as my flight left Abu Dhabi airport at 2:40am.

The flight was OK as I had front row seat so lots of room and slept for most of it.

The did supply a breakfast which was OK but had turkey bacon, which just didn't taste right, especially at whatever early hour it was.

Then we arrived at Heathrow at about 6:30am and thankfully the threatened snow hadn't arrived.

I was able to catch an earlier coach so was home before midday. If i make this journey again and I think I will, I shall probably use the coach again because as well as being cheaper than parking it was nice not to have to drive straight away after a flight.

It was great to be home, with my own bathroom and a nice bowl of porridge with a banana.

In the afternoon we were all at Mum & Dads for her birthday, having fish & chips and birthday cake.

 

Day 1859 (29/01/2015)

The course finished and seemed to go down well.

Quick thought on the toilets in Abu Dhabi and possibly in the Middle East.

Firstly I know lots of trendy pubs in the UK have strange signs for the Gents & Ladies but I noticed this in the hotels.

Also their toilets,  all of the ones I saw, had little shower attachments.

Things could have been worse, I still remember the open drain / sewer at the Police Academy in Sarajevo.

Looking forward to being back home.

Day 1858 (28/01/2015)

Wednesday and the course is still going well, though a 10 minute break is often a 30 minute break.

After the course I went to meet some people at The St. Regis Saadiyat Island, which was a lovely place.

The meeting was interesting and may mean I that I do more training around this part of the world. I would rather not but needs must.

I went for a walk along the beech, which was beautiful.

At least I could say that my desert boots have been in the desert, well nearly.

On the way back to my hotel I went to Ray's Grill at The Etihad Towers for a nice steak dinner on the 63rd floor over looking Abu Dhabi.

That was a lovely evening out.

Day 1857 (27/01/2015)

Day three of the course and its going OK.

I do struggle to get out of bed and down 8 floors by 9am, I can see that Thomas may take after me and his mother.

After the course I went for a relax by the pool but it was quite busy and I had to sit in the shade and it was quite cool but I stayed there reading my book.

In the evening I thought about going out but I got busy doing some stuff on my computer and in the end ordered room service.

Tomorrow evening I am meeting up with a local training provider in a nice hotel, so I will be seeing a bit of Abu Dhabi then.

Day 1856 (26/01/2015)

Day two of the course went well and I am where I hoped to be with the material.

We finished a bit earlier today and I went to sit by pool which was warmer than for the last few days. Yesterday I put my hand in the water and it was lovely and warm, very inviting, so I thought I would have a swim today, what a mistake the water was quite cold and came as quite a shock.

Everyone had been keeping on to me to see something of Abu Dhabi so I grabbed a taxi into the main town and had a wander around.

I ended up in a shopping mall that reminded me of Brighton's shopping mall apart from it didn't have a Lego Store. it had all the shops you would see in the UK plus ones for Porsche, Mercedes and all the expensive high class designers (that i don't wear),

I did buy something which took my fancy,

a hot chocolate and carrot cake which was lovely.

Day 1855 (25/01/2015)

The first day of the course went quite well. It was an impressive start as there were quite a few nice sandwiches and nibbles put out for us, so paying for breakfast would be a waste.

All 16 students turned up and were present all day, which isn't what others have had when they have done similar courses here. It might change tomorrow but everyone seemed interested and keen, so it could be a full week.

Unfortunately I'm not allowed to take any photographs at the course and I'm not allowed to ask what any of the students do. I might have posted some photographs without knowing this, so had to delete them after being contacted.

Lunch was at the all you can eat buffet restaurant, so I grabbed a bit of pizza and salad.

Afterwards I had an hour to relax by the pool before it got too cool & too dark.

In the evening I had a lovely Oriental Mixed Grill, which was very nice.

Followed by a posh banana split.