It just keeps getting better...

I just got a note back from the CAA - they can't issue my license because two of my exams were signed off by the wrong person... I wonder if someone somewhere is trying to tell me something?

Congratulations!

Well done old chap- good for you!

Ears still ringing...

Wow! What a great night. My ears are still ringing, but I'm very happy to have been there!

Back to the real world...ish

Well, flying all over for now and the real world looms into view again. Having said that, somehow I managed to be lucky enough to get tickets for the Ahmet Ertigun tribute concert tonight, which of couse means I'm going to see Led Zeppelin! So I'm still some way from the ground :-)

Homeward bound

It feels like I've been away for a month... oh, I have been away for a month! Getting ready to start the journey home - for me the best part of any trip... Reflecting on the experience here shows many contradictions, for example, coming to Florida to fly was supposed to mean less problems with the weather, but I spent 10 days grounded for this very reason 7 days in one run. However, the deed is done and I have the documents to apply for the license. There are some great people that work here, but there are also some that need to take a long look at how they operate. There is HUGE potential for making the experience much more enjoyable, but several of the key staff seem to have become so jaded that they cannot or will not make any effort.

The real big plus has been meeting some really great people, some fellow "students" and instructors. A really colorful group who's spirit helps carry everyone through the bad bits.

I'll be back to reality soon enough.


Catman.

YES!

Managed to get the test in this morning and passed. I'm very happy especially that I get to go home now :-)

almost...

...but not quite. The weather decided to play up a bit again and my test is postponed until tomorrow... One more day to stress and worry... ;-)

Progress!

Managed to squeeze in my required cross country flight today... I'm over the moon... just the test left to go really....

Yuk!

horrible weather this morning... hoping this afternoon is better...

A small victory

While hanging around waiting for weather, I've managed to pass the RT practical exam, which means at some point in the near future I will be licensed to operate a radio in an aeroplane... which is nice.

loosing the will to live...

day 6 of waiting.... running out of u-tube's to watch... may have to go to a gun shop and fire a few rounds... :-)

scratching my arse...

Agggghhhh! Just about all I can do now is wait for the weather to be kind. Cabin fever of sorts! I could be here until Sunday at this rate...

Oh and I want to live here...

This place - "Spruce Creek" is wonderful - had my medical here...

It's at:

29° 4'48.69"N
81° 2'39.19"W

in Google Earth

And another thing...

I did fancy staying here, but then again...











Now I'm all for TV dinners :-)

grrrrrrr

Well, the weather cheered up nicely, but was out of limits for an hour at one of my destinations... now it's fine, but too late (too close to night for my return).... ARSE!

It gets better (or worse)

Now the weather is playing games again... Visibility has dropped just like the cloud base...

Frustration!

Bloody hell! Now that I have just to complete my qualifying cross-country (a 150+Nm flight with two stops away from base) the weather has decided to play silly buggers... If the weather is OK at bease, it's out of limits away...if it's OK away, it's out of limits at base... Then today a window was opening when we discovered no fuel! How annoying is that?

Progress

Flying is going quite well now - managed to knock off a couple of the major milestones - just two left. Hopefully will have it all done and dusted by Monday....

Funny thing happened at the office today...

Actually not funny at all and not really at the office... One of my fellow trainee flyers had a mishap today - she is OK, but made us all think a bit... Not her fault, weather changed, caught many out, but she was unluckiest...

Here is a very poor picture of the aftermath.

Onwards and upwards.

Finally...

Made it to Florida to complete my PPL... Today has been an administration day, I'm "formed out". Fingerprints done... lovely.

Some GREAT news!

Welcome Oscar Leonard Issac! 7.3 lbs !

Some good news

A friend of mine (Uncle Dave to those that know him) who is also looking for a new job has turned up some some interim work for himself - this is great news! It suggests to me that I should pursue the consultancy work I have been discussing with more energy!

Career change

It has occurred to me that I really would like to do something new, or do the same thing in a new industry. Question is, how to make the jump? Last week I applied to 5 roles and heard back from one - same industry, same role... It's not as easy as I hoped. I am however, very positive about the market and I'm sure I'll find something soon. Been chasing one opportunity that should have been in the 2nd interview stage by now - not sure what happened to that...

BlogRush

By now you may have noticed the "BlogRush" widget on this blog. BlogRush is a new syndication mechanism for blogs to provide links and traffic to similar themed blogs around the world. You can add BlogRush to your own blog by clicking the BlogRush tag on the widget... It will be interesting to see if there's any effect on the traffic to this blog ;-)

Looking for work

So here's he start of my "looking for work section". We will see how it goes.

I have noticed the way we now look for jobs has changed significantly from the last time I seriously looked, which would have been in 1994! (My last move, 7 years ago, classic social networking at its best, colleague of a colleague type of thing, so the last time I actually LOOKED was 13 years ago - "gulp - am I that old?"). Having said that, I did find that 1994 job online - oh yes, before the "web proper" we would scurry about in separate online (dial-up!) communities like "Compuserv" and in this particular case "Cix".

There's certainly a plethora of online sites to register with, and it does appear that most use keyword matching technology to send reasonably specific opportunities to one's electronic inbox. Its not perfect however, so far the funniest one I've had was for a Director's PA :-)

The skill now is to produce a CV with the right keywords so that the right roles land on one's doorstep!

Onward & upward

Kindered spirits

I remember when I was younger how much importance I attached to having friends that were kindered spirits and it seems as you get older the less likely you are to come accross these people. Or I that's how I feel anyway. I suppose what I like about kindered spirits is you don't have to go explaining or justifying why you think a certain way or hold certain values. Fortunately I married a kindered spirit, and have also had the pleasure to work with a couple over the last few years.

This got me thinking though. I'd invited friends round for dinner on Saturday night, and we always have a laugh and shoot the breeze and stuf, it's all very nice. Few bottles of wine and some good food on what was a really miserable weekend otherwise due to a typhoon in the vicinity. We know eachother through our kids, which I think is par for the course when you become a parent.

For some reason I do tend to be a little bit reserved in my opinions of late. I either don't want to appear arrogant or perhaps it's due to the lack of the social lubricant I would normally be buoyed with. There always seem to be a few subjects I know I am never going to agree on so I just think I should not bother expressing my opinion. The first, funnily enough, is all to do with motherhood. I should be shot because:

1. I enjoy my work and don't want to be a stay at home mum.

2. I don't want to take an extra six months unpaid maternity leave so I can hang out with all the yummy mummies and go to baby yoga and kindermusik while bitching that my husband spends too long at work/on his Blackberry.

3. In all honesty, if it made no difference whatsoever, I probably wouldn't attempt to breastfeed. I am going to do a month or two like I did with Nuala, much to the open disdain of my friends (one of whom is still breastfeeding at 12 months... when Nuala was drinking normal cow's milk from a cup) who were telling me just how important this was etc etc. I had to almost apologise for my views, because they are deeply unfashionable right now, and I could see the pity in their eyes. What I really want to say is by then David and I will have both have had enough of me leaking with lust every time he claps eyes on me!

I just want to do what makes me feel as happy and relaxed as possible, because I know that even on my best days I can be a total bitch. I am not an earth mother.

The last thing was names for babies. I have an aversion to Top Ten names http://www.statistics.gov.uk/specials/babiesnames_boys.asp

I personally think they lack originality, and the thought of sending my kids to school with all the other top tenners just bores me to tears. Pick one of these and play it safe? No thanks. Instead of agreeing with me, I was told that in fact there was a very good reason for names being Top Ten... because they are very good names. Yawn. Don't get that. But then, I was up against the parents of four kids all in the Top Ten, so really what did I expect? And I apologise now if you find you or your own kid's names in the Top Ten list. They *are* nice names, they just aren't for me, sorry.

Like I said, kindered spirits.

Neus Illigitium carburundum

A badly remembered graffiti classic "don't let the bastards grind you down" :-)

Club Veurve will rise again, I guarantee it.

I've been inspired by very few people, some of them write here, you know who you are.

No regrets...

"Telle est la vie des hommes. Quelques joies, très vite effacées par d'inoubliables chagrins. Il n'est pas nécessaire de le dire aux enfants". Marcel Pagnol.

I wish I could claim those words as my own, because I find them absolutely beautiful and serve to remind us that every good time had is a precious moment indeed. Those moments are rare, but when you've shared one nobody can ever take that away from you.

Translated into Anglo-Saxon:

"Life's a piece of shit, when you look at it. Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true. You'll see it's all a show, keep 'em laughing as you go. Just remember that the last laugh is on you". Eric Idle.

Here's to the next Club Verve. Not gone and never forgotten.

My only regret...

My only regret is that I'll no longer be working with you guys every day - having said that, IM is a wonderful thing :-)

Timezones

For once, I went to bed at 11pm to read and had my Blackberry charging away from me. I have no idea what's happened, all I know is you are gone. And so is UD. I can't tell you how gutted I am and have been in tears since Ruth called me this morning. Don't know what else to say or how to feel a part from completely numb.

one down!

Amazing really, after a certain announcement last night, I was literally inundated with joyful calls and IM messages... Most said the same thing... "one down!"

Manners

I must be becoming an old fart. I'll tell you why... Last night I went along (late as usual) to my daughter's school arts & dance evening to watch her in a group dance... She was great and the whole event (that I saw) was excellent - amazing how creative these kids can be. However, shortly after my daughter's dance a few girls from another team pushed in front of me so they could see - "Ok - no worries, I'm 6'3 after all" I thought so I could still see reasonably well... A couple of minutes later the girls went - "good". 30 seconds later "Excuse me" they said and pushed past again, this time carrying chairs - "Ok" I thought, "they want to sit". WRONG! They then stood on the chairs right in front of me!

Question: Are they ignorant, bad mannered or am I getting to old for this shit?

It's still half full!

Nuala makes a very good point - knowing when to leave something alone is a valuable skill and I've often been guilty of missing that :-) A very wise person once told me "don't worry about things you can't change", which makes a lot of sense and allows the glass to stay half full!

Head/Brick/Wall

It's always good to hear Catman in positive tones, gives me a wee boost. I am defintely a glass half full type of person (probably because that's how I like to think of my glass, especially when it comes to Champagne and good red wine). Sometimes I do wonder whether that hasn't made my life recently a whole lot harder here at work. Hands up if you think Fifi needs to kick arse a bit more aggressively?

This is the approach I am trying. Step one is to confront the 'known' issue head on, take a good picture, say it like it is and lay it on the line. Step two is to apologise to anyone affected by it, put your hands up and admit it's your problem and that you are doing your best to improve or change the status quo in any way you can. Step three- and this is the hardest one- ask for help. Admit defeat and lay it on the line that you know, and have the facts to prove, it is not working and actually it probably never will. I gave it a good go, but it's fundementally flawed. However to make any real change, the ball is now in someone else's court and all I can do is maintain and if I am lucky slightly improve the status quo. You canny make a Aston Martin out of a Lada, and considering we like to think of ourselves and our product as high-end, I think we are cheating the people we support by offering them something we know is a big pile of wank.

Since I admitted this to myself, I have noticed people being much more candid in their feedback. They appreciate your efforts, but you get that 'I told you so' nod. Fair enough I guess, but that glass half full got me through the last 15 months believing nothing was impossible. And while nothing is, why should we make life so hard trying to make it so?

So here's the thing. In my own life, I have learned that you never regret going for quality. This covers everything: bags, shoes, cars, houses, food, men, friends. Worthwhile investments. Even though it's all relevant to your present economic situation (cutting your coat according to your cloth or whatever) every time I have gone cheap on myself I have always ended up wishing I hadn't bothered.

The glass really is half full

Normal service has been resumed at catman towers - I'm looking at the glass being half full again!

Funny how the more you think good thoughts, the more good things happen...

Dr Jekyl

Mr Hyde isn't so sure ;-)

How do you do it?

Catman- I have no idea how you do it. To go up in an aeroplane on my own would scare the living daylights out of me. I must be an adrenaline bore (or whatever the oppposite of an adrenaline junkie is) because even driving the car for me is about as much thrill as I need. No, no, far too scary. I admire you though, one of your many facets.

Was it all shit or is it just me?

I am a funny bird, I tell you. I go for weeks and weeks pretty positive, focused, motivated and generally getting on with life. Then I have an introspective moment, the pendulum swings and everything becomes a bit shittier. I had it for a weekend last week when Nu had a brief moment and I thought she was turning into a spoilt little cow on me, and then for the last week or so I have had it at work. It started with me sort of knowing my team were sort of a bit shit and that I was sort of powerless to prove or change anything. Then I did some covert, ahem, monitoring (not nice but entirely justifiable... isn't technology marvellous and all that...) which, my god, made me realise that things in fact were depressinlgy worse than I thought they were.

The more I dug to research my preso, the more opportunitites I uncovered where my team really isn't cutting it. I have always thought of them as nice enough, but a bunch of amateurs. There are a couple of good ones and a whole raft of mediocre ones. I've never liked medicocre and certainly don't like working with people who lack talent, drive and creative eneregy. It kind of brings me down- I don't 'get it'. I also realised it wasn't just my team where this mediocrity was flourishing, but in some teams and people around me and I found it all a bit draining. It kills me to see opportunity being wasted because people simply can't be arsed or can't see it themselves.

Fortuntately, yesterday the Catman (who I am sure I almost drove to potential kami-kaze antics in his plane on Monday with my moaning) helped me out (again) to straighten my head and I sent off something that's been simmering away as a nagging doubt for a while. I think what I have presented is the tip of a bigger iceberg, but it was kind of cathartic to get it out there anyway. So thank you Catman, and thank you SuperGirl who despite still being poorly and only a week post-op after her painful months has been a marvelous mate IM'ing me and making me laugh.

The dark skies are lifting.

On another note... I am 35! Shit I am old. Scary. Had a great Birthday weekend though...

Flying

I love flying...don't I? Well, it's one of those things that has a strange effect with me... I know I like it, I want to do it, but somehow I'm also afraid of it... I have the same feeling about the gym :-)

Is it normal to feel like this? I mean, as soon as I get up there, I love it! But just motivating myself to get to the airfield and book a slot seems to be so hard!

Type theory

Over on another site I'm a member of, there's a whole storm blown up over Type Theory.

Now, one thing about all this Karl Jung related stuff is that many people use it to put people in a "box".

I say "try to put me in a box and I'll put you in yours!" :-)

How would you do it?

One of the things I constantly wrestle with is the balance between autonomy and responsibility. Essentially, I crave autonomy but fear the responsibility in most things I do.

I think though, I must learn to trust my own capabilities more - even today, I recieved the output of a team survey that shows things are much better than I thought... I guess I'm OK at this :-)

So - do I open my own business or do I cower away from the responsibility?

How would you do it?

A funny old week...

I've been meaning to come and blog all week, but here it is so far in a nutshell:

Monday- wanted to write about the joys of a 2.5 year old driving me and her Daddy to distraction but generally being a spolit little brat for throwing tantrums which culminated in me weeping and calling my Mum for help on Sunday night, as David looked on imploringly with his "what about the Yorkshire puddings, Fi?" eyes... Mum, as ever patient, listening and understanding and never-judgemental gave me some good advice (my opening line to her had been "Can you please come over and make Nuala behave?" So Monday was spent getting the things she had suggested- the Supernanny book, a booster chair for Miss Binnion to eat properly at the table, and confiscating Nuala's CDs and her big dog as punishment. Monday evening when I returned home, Nuala had got the message and peace (or sorts) had been restored.

Tuesday- French consulate declines my application for French passport for Nuala (necessary for her to get a priority place at the French school). Born in France but not French unless one of us is, apparently. It's a bit of a grey area, so we have appealed to the school to advise us what to do. Meanwhile, Miss B continues to behave (my God, that confiscation thing worked) and ate properly at the dining table. However, got some bad news that a close friend of David's had lost her 13 month battle with cancer. 13 months ago she was given 2 months to live, but this girl complete with her zest for life and firecracker personality right to the end (think Tarantino's Jackie Brown swaying her hips through the airport on a long-haired rock-chick Japanese girl) managed to eek out an extra 11 months before she made her way up to the great disco in the sky.

Wednesday- one small "I will not brush my teeth" wobbly, 2 minutes on the naughty chair and the threat of Mickey Mouse et al being confiscated, I get my angel back. Could this really be working? At work, it's business as usual. Grovelling apologies and some vitual slaps. I think I need a holiday!

Telle est la vie des hommes. Quelques joies, très vite effacées par d'inoubliables chagrins. Il n'est pas nécessaire de le dire aux enfants.

Small but perfectly formed

It's funny how it's possible to have a series of small victories even in the face of overwelming odds. Having said that, it's what being British is all about, Rorke's drift and all that. Well it's been happening to me recently, which is nice. All I have to do now is win the war! We shall see.

The joys of being up the duff...

I am fortunate enough to have so far had one and a half very easy pregancies. No sickness, bad backs or tears as yet. In fact, being big and round does feel rather nice actually. The only tough part I have experienced, and much more so this time around in Hong Kong, is theories around what you should and shouldn't be eating, drinking and doing. In France, my lovely male ObGyn Dr Meunier (yes, like the grape variety) advised me to 'put vinagrette' on my salad to kill the germs. That was it. Vinagrette. That was an easy one to remember. Then my UK friends told me to avoid cheese, pate, shellfish... life... and of course the internet and my American pregnancy book backed most of this up. Hmmmm. Then here in HK, my Australian female doctor gave me an A4 list of things to avoid. Anything from the deli, no alcohol, coffee, tea, well-cooked meats etc etc. Yawn. Can someone just wake me up when this is all over?

So here goes. I confess to the odd small glass of good red wine and cannot understand why I should feel bad about it. It relaxes me, it tastes good, I savour the taste. Last week I probably drank maybe four times. Then I get back and google my chances because despite feeling it can do no harm, I want to read a couple of sites that feel the same way. Funnily enough, men are a lot easier on their opinions on this than women.

This morning at work, Starbucks grande cup in hand, I got the 'you shouldn't be drinking coffee' comment. Actually it was a chai tea latte, but even still. A coffee? Even if I have one coffee a day, honestly? I am not snorting coke in the bogs or chain smoking over my expanding belly. How the hell are so many people born physically normal?

Quite franky this is the worst part of being pregnant, this fear of the unknown therefore let's all over compensate and do nothing for 9 months. I would *love* it if along with coffee etc they put chocolate, sweets, sugar, crisps and high-fat or processed foods that people crave but which has zero nutritional value on this same list of banned foods. Because I am sure whilst giving up the stuff I love (cheese, wine, smoked salmon, prawns) I would feel a whole lot better if everyone had to give up the crap they love too! I am healthy, physically fit and strong and I am convinced this is all thanks to a balanced and fundementally healthy diet.

So please, allow me to have my cup of Earl Grey in the morning, and my lovely little glass of Pinot Noir in the evening and just comment on how radiant I am looking, OK?!!

Is that...

...a light at the end of the tunnel, or is it the train???

I feel the need for a Club Verve...

Supergirl needs vent, me feels...

BTW - Sorry for the vent. - Either you guys or Eddie :) YOU WIN!

Pulling your own wieght

I have set in astonished this week at the lack of work people actually do. Of course, most are not like me and write down absolutley everything on paper. But REALLY, do these people actually get paid for this? Push stuff off on people b/c its easier to inconvinence someone else. I am learning that friends are the ones that you least expect them to be and what you thought was friend really isn't. And have been working so hard to try and make you look bad. Of course, all this is coming from the back. Never has the guts to face someone face to face. I am beginning to see the big picture this week. I can't believe I have been in the middle of this and never noticed. I work really hard to put the mean nasty consultant under lock and key. Well this weekend I realize that if I want to get anything accomplished I have to be willing to throw care into the wind . So I went and let her out. Here she comes! :) This is going to be great fun.

What is Failure!

Failure is when you are told twice in one month that sorry your body is failing miserably and there is nothing you can do about it. Then to turn around and have it said that due to corporate BS we are putting in print that what you have worked your whole life doing is sub par and there is nothing you can do about it.
You didn't fail me - I failed myself.

Jokes on me.

How crap am I?

Today I managed to show myself as the useless twat I am. Weak, piss poor. Sorry Supergirl, I failed you.

Aye!

So there's a dent in some wall or in your head from all that hammer-banging? Or is it a dent in some barrier that was put up for god-knows what reason?

Anyway, even though I am not working on a strategy, I feel the same at times. The good intuition that thus far served you well (evolution? survival of the fittest ideas?) now seems to have to be constantly backed up by metrics and quantities that either don't exist or are extremely difficult to measure. While it's probably not a good idea or very mature to soley rely on gut feeling borne out of a certain level of intelligence and experience, you also don't want to swing the other way and kill any creative talent with having to backup with metrics and stats every decision you feel necessary to make or direction you'd like to take things in.

Statistics are like women; mirrors of purest virtue and truth, or like whores to use as one pleases.

Banging my head against a brick wall...

I've been hammering away at our strategy for months - trying to get the powers that be to accept my way of thinking... Well, I'm pleased to say I'm making a dent, or I've become so anesthetised by the whole process that I can't tell :-)

Question is, why should I be banging my head in the first place?

Paranoia rules - it's all here

Offensive posting removed...

OK, so I like the occasional rant about right-wingers. We all have our vices...

Now that true blue in-laws have gone, I just wish this article had come out while they were here as they are quite big fans of the jelly bean, naturellement. See guys, multicuralism and tolerance of your fellow man whatever he may be aint such a bad thing after all...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6440039.stm

Daddy, what is it you actually do??

Well, I began by starting my usual description "I consult in the technology space, forming and leading teams..." then I paused. thought for a second. "actually I spend most of my time waiting". "Waiting for the system, waiting for the web, waiting for someone to actually do something they promised... that kind of thing"

Not Ticket bitch.... how about his playtoy?

Well I fancy him. I think he is lovely. We could split him into shifts. You can be his ticket bitch during the day and I will be his playtoy during his downtime. :) Simply lovely!

S

My dream job....

...is looking at that same arse :-)

Jack has a seriously cool watch I believe. I don't fancy him as much though, but that's just an accident of gender.

My dream job...

Ian asked me recently in my review, "what makes you get out of bed and come to work?". It's a tough one, I love what I do most of the time, but if I got to sit next to this every morning I must confess I wouldn't need to think about reasons to motivate me further.

So, I am planning to send my CV into CTU. I reckon I could be their ticket bitch when their agents shoot the wrong man or deal with the President when they have missed their SLA on capturing the terrorists.

This photo is Jack checking out my arse as I trot past his desk in my heels and tight jeans. Put your hands back on the desk where I can see them... Naughty Jack!!

oh Well said!

After reading Nuala's post - I have to agree! Everytime the "crumblies" come round, the conversation decays into a rabid rant on "immigrants" and I get reminded about how much tax I pay etc etc...

One day I said, very loudly "I think that's crap!"

They all paused, agreed with me, then ranted on... Me? I had another glass...

The Daily Mail has come to town...

I must confess there are many benefits to being an ex-pat- or more acurately somebody who lives and works away from that place called 'home' given that I am not on any special package out here, and rightly so. The more we progress with technology, the easier it becomes and the less you really miss. Example- Skype and chats with the webcam, being able to download English telly, reading The Sun online etc etc. In the past decade I have spent just 3 years in the UK, with 2 years in Japan, 3 years in France and the past almost 2 years here in Hong Kong. The downside to this is, of course, being away from family and old friends. I will be right up there when tickets go on sale for trips on the (2nd generation of) teletransportation machines going on sale or at least when some fabulously fast aircraft is invented. Anyway, I digress. One benefit of living abroad is that you really can bury your head in the sand when it comes to politics and views of both a domestic nature (never read the local papers here) and from back home. Of course I am interested in the issues, but I don't see them as my issues or frankly my concern because I am not part of it.

I've always felt it important to know what's going on and have an informed view and balanced opinion of things, and growing up we always had lively discussions on all sorts of matters from human rights, politics, history and why my Dad could never support England at anything ever (he's Scottish).

One school of thought I have such a hard time with is what I see as the the classic, middle-England, middle-class, right-wing, Daily Mail-reading views where anything bad that happens to good Old Blighty is because of blacks, immigrants, gays, labour supporters, anyone on the dole and, dare I say, women that go out to work leaving their children with nannies and their husbands without a decent excuse for helping around the house now and again.

Now I am all for a lively debate, but this is way of thinking that no matter how hard I try I just cannot appreciate their point of view. Sometimes the views are in fact very subtle, references to the Irish (a certain generation still has a hard time with them) which irk me, blink and you'll miss it comments regarding gays, blaming society's ills on the current wave of immigrants working hard to make a living and a future or peoples expressing their non-Christian religions on British soil. I want to be polite and not react, but fuck I find it hard.

Some say your views and beliefs are formed very early on in life, and whilst I agree this can form a good foundation, a good education can also enable us to articulate clearly our own views too. It almost pains me, for example, to hear my parents-in-law rant on about how immigrants seem to be the reason the UK is falling to bits when not 2 generations ago my father in law's own family were fleeing some poor Eastern European country that had a problem with Jews. "I'm in now, mate, bolt the gates!".

Like I said, I haven't really lived in the UK very much over the past 15 years or so, and I was laughing with my Dad when I read on the news that the population or Southampton (my home town) is 10% Polish. I just didn't know that. And my Dad's view? "Aye hen, it's been like that for years. And they are bloody hard workers".

We're all immigrants in one way or another. Me here in Hong Kong, my Scottish Dad and Irish Mum in Southampton, my Polish Jew father-in-law in Cheshire, all just trying to make a living and live our lives as best we can.

Anyway, I could go on about the ills of evil Tony Blair, the NHS, the evils of Gordon Brown... but it's only Monday and I have a whole three weeks more to go!!

When will this year ever end?

Christ, is it just me or is this year already flying past? Two weeks into Feb and already it feels like I have worked half a year. I am working on a project being led by (a) Ruth(less) tyrant PM who cracks her virtual whip at 7.30am every morning! We love her though, and she's working twice as hard herself so I canny complain.

Anyway, it feels like pretty much since this time last year I have spent a year swimming upstream, dealing with a veritable deluge of shitty complaints, bitch tickets and generally people whining about actually doing their job. Being the eternal optimist, my hope is that the new system we will soon be rolling out will help turn the negative into the positive and the lazy and ineffectual into the exposed and replaced.

Finally made it!

Sorry it took so long. Used a new password and I have no idea what it is!!! But of course that is just like me!

I must be getting old...

It happens more often, I sit there ready to type an important email to someone I know very well... Can I remember their name? No... I sit for minutes... Eventually it usually come to me.

Isn't age fun?

Happy new year?

I always have mixed feelings about this time of year, the sadness of parting with last year, vs. the excitement of the new year ahead...


Having said that, in many ways, I'm "glad that's over" :-)

Onwards and upwards!