Blighty

Home again for a long weekend, well I thought I should make the effort as it has been my Mum and sisters birthday, Mothers day, my parents wedding anniversary and a while since I last saw them. So back in the cold, wet UK. I arrived feeling a little under the weather with all the travelling I have done lately and with the cold miserable bloody weather I left feeling worse, catching my Mum's supper bug and more lack of sleep catching up with friends and family, but then what's new?

I did get to see some nice places, such as the National Trust gardens and Lewes Priory were my parents where married under this very arch.

Back in Bratislava

Happy Birthday Mum

Today is my Mum's birthday, she thought I had forgotten but instead I sent myself over for a holiday to the UK to see her, 2 days later but I made it.

Andy "Warsaw"

Well not quite Andy Warhol, well actually nothing to do with him at all, although these are artists, but in the music industry.

As I arrived at Warsaw airport Poland, I thought I was getting a heroes welcome of sorts, but unfortunately it was not for me but for the Polish Eurovision song contestants for 2006 who were just returning from a tour of the US and Canada. So as I happened to be at the airport at the same time then I thought it rude not to wait and see them arrive and I did have a 30 minute wait for my colleague Markus flying in from Helsinki Finland. So I wanted to know who this elusive band was and see if I could get a few pictures as I always remember to carry my digital camera with me just in case.

Well the bands name is ‘ich troje’ and I had never heard of them, but they seem pretty popular in Poland and Ania the girl singer is cute! So with all the commotion I still managed to get some good pictures, especially after Ania’s television interview as she meeted and greeted her fans. So I thought I would wait in line and pretend I was a fan so I would get a better picture. Well I did not just get a better picture; she also gave me a big hug, kissed me on the cheek, so I returned the complement and squeezed my hand. Bloody marvelous I thought, and what a pleasure she probably thought kissing such a wonderful fan. She then said something to me, unfortunately in Polish then dashed off to make a get away in the car. I think she actually said, thanks for coming and I'll see you tonight big boy!

My buddy Markus arrived about 10 minutes later missing all the fun and off we went to our business meeting, unfortunately not in the city but an industrial park. As this was a last minute meeting and we had other scheduled meetings either side (in other countries) we did not have the pleasure to visit the city before we had to get back to the airport. These particular trips are killers, as you get up early and get home late. My day started at 4:00 in the morning and I returned home at 1:00 in the morning, so all in all a very long day.

Munich - Germany

My first time in Munich and what a beautiful city. Yes on business again attending a 2 day MMS Congress in an exclusive hotel (ArabellaSheraton Grand Hotel München) located between the airport and the city. The hotel was great, the Congress was a lot of fun and I met a lot of new prospects, so old colleagues in the industry and we all had fun in the city in the evenings, which of course is very cheap to eat out in. So with inexpensive food (Bavarian), local beer, good company, it made for a great time. I would definitely recommend Munich as a place to visit, with the old parts and modern, it is clean and friendly and very affordable.

Happy Birthday little Sis..

No longer a first year blogger!

I've finally made it, one year later and around 150 postings on my blog and I can look forward to some new and exciting stories to come. So was this worth the hard work, the late nights and the endless rambling? Yes I think it was, as I have had quite a few comments, mainly good, so thank you all for your kind words, a new template format change half way through the year, which made saving pictures far easier, and a passion for doing this has made it fun. I've actually covered quite a lot in the first year, so it will be a challenge to make the next better, but let’s just wait and see. I've actually steered away from football, so until Euro 2008 you can breath a sigh of relief.

Rome wasn't built in a day!

My work gives me the opportunity to travel to some really exquisite places and as I have never been to Rome this was a great time to see a most magnificent city. Although I was here on business I still found the time to do a little site-seeing and here are some of the pictures I have taken.

Has the spring srung?

What a beautiful day it has been today. Has the winter ended and the spring started? Well it seems so as the flowers are already starting to come out and eveyone seemed to be outside today lapping up the sun.

Who's reading my blog?

Is it you, you or you?

As I'm home sick it's a perfect time to catch up on my neglected blog, as you have noticed the blog entries are less and less. Although I'm very curious to know who is actually reading these as I have noticed (thanks to my page counter), that someone is reading my blog today, maybe several people as the counter is creaping up and it's not just with my activities. So please feel free to make a comment as sometimes I feel nobody is listening to me! :-(

It’s not all doom and gloom

Having just read through my latest blog entries I find I’m turning into a miserable old git! So without further a do I shall write something a little more pleasing. I have a collection of videos I have not yet had the chance to watch, but being sick is a perfect time to catch up on these. The first one was one I got at Christmas, a present from my younger sister as I said I wanted to keep up to speed with English humor as I’m still trying to influence Swiss people. So what did I watch, well it was a copy of ‘The Royale Family – The Queen of Sheba.’ A new feature length episode with great humor and a sentimental over tune, a real classic. This is real English humor depicting a lower class family and their everyday lifestyle, which in many ways we can all associate with and not too uncommon from my own family. Ha-ha!

Ich bin krank

Feeling sick is not pleasant and I thought I got away without catching the flu as everyone I seemed to come into contact with was suffering. But is snuck up on me and now I’m suffering big time. Yes the usual sweating, shivering, aches and pains, runny nose and sore throat and all for the weekend.

I have spoken with my Mum, elder sister and some friends and they all advise me to eat chicken soup. I did not ask them to tell me this but each in turn mentioned the healing powers of chicken soup. I thought this a little bizarre as they all spontaneously came up with the same thing as soon as I mentioned I have the flu. Very strange I thought, so I checked it out and sure enough it's supposed to work. Check the link and see for your self, or this one on 'killing a cold'. It could just be an old wife’s tale, but it's worth trying.