Follow Matthew's travels around the world…
Christmas Eve has come and gone, with a little indigestion and slightly fatter bellies all that we have to show for it. In our wake are two dozen Whitstable oysters, scallops, monkfish, a chocolate fondant and quite a few bottles of wine. In other words, the perfect way to start the season.
A little later than usual due to my extended stay in Singapore, this weekend marked our annual Christmas-tree-decorating party (my annual Mark Twain excuse for saying “come decorate our Christmas tree, it’ll be lots of fun!” and watching as others do all the dirty work).
There was mulled wine and mince pies, good friends and a lot of swearing at some very stubborn Christmas lights. Still, it’s what makes Christmas what it is, right?
Sandro sensibly takes a seat and watches the mayhem from a distance…
Back in the UK for a few days, and well rested after a week of wrapping-up the last of my Singapore project. Friday night was Aude’s Christmas party, and the first chance I really had to get into the Christmas spirit. Unlike last year (at the university dining hall, with catering to match), this year’s party was held at a local golf club and they did a really good job – good food, nice sized group, and a pretty good evening overall.
I’m back in the UK for an entire weekend, which seems like quite a luxury. After whinging (maybe a little too much) that I was only going to have 20 hours in the UK after being gone for nearly a month, my client (in an usual moment of displaying that he actually has some understanding of human compassion) suggested that I might spend the entire weekend in the UK and fly back out on Sunday night. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I promptly cancelled my Saturday flight and booked a Sunday flight instead.
I had an 8am flight out of Istanbul yesterday, which meant a 5am car – which meant a 4am start. And being a worrier, it actually meant that I was up at 2:30am, sleepless because I was afraid about oversleeping and missing my flight. In the end, there was no traffic – the airport was empty except for the families looking for information on their loved ones who were lost in the Atlasair crash. Quite a few police and ambulances were there as well to help with the grieving families. Not a great day to be flying out of Istanbul, all things considered.
My flight, thankfully, went without incident and I slept most of the way back to London. Heathrow threw up all its normal problems – no gates, problems with the jetway, and long waits for luggage – all of which meant that despite landing at 10:30am, I didn’t get to my car until nearly 1pm. I won’t miss flying out of Heathrow, that’s for sure.
I came home, cleared a huge pile of mail and filed my expenses – my normal routine after a long trip.
Our evening was lovely, with an invitation for dinner with Annmarie and Jiri to celebrate Annmarie’s birthday. Luckily Jiri had read my blog and knew that kebabs were probably off-limits – so instead he proposed a lovely dinner of Czech dumplings with beef. It was just what the doctor ordered.
PS – my new lens arrived while I was away, an early Christmas present to myself. I’m loving it!
For the first time in ages, it feels like summer again. We’ve had a beautiful bank holiday weekend with temperatures in the mid-20s and clear blue skies. A perfect opportunity to celebrate what’s left of our summer…
We spent most of Saturday running around town getting last-minute things done for the wedding. Neil will be happy to know that I managed to find a tie… We had lunch at one of the pubs in town with a big beer garden – it’s gone through a total transformation now that the smoking ban has been implemented across the UK. Gone is the old collection of a few picnic tables, replaced with elaborate marquees, lighting, heaters and new tables to make the smokers more comfortable. The only downside to all this “improvement” is that you’re now sitting in the de facto smoking section if you choose to dine al fresco.
Nevermind. We did some al fresco dining of our own today – Jiri and Ann Marie invited us to Whitstable to eat fresh Whitstable oysters (which turned out not to be from Whitstable) and fresh sea bass cooked on the barbeque. If I’d been less stupid, there would be pictures of champagne and oysters on here, but since I forgot to insert the memory card into my camera until mid-meal, you’ll have to use your imagination.
The highlight of the meal was Jiri’s lightning-fast reflex in killing a fly, then a David Attenboroughesque moment when we fed the newly-squished fly to the spider outside. Jiri and I were eleven years old again. The girls weren’t nearly as impressed.
The weather forecast for tomorrow is good as well. Fingers crossed for another summery day!
Jiri
Ann Marie manages to keep her sense of humour about the whole thing…
