My mobile login is working and I’m blogging from North Pole (junction that is… where the train drops its tray and takes power from the third rail.)
This is my second to last trip as I will be given the keys to a company car come Wednesday!
I’m looking forward to driving to/from work and touring the country in the weekends.
I locked myself out of my blog whilst blogging from my mobile, and have now setup a unique user to blog whilst on the road.
For the life of me I could not recall my password, hence the inactivity for a few days.
Back up and running again now so I’ll update my blog with snippets about what I have been up to.
In the meantime, if you’re preparing to attend an exhibition, check out Inzvestor.com for some tips on making the most of your show experience.
If you can only see one movie this year and you have a conscience, hot foot it to Black Gold (http://www.blackgoldmovie.com)
Following a coffee bean from planting, to harvesting, to exporting, roasting and served to the consumer, this documentary, set in Ethiopia, highlights the plight of coffee farmers and their familes, on a global scale.
Consumer responsibility begins with us, and directly affects the lives of millions.
A real eye-opener, and makes you think about who you ‘could’ purchase your morning beverage from.
I made loaf of fresh bread for two of my colleagues who are comtemplating breadmaker purchases. The loaf was well received, and the smell on the train was amazing (still warm when I took it out of the house).
Tomorrow I am hoping for a hosted lunch when out visiting clients….
I’ve taken the opportunity to give the lawn a final mow before winter and have removed a great deal of thatch from the grass too.Our lawn is healtheir now than when we moved in to our flat just under 3 years ago, and the garden is in top shape going into winter.
We will be sad to move knowing that the garden has been a central focal point for the past few summers.
The Cyrils (squirrels) are still visiting, and gutsing down hazelnuts and peanuts when they come. Even baby Cyril comes into the garden on his own now, although he is a little too shy to hand feed as yet.
Our pansies are starting to flower and we will need to spend an evening planting out the rest to complete the winter planting.
We will leave the barbeque and lawnmower when we leave, as we won’t have a use for them on the 2nd floor…
Our Centameter has arrived and has been generating interesting figures over the past week.
We have been monitoring the efficiency of our appliances and the results will be published here soon…
Tonight we had the opportunity to bond as a team over dinner and drinks at a local Indian restaurant. The irony was that 5 out of 10 of us were Indian. The recommendations flowed thick and fast and we tried some exotic dishes (the sweetcorn curry is highly recommended).
We should do this more often (perhaps everytime we sign a new account worth over a million pounds…)
So that will be weekly then!
I’ll be out 3 nights in a row this week, and all will be `school nights` too.
Last night I met a former colleague at Henrys Bar in Piccadilly, tonight I’m out for a Japanese meal and tomorrow it’s Indian with my team.
The days are noticeably shorter now and I haven’t seen my backyard in daylight all week…
Autumn is a great time for socialising. The champagne tastes even better with a chill in the air to keep it cold longer.
Inzvestor.co.uk is changing servers (and hosts) in the next week.
We are expecting intermittent outages whilst the move is made.
The result is a more stable service and better support.
Thanks to my current host for a relatively troublefree last 18 months.
My pet hate is not being in control of my future. Theres only so much you can do and in some situations you have to rely on the actions of others.
Earlier this year I gained my UK Residency (Indefinite Leave To Remain) and knew that my wife had a similar experience to go through in October.
In April, the Home Office were instructed that people on a 4 year Ancestral Visa now had to reside here for 5 years before being able to apply for ILTR. Thia meant that several thousand people nearing the end of their 4 years would now have to apply for a 1 year extension, at a cost of £500, then wait a further year before paying another £500 for their ILTR Visa.
The conditions of gaining a visa had not changed but the paperwork has also increased, with original documents required to support the visa already stamped in the passport, to prove you were eligible in the first place.
Delays in receiving these have meant that she has been unable to attend a Visa appointment thus far and hope to have this resolved in the next few days so that the extension of her visa can be processed and secure our UK future.
Please Mr Home Office, look upon this application favourably!
If she does not get the extension she will have to fly to NZ and reapply for a new 5 year Visa. Not a cheap task by any stretch of the imagination.