University education

All I found the attached book in the library at my sons university, to be fair it is an American University and I suppose they do speak and write a different sort of English 

The First Tree of Christmas

October 24th at Heathrow Airport and the first tree of Christmas ... I knw there will be a lot of decorations to put up but October ... really

Not a combination I was expecting

I saw this sat at a set of traffic lights (in the passenger seat) I thought Turkish Wet Shaves and Children's Parties was an unusual combination

Rikers Island

just beyond New York's La Guardia airport in this picture is Rikers Island the home to New York's jails. there are 10 jails on the island with a population of approximately 10,000 prisoners. the place has a fearsome reputation but there was one statistic that I found quite sobering. 55% of the inmates are black and 34% are Hispanic. that means that 89% of the inmates are none white.

there is a huge debate going on in America about the treatment of black people by the police but if 89% of the people in prison in Ney York are none white then something is not working, it may well be true that the vast majority of people Incarcerated there should be there but there is something wrong with a society where 9 in 10 people who are locked up are none white.    

9/11 15th anniversary

firstly no it's not my picture but I managed to see the tribute last night and even with the light 

Pollution where I was I could see the lights and its a very powerful image

I happened to be in New York on the 15^th anniversary of 9/11 and I was privileged to watch the memorial service which was carried live by the local TV stations. There are a few musical pieces but the main part of the service is the reading of the almost 3000 names of the people killed. The names are read by relatives of the families. They read in pairs and each read about 10 names. The last name they read is their own relatives and the readers then spend a few moments speaking of their loss and the effect it has had on their family. It was a tremendously moving experience. It was particularly poignant when a name was read out as “XXX and her unborn child.”.   The reading of the names pauses briefly so a single bell can be rung at the moment each tower was hit and at the time each tower fell. it takes nearly four hours to read the names out and the ceremony takes place every year. undoubtedly this will be the single biggest event in my lifetime and the scale of loss is incomprehensible.    

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Icelandic Irony

A visit to Iceland this week and my guide pointed out the ironic situation in Reykjavik harbour. the two black boats are the last two remaining whaling ships in Iceland. they are moored up next to a whale watching boat. I am pleased to say that there are a huge amount of whale watching ships these days and the Icelandic seafarer's seem to have realised there is more money in what watching that whaling.   

Brilliant Art

the owner of the Local Cricket Ground has taken a long dead tree and had it carved into what he believes is the largest cricket back in England. It stands at 24 foot tall and therefore 4ft taller than what he believes to be the former largest one which is in Devon. it stands just outside the ground at square leg and was never hit when it was a tree, it will be interesting to see if anyone manages to hit it now it is a bat.   

the Obvious !!

Its the first time I have had a notice like this in a Hotel room I have been using, It was not as if it was a Hostel, the room was almost £200 per night

Not What I expected

I was in Saudi Arabia this week, this was the first time in this country for me/ as I am sure everyone knows it’s a complicated country to get entry to. I had to get permission from the Saudi Arabian Ministry Of Foreign Affairs  to apply for a visa, I don’t expect may visa applications are turned  down if you have to have permission to apply for a visa.  On arrival immigration was complicated with a lack of signage and conflicting instructions but after two hours I was in a taxi on the way to the Hotel.

I had a belief that Saudi Arabia was very restrictive and without doubt it is not the most open country in the world but I saw several groups of women walking around unaccompanied, although we sat in the single male part of the restaurant there was a women’s section and a families section. I was told the single male’s section was often closed at the weekend and an extended families section created.

One of the things that most surprised me was that beer could be bought in the supermarkets. Alcohol free beer but beer nonetheless.      

Signing .... and a new start

The business I run was a none core subsidiary of a larger aviation group. We had been growing rapidly and profitable over the last few years but as a none core subsidiary which was still small enough to be vulnerable if we were a standalone company I had been searching for a trade sale for a while.

Without going into any confidential details of the sale it was three incredibly hard and draining three months whilst we completed the Due Diligence on the sale before we reached the point of sale.

I had arrived in the Czech Republic the day before the deal and had a very pleasant dinner with a representative of my current owners. The following morning the lawyers from London, the representative and I made our way to the lawyers chose by my new owners, whilst we negotiated the final points of the deal the junior lawyers arranged the paperwork in another room.  Once the final details had been agreed we were able to start the signing.

The documents were numbered from 1 to 32 and there were 4 copies of each document Signing legal documents is not a simple as it might seem, different countries require different colours of pen or even different types of ink. In this case a blue pen was required. We started at 1 and progressed through the list. Part way through some documents required the notary who was in attendance to observe our signature and to note this in her register. At various points in the signing we had to have some official board meetings to allow directors to resign and new ones to be appointed. The Notary would call us to order and the read through the requirements. We had to appoint a Chairman for the meeting and I was to be the chairman for the first meeting she asked the assembled people if they were happy that I was to be Chair, we all said yes and there was a fully of voices in Czech before one of them said, we need a show of hands, she then asked us again as we raised a hand and I was appointed to chair the meeting.

Finally after three hours we had completed signing all the document and were waiting for the money to appear in the various bank accounts. There was a delay with this so the lawyers agreed to hold all the documents until the funds were received. At that point I left with my new owners so they could visit the company they owned for the first time.  I could not help feeling it was like a prisoner transfer…. I arrived with my current owners, we signed a load of documents and I left with my new owners. Leaving my old owners behind in the lawyer’s office. Quite a momentous day for me.                

10K (or 9,92K)

I recently ran a local 10K run, there seemed to be an issue about the distance, this was corrected by a lap of the cricket field on the way out and back

an important smoking area

a smoking area with its own lift, not often you see that

Menu errors

This is more common, my son pointed out the "Signle Espresso" although he was more concerned about what a "floater coffee" was.  

Attention to detail

Its been a while since I have been on the blog....... work again ! I have been taking photos though. I found this are the local DIY Store, surely someone should have read the instructions before accepting the shipment, Back in the day the lables would have been scrapped and new ones would have been printed but not these days it seems

Singapore Airport butterfly garden

Singapore Airport has a unique feature, an outdoor butterfly garden. It has a lot of foliage and they also put out flowers and fruit for them to feed on, there are loads of them and they are totally relaxed around humans and land on people for short periods of time. its an excellent way to while away a some time.  

Flexiable schedule

I had a few spare hours in Singapore recently and came across this  you have to be very easygoing to want to catch this ferry. the price is fixed (cash only) however the boat owner can decide when or even IF he want to sail. how would you ever know if you were going to get back? 

Do you really need a Criminal convision to get into Canada?

This is the interesting response when I applied for my Canadian ESTA, clearly they have a more relaxed attitude that the US. I am just popping out to rob the local corner shop to ensure I comply with the requirements

A moment

I am reminded why I write this blog.

It’s been a fairly gruelling start to the year, we are 19 days in and I have worked in five countries, visited seven and am on my way to my sixth and eighth respectively. My potential customer had invited me to a meeting and paid for the flights and accommodation, so I found myself on the way to Iceland. At the gate my boarding card rejected and was replaced with a business class boarding card, always a nice touch. After we departed I was presented with the wine list despite it only being 1:30PM. One very nice glass of Chablis later I was feeling very “relaxed” and it was rude to turn down the refill. I was then presented with a very tender chicken and rice meal and was feeling even more “relaxed”; possibly as relaxed as I have felt all year, watching the skyscape going past, good food and good wine. And then the moment was gone as the cabin crew member arrived with a pot and the single word “coffee” ah well its back to work ………………

The first trip is always a difficult one, generally it’s early in the New Year after a period of time off and getting back into the groove takes a few hours. On this occasion I had to visit Warsaw Doha and Hong Kong in the space of five days so it was going to be gruelling.

Sunday 3^rd January.

I was up by 9AM and packing by 9:30, I always travel “hand baggage only” if at all possible, it means you can be at the airport later and out of the airport quicker and without the stress of wondering if your baggage made it intact. On this occasion I was going to be away for seven days so I needed to pack carefully. Limiting your space means you have to think carefully about what to take, on this occasion I was going to be with two clients and one prospect in three different cities and with one exception only with them for a single day each time. As a result I was planning to get more than one day out of some of the clothing such as shirts and trousers.  So with the packing consisting of eight sets of underwear (one spare), five shirts, (two for evenings three for work) one pair of jeans for the aircraft one pair of trousers, one Suit and one pair of shoes I was ready.

Having had breakfast I left for my local airport at 11:00 to catch the 11:40 bus to Heathrow arriving at 13:10, by 13:30 I was in the BA lounge and catching up on some of the complex e-mails I had not dealt with over the Christmas and New Year break. At 14:45 I went to the gate to board the flight with eventually took off at 16:15 due to air traffic delays, on this occasion I had taken advantage of one of BA’s £120 upgrades to Business class, mainly because this would mean I would obtain enough tier points to retain my frequent flyer lounge access for another year and traveling like I do the lounge access is a godsend.  We arrived in Warsaw at 19:10 local time, I was staying in the Marriott courtyard across from the terminal which was good as the temperature was minus 14 Celsius. Having checked in on line I was given a key on arrival and in the room by 19:30. Having already eaten on the plane I stayed in the room and continued to work until 21:00 local time when it was time for bed.  

Monday 4^th January.         

As is usual I did not sleep well and only managed 6 hours waking at 6AM (5AM on my body clock) half an hour before the alarm was due to go off. First task was a quick run through of the fortunately small amount of overnight e-mails and then breakfast having carefully repacked my case to ensure I have everything.  My pickup was at 8AM so just time to grab some breakfast, the meeting was 1KM from the airport. With the meeting finished I was back at the airport at 2PM for a flight to Doha where I arrived at 11PM. It was quickly through customs and then to the Hotel where I arrived at midnight finally getting to bed at 1AM, with a pickup planned from the Hotel at 8AM I needed to be up by 7AM      

Tuesday 5^th January

I was up at 6:30AM with my body clock telling me it was 3:30AM, after a bit of staggering around managed to make it to the pickup by 8AM. The meeting concluded about 3PM and there was nothing planned for the evening so my colleague I and took the opportunity to visit the local Souk for something to eat, being the winter the temperature was cool and it was a great evening with some fantastic local food, which is a highlight of the Middle East, before returning to the Hotel to catch up on the work as the UK business day was just coming to an end.

Wednesday 6^th January.

Up at 6:30 to check the e-mails before the pickup at 8AM, I had managed to get a late checkout so did not have to pack fully this morning. As my body clock was telling me it was too early for breakfast I decided given that we had lunch planned for midday that I would not eat and wait until lunch. The morning meeting overran and lunch never happened. We finished with the customer at 3PM and they dropped us at the Hotel. The meetings had gone well and I was quite relaxed but at this point I had still not eaten and there was a possibility that we may be having dinner with the client. I needed to eat but not a massive amount, so it was a “club Sandwich” from the menu. I am not sure what they used for the bacon as being in the Middle East it would not have been pork but it tasted good. I had said to the client that I would be checking out of the hotel at 5PM and would be happy to have dinner before going to the airport but at 5PM I received a call that they were busy with budget meetings and would have to work late so I opted for going straight to the airport as we would not be meeting, Having checked in via the internet and with hand baggage only I did not need for the baggage drop to open in another five hours so I went straight to the departures lounge. Working in aviation I like to explore airports I have not visited as I am often asked questions about airport geography in my job so this being my first time at the new Doha airport I took the opportunity of exploring. After an hour, my curiosity satisfied, I took went to the business lounge.  I have managed to achieve the required status with One World and Star Alliance to gain lounge access and it is the single biggest perk for me as I spend a lot of time in airports and free WIFI, coffee food and a quiet place to work are precious. After 5 hours it was time to go to the boarding gate for my flight to Hong Kong, I had been hoping that the person organising my next meeting might have managed to upgrade me but it was not to be and I was destined for a night in an economy cabin. The flight left at 2AM and six and a quarter hours later we arrived in Hong Kong at 2PM in the afternoon. Initially I was not tired so watched half a film, I then fell asleep for about 4 hour before waking up and watching the other half of the film.

Thursday 7^th January

Hong Kong is a favourite city of mine, I grew up thee but I was not going to see it on this trip, time was short and the meetings were at the airport so the hotel was at the airport, The Regal Hotel is a personal favourite of mine with rooms that have a view over the apron. I noticed that there was a set of weighing scales in the bathroom and on weighing myself I discovered I was 80KG after the Christmas break so I will have work at losing  about 5Kgs-10Kgs before the spring. There was not much work as the UK was only just waking up and my Middle Eastern client had not sent me anything so I watched the aircraft for a couple of hours, at 6PM my colleague who had arrived the day before came to the Hotel for dinner and to catch up on his day with the potential client. Dinner and a few beers later I called my mother to wish her a happy birthday before going to bed.

Friday 8^th January

I was up at 7AM, my body clock had given up on me but it was 11PM the previous night at home. We met with the client at 9AM and were with them until 3PM, the meeting went very well, business is done by people and any “connection” you can make with your potential client helps in the relationship building, it turns out that the senior manager on the project used to live on the same estate as I grew up on in Hong Kong at about the same time. Whilst we have not signed them up there is a clear timetable to do so.  The difficulty is that in order to make the deadlines they want for the implementation it is clear we are going to have to work fast. This was the first week of January, they have to complete the business case before the deadline for the next financial management committee on February 24^th but there is Chinese New Year on the 8^th – 10^th February which is their primary holiday of the year so we need it complete by about the 4^th February. If we miss this the entire project will be put back by about 2 months.

With all this in mind my colleague and I had a further meeting in the airport to discuss the strategy and by 5PM I was done and back in the room. With Europe just waking up it was time to “start work” and I was busy until after 9PM when I went for some food. Back in the room by 10PM it was time for bed but with all the excitement I did not get to sleep until after 1AM.

Saturday 9^th January

The alarm went off at 6AM as I had a 9AM flight, I could have opted to go back to the UK late on Friday night but had decided to take a day in Beijing instead. The ticket I had purchased for the trip was EUR300 cheaper if I returned from Beijing and not Hong Kong so I redeemed some miles and purchased a “redemption ticket” from Hong Kong to Beijing. The flight arrived in Beijing at midday and I was not leaving until 1AM Sunday morning.  Those that no me know I am an aircraft nut and rather than drag my gas around town for 12 hours in -10C temperatures I opted for a day at the airport, China had grown enormously  and for me a day watching it is a day well spent.

Sunday 10^th January

A travel day, we left Beijing at 1;20 AM and after an 8 hour flight arrived in Doha at 5AM, leaving again at 7:45AM and back to Heathrow at midday, this it’s a two hour coach ride home so I should be in the house at about 3PM. One thing of interest to me, I am flying on an Arabic Airlines and they will serve Alcohol but the sausage in the breakfast is a chicken sausage so Alcohol is OK but not pork

Next Week

Tomorrow I have to be up at 4AM to drive to Heathrow and fly to Prague where a journalist is going to write a piece about my company and interview me for the trade press, the flight from London is at 7:20AM and I am back at Heathrow at 5PM so will be home by 7PM. Tuesday is a working at home day, Wednesday I have to be at Heathrow my 7AM for a flight to Brussels to attend an implementation meeting review with a new customer, once again I am back by 5PM so home by 7PM. Thursday I am in our Gatwick office and Friday I am having as a day off ……….        

First post of 2016

Well It’s another year, 2015 was a full on year at work and my postings we virtually none existent so I am going to try to rectify that in 2016. 2015 saw me take 143 flights one more than my previous highest and the vast majority of the trips were intra Europe so long day trips, The business is doing were well…. we expanded by 50% and we have a further 30% this year …. Before we sign any new customers.  The first trip of the year starts on Sunday and takes in Warsaw, Doha and Hong Kong with a 12 hour layover in Beijing (for pleasure) on the way back. I currently have 18 flights booked for January another high … although six of them are the first week and first trip and another four are social travel. At the moment February looks better but that’s a month away.

Plenty of people tell me that I should use webcasting but I am the manager of two companies, one in The Czech Republic and the other in Poland, both have their own management but I still have to visit from time to time. I am also responsible for the commercial work of the company and in my view no one buys things from a webinar, business is still done face to face, especially in the airline industry…… so I continue to fly.

Happy New Year