I have been off the blog for the last few months, work has been incredibly busy and as a result I have not had any spare time to consider anything just flights, airport hotels and family. However this week I have found a few spare moments and something to write about.

 I am attending a conference at the Sands gambling complex in Macau this week, the scale of the place is quite frightening. More money is gambled in Macau than any other place on the planet. At 8AM when I was walking to breakfast, inevitably through the casino there were people playing the “high stakes” tables where the minimum bet is approximately £100 and the maximum bet approximately £1500.   Later in the evening I briefly watched someone on the baccarat tables gambling £500 per hand and when he cashed out a few minutes later he had £2500 left in chips, I don’t know what he started with. The conference was fairly busy and on a separate floor, these casinos are really designed to make you forget where you are and I did not leave the hotel from the moment I arrived on Tuesday at Midday until I finally broke free for a walk outside at 6PM on Thursday evening. It took me 10 minutes to walk from the lift lobby to the breakfast room, there were corridors that were wider that the roads in my village. The thing that worried me most would be what would happen if there was a fire and a power failure, I am not at all sure I would get out alive.         

Review of 2014

I am running late this year so the 2014 review is an early posting in 2015. This is the end of the fifth year of this blog; I find that hard to believe. 2014 brought 112 flights totalling 333 hours and visiting 38 different airports in 23 different countries flying 245,618Km. I created 31.2 tonnes of CO2 1.67Kgs of methane and 1.36 tonnes of Nitrous oxide.  

finally in 2014 my business caught as break and what a huge break it was; we had a record year in both the Czech Republic and Poland  and I have signed new business that will see an expansion of 40% with more to come that is not yet signed. 

Highlights for 2014  was my first visit to japan in 10 years and the onwards to Hawaii as well as the volunteering I do in the local school Air Training Corps and Football club. I am hugely lucky to have a wife that supports this activity and without her I would not be able to do this.

here's to a great 2015 

What is the cabinet alarmed about?

Would you drive this truck?

this truck was seen recently in Cambridge by my son.

the carol service

I have just returned from the local outdoor carol service, it was a clear night and as usual it was a really heart warming affair and certainly the start of Christmas, This year it was a little different.  To commemorate the 1914 Christmas truce the first verse was sung in German  and as the carol finished the International Space station came into view and was clearly visible to everyone at the service.  

Harry Potter

I was passing through Kings Cross last week and I managed to find the very famous "platform nine and three quarters" of Harry potter fame. the first picture is of the queue to have your photograph with the luggage cart in the lower photograph. there is also a large Harry Potter gift shop which was packed. Kings cross station is also on the open top bus routes. Its amazing how much of a global phenomenon the Harry Potter books have become

a Lovely Sunset in Palma

I spent a night in Palma recently. It was not walm but there is something about a beautiful sunset over the water.