Well it hasn’t been an exciting two weeks per se, but I have managed to get most of the jobs that needed doing, done, and even started planning some of the big jobs that are on the list for next year.

It hasn’t been all work however and I have enjoyed a few long lay in’s, long lunches, and a few beers here and there, including a few with Gary Clarke, an old school friend who I hadn’t seen for 10 years. It was a nice evening picking up more or less where we left off and catching up with the latest gossip. It turns out that we have been working around the corner from each other for several years now and hadn’t bumped into each other.

I also managed to catch up with the jobs I had promised others I would do including building a Windows 7 tablet for my sister and finally setup a wireless network at her house that I have been meaning to do for months. I also managed to setup WiFi for my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin, and configure an old NetGear SC101 NAS box for my parents as a backup device for there two Vista laptops.

I feel rested and ready to tackle the world again next week, safe in the knowledge I only have six weeks until I have another two weeks off over Christmas. I still have a few little jobs to do but these involve shopping something I think is best done on a nice day when I can walk into town and finish in a pub.

So last week was the first stage of the plan. I had already started to sort my study out, but this was mainly limited to the evening”s and was a pretty half hearted attempt as I was so tired when I came in. Well, last week, dedicated to the task I didn”t just clean the study out, I went through the bedroom cupboards and draws and sorted out all the old stuff that I am never going to fit into again. This done i set about speaking to gardeners, kitchen, and bathroom fitters. I started to investigate skip hire and trades people and now have a plan of what it is I want to do and how I want things to look.

It wasn”t all work however, I also managed to scan in the first batch of old family photo”s which are now available as part of the Family Archive Project (Linked to on the left hand side for future reference). I managed to catch up with a couple of friends and family, and of course generally relax (Lovely being able to just go out for a walk and see where you end up). All things I haven”t really done since coming back from India, well except for the walk as I never did really have a natural sense of direction.

One other thing I did a lot of was think about how much longer I can keep up the commuting to London. It really does take a huge chunk out of each day and without doubt is impacting my ability to have any real form of a personal life. The biggest problem is that the job market is pretty depressed at the moment and I do enjoy what I do and where I do it. More thinking to do I think!

Well, the next stage is the implementation, but I will keep you abreast of what”s going on and hopefully you will be kind with my choices. At the end of the day however it”s what I want so feel free to voice an opinion, just don”t expect me to agree.

Last week was a busy week in the office as everything is now really getting back up to speed after the Christmas holidays. Friday we had an all day off site meeting to review the projects that are taking place in 2009 and firm out the delivery details.

Saturday Mum, Dad, and I ventured off to the Vue cinema in Basingstoke to see Slumdog Millionaire. The film is a story an Indian Tea Boy that win’s the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and more specifically the story of how he got to be on the show and go on to win.

It’s an extremely good film, and I would highly recommend it to anybody. For me the filming reminded me a lot of my time in India, and my trip to Mumbia.

Sunday was a day to catch up with paper work, an area that I have been neglecting recently. It was a productive day however and now I am up to date. I also got to work on my workflow a little bit, and for those that don’t understand what I am talking about when I talk about workflow I am talking about how I handle and process paperwork.

I used to like most other people action inbound paperwork and then simply file it in a traditional filing cabinet. Well, I moved on to scanning the paperwork and digitally storing it before shredding it. This meant that I could lose the unsightly filing cabinet. Well this weekend I took that a step further integrating it with how I handle my personal finances and how I capture the resulting actions, especially the repetitive ones. I also managed as an output to translate that into a system to track and identify tasks relating to my personal goals. I still have a bit of work to do on this, but once I have it all clear in my mind I’ll write it all up for those that are interested.

Mum & Dad went down Christmas Eve and I drove down Christmas morning just in time for breakfast. William and Eleanor had been up since 06:00 and had already opened all there presents from Santa, but there were still plenty of presents under the Christmas tree.

William was very excited and really didn’t know what to play with first. Katrina cooked a wonderful Christmas dinner with all the trimmings and we all ate far to much as usual.

After dinner Rob played Santa and handed out the Presents from around the tree and in traditional fashion we took it in turns to open them. William was exhausted by about 17:30 and headed off to bed. We eventually finished up about 19:00.

After supper we sat around talking and drinking until about midnight. William slept right through until 08:00 Boxing day morning and was almost the last one up.

Boxing day was an opportunity for William and Eleanor to open the remaining presents. William was still very tired, but so were the rest of us. We all enjoyed the traditional Boxing day dinner before heading home. Check out the rest of the photo’s here.

So in my last post I was Duty Manager and trapped in my apartment in India planning my trip to Thailand, so let’s start there. Well on the Monday Chris Gothard, a collegue from the UK arrived in order to meet the team and discuss a few organisation changes. It was a great week and Chris enjoyed putting names to faces and catching up with people that he had only spoken to previously via the phone and email. It was a busy week with a lot of stuff to cover but we got through everything and even resolved some long outstanding issues. Sometimes its just so much easier when you can sit down and discuss things. Friday was Chris and Sandra’s last day in India before they flew back to the UK so there was a big party to see them off. I think most people from the team in India made it along at some point and judging by the fact you couldn’t get on the dance floor I think everybody had a great time.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling a lot better than I expected to given the amount I had poured down my neck. I love a free bar! Karan was prompt as usual and after manhandeling my suit case into the car we headed for Delhi’s IGI Airport. I arrived with plenty of time to spare but I was in holiday mode and didn’t care as I sat there listening to my iPod watching the world go by. We boarded the plane, and my backside struggled to get use to the economy seats. Thankfully it was only a three hour flight and after few beers to top up Friday nights quota I was soon asleep.

Okay you can now see the edited highlights of the Mumbia & Goa.

For those involved the unedited DVD will be on sale for £1999.99 Excluding VAT (Victims Additional Tax).

Okay so starting at the begining Karan picked Laurence and I up at 07:30 Saturday morning and we drove to the domestic airport terminal. Laurence, Sandra, and Chris all flew with SpiceJet but I was on a Go Air flight that was supposed to leave 5 minutes earlier, not that is the reason I booked it, I booked it because I wasn’t paying attention. The flights were about an hour late taking off but we all arrived at Mumbia airport within minutes of each other and all met up outside. Leon, a friend of Chris and Sandra’s, flew into Mumbia International from the UK and the hotel cab picked him up then came around to the domestic airport to collect us before we all headed to the Farias hotel where we checked in, dumped our bags, and meet by the pool for a few drinks and a late lunch. After lunch we headed off into Mumbia, checking out the Gateway to India on the way.

We wandered around the streets taking in the sights, sounds, and smells, before making our way towards the beech for a long walk along the promenade. We stopped off for 10 minutes to take a walk down to the sea. Laurence and I then headed to Leopolds bar for a few beers leaving Sandra, Chris, and Leon on the beech. We got to Leopolds and it was obvious we were not going to be able to eat as the queue for the restaurant was out the door and half way up the street. So we headed upstairs to the bar and ordered a couple of Budwiesers. The place was dark, crowded (mainly with ex-pats) and very very smokey. We were half way through our second beer when Sandra, Chris, and Leon walked in. We quickly decided we were all hungry and tired so we finished our beers and decided to walk back to the hotel for dinner. We walked, talked, and headed in the general direction of the hotel. We were just starting to doubt ourselves and a street kid came up to us offering to show us the way. We turned left and walked about 200 yards and we had arrived. Laurence gave him about 8 rupees (10p), and we all laughed at his demands for 20 as we headed for the hotel restaurant. We grabbed dinner and a few more beers before all heading to our respective rooms for an early night.

Sunday morning we met for breakfast by the pool and discussed the plans for the day. We decided to head off on a boat trip to an Island called Elephanta (http://www.sacred-destinations.com/india/elephanta-caves.htm). The island is basically a set of 5 temples all carved into the rock. They are pretty worn now, and any restoration that has been done hasn’t done anything to preserve the beauty of the carvings etc, but we walked around all 5 caves and then up to a place called Cannon Hill. Named basically as it featured a large cannon on top of a hill. After a little rest and a bunch of photo’s we headed back down the hill only stopping off for a quick soft drink. We were just in time for the 13:30 boat back and most people snoozed all the way. We arrived back at the hotel and met up with another friend of Chris and Sandra’s called Scott who has setup camp in the bar. We dragged him out and up to the poolside bar where we had lunch and got to know each other over, yes you have guessed it, a few cold beers.

It was early evening by the time we set off out taking Scott to see the Gateway to India and the streets of Mumbia. We found one of the other hotels we had considered and decided to stop for cocktails and later dinner. We had to be at Mumbia train station for 23:00 so we all ordered stuff that we knew wouldn’t take long to prepare, cook, and eat. We left the hotel and grabbed taxi’s back to the Fariyas to collect our luggage and then drive us to the train station.

We arrived in good time but checking the boards we found the train was running 45 minutes late so we headed to a waiting room and waited it out. The train eventually arrived and we found our bunks. We made ourselves at home and then sat back and took in everything that was going on around us, you know the call for Coffee, Tea, and Chicken Lollipops, before eventually succumbing to tiredness and falling asleep.

We woke up Monday morning traveling through some beautiful countryside and it all looked so much more civilized. I decided to go for a smoke and stood by one of the

open carriage doors watching the landscape rush by. We arrived about two hours later and booked a couple of pre-paid cabs for the journey to the hotel. It was so nice seeing different (non-city) scenery and now I felt like I was on holiday. We arrived at the Oceanique Hotel about 45 minutes later and by this time we all needed a little down time. We had slept on the train, but maybe not as well as any of us would have in our own beds. We checked in and the first thing I needed was a shower and a shave. I came back down to find Leon, Scott, and Laurence by the pool and it took no effort to join them lying there in 33 degrees as they organized the drinks.

After a swim and a few beers we headed out in search off food by way of the beech. Sandra, Chris, and Scott has gone ahead of us and had found “Bob’s Bar”, or something like that. Laurence, Leon, and myslef had waited for Ndidi, who had flown in from Delhi that morning, and then walked down to join them. We took our seats and enjoyed some great food and yes a few more cold beers. We sat, we talked, and we watched the ocean before heading back to the hotel for some more R&R agreeing to meet up later in the bar. Well after a shower (yes another one, well it was hot) I wandered down to the bar and ordered a beer. My intention was to have one, maybe two, and then go exploring as I wasn’t tired. It didn’t quite work out that way. I was about halfway through my first beer when Ndidi walked in. She wasn’t tired either, having only flown the couple of hours from Delhi. She was closely followed by Laurence, Leon, Scott, Sandra, and Chris. Now after this things are a little bit of a blur. I remember sometime later we decided it was time to head out for dinner and I remember walking into town with the gang. I also remember saying to Chris that I wasn’t hungry and was going off exploring. The basic upshot was that I had figured out I was rat assed and needed to go to bed. So I wandered back to the hotel, stopping off for a beer or two on the way, and once back at the hotel I promptly passed out. I am told that the rest of them bar Chris and Sandra didn’t fair much better as they were drinking until about 02:00 Tuesday morning.

Tuesday morning I found Chris, Sandra, Scott, and Ndidi in the restaurant having breakfast. Sandra had arranged for cab’s into old Goa. Chris, Sandra, Scott, and Myself headed off in the first cab about 10:30 and the others left about 11:00 in the second cab.

Goa was invaded and occupied by the Portuguese and is predominately Roman Catholic. We l
ooked around ruins of old Churches and some of the older churches and cathedrals that are still very much in use, before heading down to the Quay and the admiralty arch that most of those that came here entered through. We then headed back towards the hotel as Sandra, Chris, Scott, and Leon were all due to leave. Scott and Leon for Jaipur and Chris and Sandra for Delhi.

We decided however there was enough time for lunch if we went straight there and that’s exactly what we did. Well Sandra, Chris, Scott, and myself. Leon walked down from the hotel as they had got back before us and went for a final dip in the ocean, and Ndidi and Laurence walked down to say goodbye. I got the cab back to the hotel with Chris, Sandra, Scott, and Leon, and opted for a few hours by the pool.

A couple of hours later, a subtle shade of red, hot, and sweaty I decided on a shower followed by a couple of cold beers. Laurence met me in the bar and we headed down to the beech to find a bar and food. Ndidi was going to catchup with us as she had a massage booked. We sat, drank, ate and then bar hopped our way back to the hotel.

Wednesday morning I woke and the guys had arranged to go and see a spice market. I had already toured the Delhi spice market and decided a day by the pool and on the beech was in order, and we agreed to meet up at the airport.

I spent a couple of hours laying by the pool before heading off to the beech. I spent my last 5 hours sitting on the beech,

swimming in the sea, and sitting at a beech bar with a cold beer watching the world go by, before getting a cab to the airport to meet up with Laurence and Ndidi.

We had a good flight back, and I slept all the way. Laurence’s driver picked us up at Delhi Airport and dropped us all back home.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday I chilled out at home, did a little shopping, got my hair cut, and drank some more beer. I think tomorrow I might venture to the gym!

Otherwise check out some of the photo’s the others took;

• Chris’s Photo’s.

Okay so today I am feeling rough and very sorry for myself. Chris, Sandra, Laurence, and myself went out to dinner last night at a place called Charcoal, which sells steaks. We all had the same thing, a medium steak with peppercorn source, but this morning I haven’t stopped throwing up and my stomach is on fire. The annoying thing is that everybody else is fine, which makes me think maybe it wasn’t the dinner, but maybe what I had for lunch. Either way it’s time I can’t really afford out of the office as I am away next week.

So Saturday morning we (Chris, Sandra, Laurence, and Myself fly from Delhi’s domestic airport to Mumbia (formally Bombay). Two of Chris’s friends join us Saturday in Mumbia and we have Saturday and sunday to look around before getting the night train down to Goa where we have a few day’s rest and relaxation. Chris and Sandra fly back Tuesday, and Chris’s friends fly onto Jaipur. Laurence and myself are staying on an extra day and fly back Wednesday evening. I then have the remainder of the week to generally chill out.

So the upshot is that this is the last post until probably next Thursday, but hopefully I will have some great stories and photo’s to share.

Friday was back to work for me and I also had to go to the ministry to re-register but after that I sent Karan back to the apartment to pick up Mum & Dad who then went off shopping. Friday night was the start of my first Duty Manager shift so Mum cooked at home (Home cooking). I eventually finished work at 04:30 Saturday morning. Mum and Dad had arranged for Karan to pick them up at 10:00 and they headed off to spend some more money. I woke up about 10:30 and resumed working. Mum cooked again and we had another evening in. About 04:30 my internet line stopped working and I was left working on my BlackBerry, eventually getting to bed about 05:30.

Sunday I still had no internet connectivity so went around to Laurence’s where I camped until about midnight. Lucky things were going largely to plan and I finished about 01:30 Monday morning. I grabbed a few hours sleep and then Mum, Dad, and I headed off the Delhi, in particular the old part. We went straight to Karims for lunch before touring the narrow side streets, stopping off so Mum could buy ribbons and other handy craft bit’s and pieces and so Dad could take a look around a Jain temple. We headed back towards the point we had agreed to call Karan from but he found us before we could get there. We headed back to the apartment for a shower and a change of clothes and then to Dine Estey for dinner. Tuesday morning Karan picked us all up at 11:00 and we headed to the City Center mall were we left Mum to have a Manicure and Pedicure. Dad and I headed to the gym, where Dad had a massage and we both had a Sauna. We then headed back to the City Center mall and met up with Mum at Ruby Tuesday’s for lunch, before returning to the apartment for a sleep as Mum and Dad had an early morning flight. We woke up about 19:30 and headed to TGI Friday’s for dinner.

Mum and Dad left at 03:00 Wednesday morning, and me, well I went back to bed. I woke up at 11:30 and opted for a lazy day, chilling out on the sofa. Thursday morning Karan picked me up at 11:00 and I opted for another me day. I headed to the City Center mall where I had my first every manicure and pedicure. I then headed to the gym where I had a Balinese massage, and a sauna, before returning home for an afternoon nap. I woke up about 18:00 and Laurence and I headed to Italiano for dinner and a bottle of wine.

This morning I had another lay-in (Something to do with the bottle of wine) and headed to the Metropolitan Mall to do some shopping. I have had my eye on a pair of Bose headphones for a while now and finally took the plunge. They weren’t cheap, but I figured I was owed a treat. So now I am back at the apartment. Karan is due to pick me up at 16:30 so I can goto the gym and then tonight I am off out with my team leaders for our monthly offsite team dinner.

Not sure what the plan is for the weekend yet, but it’s warming up here now (28 Degrees) so am contemplating sitting by the pool at one of the hotels, but then it depends largely on alcohol consumption this evening.