Of Content Replication and the French Revolution

So, January 4th. Time for work to commence...

I got dropped off at Manchester Airport for the short hop down to London's Gatwick Airport, only to find the airport socked in fog, which caused massive delays. Luckily (thanks to the Silver BA card which I now proudly have a death grip on), I whiled away the hour or so in the Lounge at Manchester, which is really nice. You can get a shower, have coffee, juice, toast, croissants - whatever really. It was a bit early to start raiding the bar, so I was very well behaved. I plugged in to work and began catching up on the e-mail backlog. By the time I got on the plane, I was almost done. Mightly efficient...

Anyway, London came into view, we landed, got bags and hopped on the Gatwick Express. 30 minutes later I arrived at Victoria Station, turned right, crossed the road and checked in to the Park Plaza hotel - my home for 9 days.

BHP Billiton London is right next door, so in I went, and off to work we go. I prefer the London office to Houston in some ways as it's open plan, whereas Houston is not. While most people hate open plan offices, if you don't have an outside office in Houston, you are stuck in a room with no windows, or a cube, again with very limited natural light. Makes your eyes go weird after a while! When we finally complete all the moves in Houston however, I should get my own office with a real window, so my opinion will probably change.

As always, it was great to meet up with Chris, Nick, Bob & Liz on the Thursday night - thanks for making the trip! It's now traditional to do this you realise - it's happened twice now! We weren't very adventurous this time round, having drinks at only a few places: Victoria Station as we waited for people, Park Plaza lobby bar, Stage Door Pub just outside, and a final hit at a Weatherspoons place. Unfortunately we neglected to have anything to eat, which caused much missing of trains and Nick having to spend the night in my bath. Oh well! It'll prepare you well for sleeping in crappy places on your round the world trip!

Needless to say, I was a little tired on Friday, but managed to be deeply productive at work. Honest. (Really.)

At the weekend I headed up to Market Harborough for the wedding of Alex and Hannah (Liverpool people) It was great to be invited, and I really enjoyed the whole event. It was a proper church do, with people who knew how to sing. I'm sure I used to be able to sing reasonably well - I was in more than one Primary School musical... Either way, I was drowned out by the experts on this occasion!

The reception was at Noseley Hall, and was replete with the best fireworks display I've seen outside a concert or public display. Stunning... Wish you all the best, and I hope you enjoyed the Maldives!

The night before I left I was booked in to see Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. I've seen this before, but never in London, so I thought it was time. I was quite surprised by the size of the place - quite small in comparison to Manchester or the Liverpool Empire, but the show was possibly the best one I've seen - better even that the New York Broadway production. Well worth a trip. I can reccommend www.seetickets.com for excellent seats.

Next time I get to London, I think Miss Saigon will be on the cards, as well as a 'proper' visit to the Globe for some Shakespeare. Unfortunately I will have to save up a bit. I've been using the 'don't look at the bank balance' approach to personal financing of late, and I am not sure it's working...

So, Friday 13th... Superb day for flying... I clambered back on flight BA 2027 towards Houston, and arrived on time and in one piece, collected bags, cleared customs and immigration and was out of the airport within 30 minutes or so. Not bad for Americaland.

Houston is 20 deg C already, wet today, but warm. Summer is on the way... :-)

posted by Sam @ 22:07