Barely had I had time to get back home from our rather hectic weekend in Spain, when it was already time to travel back to that rainy, misty island nation, which is so dear to my heart…
The flight to Heathrow was rather trouble-free, apart from the typical 40-minute delay (ominously enough, due to bad weather…). And true enough, I was greeted by big winds and rain upon arrival… But I had expected worse, after Facebook comments about gale-strength winds and flooding…
After a short-ish day of work, I headed out for a curry with (one of the obligatory experiences on a visit to the UK) some colleagues from my team; Steve, Tasha, Samy and Mohammed to be precise. Instead of a Fleet venue that we normally go for, we opted for the Zaffron in Farnborough this time. It was a decent enough curry, and it was nice to catch up on the latest gossip… Afterwards, Mohammed was kind enough to take me back to my hotel; perhaps the worst-value-for-money hotel I’ve stayed at in England (and that’s saying a lot!). Not sure what I paid 120 euros for, really (and that was the company price!); since the rooms are iffy, the location honestly nothing to write home about (I mean, it’s in North camp…). Perhaps it’s considered a historic building, or something?
Tuesday was quite a relaxed day at work, since I was attending a training course (although the breaks were rather busy)… I was planning to spend the next couple of nights at Guilford, at Frank’s place (who’s working in Southwood for a few months). Handily enough, that also meant I could hitch a free ride with him (rather than doing the normal “shuttle bus/train/walk across all of Guildford to Phil’s place” routine). After a quick beer at Frank’s place, and some catching up with him and his lady friend; Mathilde, it was time to hit the pub. We were meeting up with Manue, Phil, Safak and Klaus at the Drummond (change of venue instead of the normal Stoke or Guildford Tup), It was good catching up with everybody again, and to hear about the big changes that have taken place in Guildford (apparently the construction of the casino is on the cards again – not sure whether that’s such a good thing though…). A nice sirloin steak, and a couple of pints (local draft beer from the Hogsback brewery, of course) later, we decided to hit the road (since Frank wanted to leave at 7 to be at work bright ‘n early). Well, we got sidetracked; unfortunately, since we spotted a new bar on the way back (the Piano Bar). But, a drink later, accompanied by philosophical chatting, we eventually made it back.
We did, amazingly, manage to start off at 7 o’clock… Thankfully, Wednesday was my second day of training, so my brain faculties were not required to function optimally. Nonetheless, we decided to head back to Guildford at the humane time of 5PM, rather than the originally planned 7PM. This time, we opted for a quite night in, with a nice pasta dinner (not even accompanied by wine…).
This meant I was on top form for a proper day of hard work on Thursday. The plan for the evening was to meet up in London. After a bit of last-minute-ish planning, we even managed to come up with a simple but effective game plan, which involved meeting up at the Match bar near Oxford circus, and then have a meal in a nearby Turkish restaurant called Efes. Thanks to Sinhung’s help, I was even able to handle the pre-London logistics (check into the Holiday inn again, drop off my luggage, and still make it on time for the 5 o’clock train).
So I made it on time for the 6 o’clock rendezvous at the Match bar (having taken in the Oxford Street Xmas decoration), where Adrian was waiting, on time as always. We were later joined by Samy and Emilie. It was entertaining listening to Adrian’s stories about his hard life at university (apparently he’s even stopped drinking to better concentrate on his studies – I’m sure it’s only temporary). It was also great to see Emilie again (for the first time in about 5 years I think?); she’s a friend of Mathilde’s who used to live in the North of France, when we first met (so we used to meet quite frequently for dinner parties and the like); and now she lives in London. It’s a small world we live in, eh?
We were then also joined by Louis, Kate, Sinhung, Frank and Matilda, and headed down to the Turkish restaurant, for a meal of typically generous proportions (although somewhat less generous than for example the Grand Bazaar). Great fun, again, catching up with the old gang. I think it’s what I miss most from our life in England; the cosmopolitan social life London can offer… (I suppose one could say the Cote d’Azur is cosmopolitan as well, but most of the non-French living are pensioners, so it ain’t quite the same thing…). After a very filling meal and a great deal of merry-making, it was time to head back to Waterloo to catch the train back to good ol’ Farnborough; although we did of course have time to squeeze in one more beer at the “panoramic” train station bar (it offers unparalleled views over WH Smith, Burger King, and a lot of drunkards…). The trip back to Farnborough was rather entertaining as we were trying to figure out what the contents of Kate’s mysterious parcel were… I had the great idea of walking home from the train station to clear my head – so had quite a short night’s sleep…
All in all, a very nice visit to the old island, great to catch up with all the old friends again. And in the end, the weather wasn’t that bad either… ;-)
The flight to Heathrow was rather trouble-free, apart from the typical 40-minute delay (ominously enough, due to bad weather…). And true enough, I was greeted by big winds and rain upon arrival… But I had expected worse, after Facebook comments about gale-strength winds and flooding…
After a short-ish day of work, I headed out for a curry with (one of the obligatory experiences on a visit to the UK) some colleagues from my team; Steve, Tasha, Samy and Mohammed to be precise. Instead of a Fleet venue that we normally go for, we opted for the Zaffron in Farnborough this time. It was a decent enough curry, and it was nice to catch up on the latest gossip… Afterwards, Mohammed was kind enough to take me back to my hotel; perhaps the worst-value-for-money hotel I’ve stayed at in England (and that’s saying a lot!). Not sure what I paid 120 euros for, really (and that was the company price!); since the rooms are iffy, the location honestly nothing to write home about (I mean, it’s in North camp…). Perhaps it’s considered a historic building, or something?
Tuesday was quite a relaxed day at work, since I was attending a training course (although the breaks were rather busy)… I was planning to spend the next couple of nights at Guilford, at Frank’s place (who’s working in Southwood for a few months). Handily enough, that also meant I could hitch a free ride with him (rather than doing the normal “shuttle bus/train/walk across all of Guildford to Phil’s place” routine). After a quick beer at Frank’s place, and some catching up with him and his lady friend; Mathilde, it was time to hit the pub. We were meeting up with Manue, Phil, Safak and Klaus at the Drummond (change of venue instead of the normal Stoke or Guildford Tup), It was good catching up with everybody again, and to hear about the big changes that have taken place in Guildford (apparently the construction of the casino is on the cards again – not sure whether that’s such a good thing though…). A nice sirloin steak, and a couple of pints (local draft beer from the Hogsback brewery, of course) later, we decided to hit the road (since Frank wanted to leave at 7 to be at work bright ‘n early). Well, we got sidetracked; unfortunately, since we spotted a new bar on the way back (the Piano Bar). But, a drink later, accompanied by philosophical chatting, we eventually made it back.We did, amazingly, manage to start off at 7 o’clock… Thankfully, Wednesday was my second day of training, so my brain faculties were not required to function optimally. Nonetheless, we decided to head back to Guildford at the humane time of 5PM, rather than the originally planned 7PM. This time, we opted for a quite night in, with a nice pasta dinner (not even accompanied by wine…).
This meant I was on top form for a proper day of hard work on Thursday. The plan for the evening was to meet up in London. After a bit of last-minute-ish planning, we even managed to come up with a simple but effective game plan, which involved meeting up at the Match bar near Oxford circus, and then have a meal in a nearby Turkish restaurant called Efes. Thanks to Sinhung’s help, I was even able to handle the pre-London logistics (check into the Holiday inn again, drop off my luggage, and still make it on time for the 5 o’clock train).So I made it on time for the 6 o’clock rendezvous at the Match bar (having taken in the Oxford Street Xmas decoration), where Adrian was waiting, on time as always. We were later joined by Samy and Emilie. It was entertaining listening to Adrian’s stories about his hard life at university (apparently he’s even stopped drinking to better concentrate on his studies – I’m sure it’s only temporary). It was also great to see Emilie again (for the first time in about 5 years I think?); she’s a friend of Mathilde’s who used to live in the North of France, when we first met (so we used to meet quite frequently for dinner parties and the like); and now she lives in London. It’s a small world we live in, eh?
We were then also joined by Louis, Kate, Sinhung, Frank and Matilda, and headed down to the Turkish restaurant, for a meal of typically generous proportions (although somewhat less generous than for example the Grand Bazaar). Great fun, again, catching up with the old gang. I think it’s what I miss most from our life in England; the cosmopolitan social life London can offer… (I suppose one could say the Cote d’Azur is cosmopolitan as well, but most of the non-French living are pensioners, so it ain’t quite the same thing…). After a very filling meal and a great deal of merry-making, it was time to head back to Waterloo to catch the train back to good ol’ Farnborough; although we did of course have time to squeeze in one more beer at the “panoramic” train station bar (it offers unparalleled views over WH Smith, Burger King, and a lot of drunkards…). The trip back to Farnborough was rather entertaining as we were trying to figure out what the contents of Kate’s mysterious parcel were… I had the great idea of walking home from the train station to clear my head – so had quite a short night’s sleep…All in all, a very nice visit to the old island, great to catch up with all the old friends again. And in the end, the weather wasn’t that bad either… ;-)
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