It’s been nearly 3 months since my last visit to the misty Island of England, so ‘twas about time to pay my team a visit again… My arrival was untroubled (I’m rather impressed with Terminal 5 at London Heathrow, seems that my flights are nearly as often on time as they are delayed – a considerable improvement over past years!)
Since my last hotel stay wasn’t a very memorable experience (I stayed at the Lismoyne hotel – which has been in some trouble lately – not very surprised about that!), I decided to go for a bit of class and stay at the Aviator – which is definitely the best hotel I’ve ever stayed at in the UK. I was so impressed with my room or suite rather, that I seriously considered just staying there the first evening. However, I eventually decided to go for a bit of Chinese with Sinhung instead (during which our company’s woes and troubles were dissected over a few drinks as always…).
On Tuesday night, I decided to organize a bit of a team meal at Fleet, as tradition would have it. As usual, most of the people who showed up were actually outside my team, but hey, as they say in France “c’est la vie”. We started off at the Prince Arthur with a few pints of proper English ale; myself, Esa and Jarno (who was visiting Southwood all the way from northern Tampere) being the 1st to show up (Finns are always on time, right?). Later we were joined by a fairly good bunch of people, and headed off for dinner at the Oatsheaf (where the woes and troubles of our company were dissected over drinks by even more people). All in all, a great night out! Although I have to say I wasn’t overly impressed by the food at the Oatsheaf.
My usual “South-East of England business trip” tour continued Wednesday night with a night out in Guildford (for this particular night the luxury of the Aviator was exchanged for the more cozy charms of Phil’s Guilford flat living room). I was actually running a bit early for my dinner appointment, so decided to have a walk around Guildford to check in the old sights again… It really is quite a quaint little town, Guildford, especially when the weather is nice, as it was on this particular spring evening. The cobble-stoned high street, the castle with its well-tended gardens, ah the memories…
‘nuff nostalgia and bring on the food though, I say! So off I set to the Cote, a well-rated French restaurant just off High Street, where I was meeting Phil, Nick and Emmanuelle. Very nice to see the lads again, but especially nice to see Emmanuelle, whom I’ve not seen since her birthday party 2 years ago (she’s moved to Essex since, which is kind of inconvenient to reach from Farnborough). The food was very nice indeed – I was positively surprised since French food is often overpriced and –rated in the UK. Me, Nick and Phil then headed on to the King’s Head for a few pints to finish off a very nice evening.
Thursday night, the grand finale then, took place in Fleet again. This time the line-up was I, Jarno and a couple of Danish collaborators. We started off with a most excellent Nepalese meal in Gurkha Square (I’d forgotten how good the food was there), after which we finished off with a few pints in the Emporium. Feeling rather old, all of us, watching the teen agers queuing up to get into Jaxx across the street – Jaxx being the coolest (and also only) night club in town.
All that socializing would’ve deserved me some rest back in France, but alas, ‘twas not to be since our holiday was starting the very next day, upon my return to France… More about that later!
Since my last hotel stay wasn’t a very memorable experience (I stayed at the Lismoyne hotel – which has been in some trouble lately – not very surprised about that!), I decided to go for a bit of class and stay at the Aviator – which is definitely the best hotel I’ve ever stayed at in the UK. I was so impressed with my room or suite rather, that I seriously considered just staying there the first evening. However, I eventually decided to go for a bit of Chinese with Sinhung instead (during which our company’s woes and troubles were dissected over a few drinks as always…).
On Tuesday night, I decided to organize a bit of a team meal at Fleet, as tradition would have it. As usual, most of the people who showed up were actually outside my team, but hey, as they say in France “c’est la vie”. We started off at the Prince Arthur with a few pints of proper English ale; myself, Esa and Jarno (who was visiting Southwood all the way from northern Tampere) being the 1st to show up (Finns are always on time, right?). Later we were joined by a fairly good bunch of people, and headed off for dinner at the Oatsheaf (where the woes and troubles of our company were dissected over drinks by even more people). All in all, a great night out! Although I have to say I wasn’t overly impressed by the food at the Oatsheaf.
My usual “South-East of England business trip” tour continued Wednesday night with a night out in Guildford (for this particular night the luxury of the Aviator was exchanged for the more cozy charms of Phil’s Guilford flat living room). I was actually running a bit early for my dinner appointment, so decided to have a walk around Guildford to check in the old sights again… It really is quite a quaint little town, Guildford, especially when the weather is nice, as it was on this particular spring evening. The cobble-stoned high street, the castle with its well-tended gardens, ah the memories…
‘nuff nostalgia and bring on the food though, I say! So off I set to the Cote, a well-rated French restaurant just off High Street, where I was meeting Phil, Nick and Emmanuelle. Very nice to see the lads again, but especially nice to see Emmanuelle, whom I’ve not seen since her birthday party 2 years ago (she’s moved to Essex since, which is kind of inconvenient to reach from Farnborough). The food was very nice indeed – I was positively surprised since French food is often overpriced and –rated in the UK. Me, Nick and Phil then headed on to the King’s Head for a few pints to finish off a very nice evening.Thursday night, the grand finale then, took place in Fleet again. This time the line-up was I, Jarno and a couple of Danish collaborators. We started off with a most excellent Nepalese meal in Gurkha Square (I’d forgotten how good the food was there), after which we finished off with a few pints in the Emporium. Feeling rather old, all of us, watching the teen agers queuing up to get into Jaxx across the street – Jaxx being the coolest (and also only) night club in town.
All that socializing would’ve deserved me some rest back in France, but alas, ‘twas not to be since our holiday was starting the very next day, upon my return to France… More about that later!
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