Lyon again
So... back in Lyon. And it's cold (for Lyon). They're not exactly into handling snow and ice, so I skated my way through the park into HQ this morning (note to self: heels and ice do not really mix). The lake in the park is semi-frozen, and the sight of a row of seagulls sitting on the icy part was... cute.
First, weird thing about the journey. I told myself I had four hours to sit and write, so opened the laptop, and tried to put some ideas down. Either I was more tired than I thought, or I'm allergic to writing suddenly. I felt sick, dizzy... maybe it was the movement of the train, or... I dunno. Managed a page before giving in, and read instead. Hm.
On arriving, checked in and - awwww. The hotel's not busy, so they upgraded me to this honking great suite. Nice but... huge. Sir, who arrives tomorrow, will no doubt be impressed - part of the perks of being here so often. Nice, though. Also, got the modem working (cheaper than the wi-fi, but still $$$).
The meeting was OK. As in my brain co-operated (I think). Promised to write up at least the main points over the weekend for the Monday meeting, where they need to present that to the Head Honchos, aka the Executive. Did a couple of hours tonight before Junior arrived.
However, kept being greeted by various people from various departments, all of whom are bombarding me with dates for which they've 'reserved' a budget for report writers. So having hoped it would be a quieter year... wrong. In addition to the 5-6 usual things plus the 4 extras I knew about, it looks like another six missions - at least. Including Cape Town (May), Croatia (September) and Hong Kong (November) plus another 3 in Lyon. Possibly one in New York. All that given that there's already Minsk, Jakarta and Rio... urgh.
All I can say is they had better make wid da contracts in good time so that - er - other people get to join in the fun. All the new ones are solo stints, apparently, although they'd promised that long-distance trips needed two people in case I get struck down by Montezuma's revenge.
We shall see. Plenty of 2- and 3-people things as well. I am just not doing everything, however, $$$ or not, and air miles or not. I am old.
Junior arrived with Chinese takeaway last night, which was fun. I promised to take her out tonight, so we went to the place nearby... to find two Supercops (Austrian with wife and Australian with student daughter) who I know well (and like). They co-opted the two of us and much - much fun was had by all. Junior had an absolute ball. So nice to have some off-duty time with really great people (and the food was amazing too). Sir would have loved it, actually - in fact I wished he was there - but he's arriving tomorrow lunchtime. Some of the guys here are really amazing company - reminds me of the parts I like about it (i.e. anything but the - er - work)
Speaking of which, tomorrow morning, I have to get nose down seriously and get stuff written up.
First, weird thing about the journey. I told myself I had four hours to sit and write, so opened the laptop, and tried to put some ideas down. Either I was more tired than I thought, or I'm allergic to writing suddenly. I felt sick, dizzy... maybe it was the movement of the train, or... I dunno. Managed a page before giving in, and read instead. Hm.
On arriving, checked in and - awwww. The hotel's not busy, so they upgraded me to this honking great suite. Nice but... huge. Sir, who arrives tomorrow, will no doubt be impressed - part of the perks of being here so often. Nice, though. Also, got the modem working (cheaper than the wi-fi, but still $$$).
The meeting was OK. As in my brain co-operated (I think). Promised to write up at least the main points over the weekend for the Monday meeting, where they need to present that to the Head Honchos, aka the Executive. Did a couple of hours tonight before Junior arrived.
However, kept being greeted by various people from various departments, all of whom are bombarding me with dates for which they've 'reserved' a budget for report writers. So having hoped it would be a quieter year... wrong. In addition to the 5-6 usual things plus the 4 extras I knew about, it looks like another six missions - at least. Including Cape Town (May), Croatia (September) and Hong Kong (November) plus another 3 in Lyon. Possibly one in New York. All that given that there's already Minsk, Jakarta and Rio... urgh.
All I can say is they had better make wid da contracts in good time so that - er - other people get to join in the fun. All the new ones are solo stints, apparently, although they'd promised that long-distance trips needed two people in case I get struck down by Montezuma's revenge.
We shall see. Plenty of 2- and 3-people things as well. I am just not doing everything, however, $$$ or not, and air miles or not. I am old.
Junior arrived with Chinese takeaway last night, which was fun. I promised to take her out tonight, so we went to the place nearby... to find two Supercops (Austrian with wife and Australian with student daughter) who I know well (and like). They co-opted the two of us and much - much fun was had by all. Junior had an absolute ball. So nice to have some off-duty time with really great people (and the food was amazing too). Sir would have loved it, actually - in fact I wished he was there - but he's arriving tomorrow lunchtime. Some of the guys here are really amazing company - reminds me of the parts I like about it (i.e. anything but the - er - work)
Speaking of which, tomorrow morning, I have to get nose down seriously and get stuff written up.