Danny Boy

aka Danny Boyle.

I actually left London to enjoy the Opening Ceremony in Kent. I wonder whether I would have been able to see the fireworks from the flat. In any case, I really enjoyed it. I don't think I watched the Bejing Opening Ceremony. To be honest, I don't remember anything about the last Olympics. This might have been because I didn't have a telly at the time. But I can't be sure...

Danny did a wonderful job. I kept thinking from an events manager's point of view: how on earth can you orchestrate all this? All the different elements that perfectly came together - including all the children who were involved. And just generally so many volunteers.

What I loved most:

• the hill with the tree at the top - I'm trying to convince my partner that we need to replicate it in the garden
• the Queen and James Bond making their entrance - she does have a sense of humour (even if she can't bring herself to smile)
• the fact that young people lit the flame (bookies will have to pay back all the money they took for bets on who was going to light the flame; Steve Redgrave claimed until 30 minutes before the start that he didn't know anything. A secret well kept!)
• the fact that the Olympic flame is made up of many small flames
• watching all the teams coming into the stadium and commenting on their outfits. Classic baby blue and pink for the Germans - well, I guess we are not particularly known for a good dress sense...

Fingers crossed and the Germans will manage to catch up with bringing home some medals. At least 'we' (I'm aware my contributions have been invaluable...) finally managed to get the first one today!

Thank you, Boris!

Seems that commuters have been carefully listening to Boris' [Johnson's] announcement in the run-up to the Games. My colleagues and me had been dreading the start of the Olympics and the - or so we thought - inevitable chaos that would ensue and make the commute even more miserable than it is at the best of times (usually half-term, when at least some of those with kids don't travel to work).

We were all pleasantly surprised: I got a seat on both the DLR and Northern Line. Even Bank was LESS crowded than usual. Despite having been branded one of the hotspots. During the morning as well as evening rush hour, everything was running smoothly. Touch wood, that it will stay this way.

There were a couple of problems on Sunday though: Waterloo closed because of a fire alert, DLR between Bank and Shadwell was suspended for a while with severe delays on the rest of the line and they had to bring the cable car to a halt at some stage. Due to adverse weather conditions. Quite worryingly, the cable car was still moving (with passengers on board) while that announcement was made! At the time it was raining only lightly. And I thought that it would be rather impractical, if the cable car wasn't able to run during light rain. Given that the probability of rain in London is quite high... As it turns out though they had been worried that lightening would hit! Fortunately, nothing happened in the end.

Which also reminds me, that a few days ago, the cable car came to a standstill and passengers were stuck for about half an hour up in the air. Again, fortunately, nobody got injured or anything. But not exactly the place you want to be. Especially as nobody seemed to be able to figure out what cause the problem. This all shortly before the Olympics in a city like London, people instantly feared a terrorist attack.

A little bit of Venice in Spain

From Granada, I went on to Malaga for one night, before my flight went back to the UK. I stayed at the Hotel Venecia, a *** hotel right in the city centre on the Alameda Principal, one of the main roads. The location is perfect: walking distance to the beach, the shopping mile and all the sites in the city centre. It also means though that there is a lot of noise from the traffic on the main road, even with the windows closed. In addition, the noise from the other hotel rooms, especially the one above me, was very annoying. I think noise is really the one factor that very often spoils my stays at hotels. Other hotel guests show no consideration about their 'neighbours' and just behave as if they are the only people around. Even in the middle of the night.

The room itself, including the bathroom, was very spacious, especially for a *** hotel. The aircon had seen better days, but was still doing the trick. The room even came with a little balcony. Unfortunately, I found a clipped toe nail in the bathroom and a massive cockroach, which tried to hitch a ride to the UK in my suitcase. Fortunately, I spotted it before I closed the suitcase...

So, all in all, I don't think I would stay there again. But I guess for the price (~€62) and the location, it's ok.

Good sized and comfortable bed

TV with two German channels!!

could-have-been-cleaner bathroom

View from the balcony

Red Castle

I just about managed to squeeze in a visit of the Alhambra. during my stay in Granada. I had been looking forward to having a lie in on the Saturday, but as I didn't get tickets, we had to get up early to be there before it opened at 8:30am. We were - and still had to queue for an hour. But it was all worth it! As it was still early, the temperature was also still bearable.

Being ignorant, I knew (and know...) nothing about the history about the place - but I just took in the beauty of the place. The intricate decorations everywhere are just stunning.

Here's just a small selection of the dozens of photos I took (until my camera's battery died...):

A trillion calories

It didn't quite fit with my new healthy diet (which hasn't really yet translated into practice) but after a stupid day in the office, I wanted a little treat - and it was yummy!

Chocolate brownie cheesecake

Feeling blue

I don't know how I do it - and I might have written about this before - I ALWAYS manage to get one or more big fast bruises when running an event. I can usually cover them up with tights, but it was way too hot for tights in Granada. I always seem to managed to walk into one of the boxes/crates/my own suitcase.

"I bruise like a peach..." [this is my knee btw]

I do not like being taken for an idiot

We organized a joint meeting with another organization a few months ago. I only just now received their final budget. Based on this budget, we generated a profit - which of course should be shared but had not been mentioned to us. When I politely pointed this out, I was suddenly sent a revised budget, which now included a 30% admin charge. Needless to say, that WE did not charge them for OUR admin time nor had this ever been mentioned or been included in the draft budget 6 months ago.

I was absolutely furious! We do a lot of joint events, and never have I experienced anything like this before. Why would you treat a partner organization like this? The irony is as well that they could have easily manipulated other cost factors in the budget and I would not have noticed nor demanded to see receipts. Openly being taken for an idiot is not something I appreciate. And what I detest the most is the fact that they actually think they can get away with this kind of behaviour. Are they banking on 'English politeness' prevailing?

Too bad for them that I am not English.

Granada is hot in July

Very hot indeed. Good air conditioning is therefore high on the list of criteria of a good hotel. I went to Granada for work and stayed at the 5* Hotel Nazaries. And the air conditioning worked very well. My room came with twin beds, which was very handy as I was able to sleep in one and use the other to dump all my stuff on.

The bathroom was big and came with a wide range of toiletries, including a toothbrush and toothpaste - which really should be standard in all hotels! How often do you go on a trip and end up having to buy a toothbrush, because you've forgotten yours at home. Plus a razor, a comb and the more common shower cap, shoe shine and of course shampoo and shower gel.

The shower had a massage panel. They only worked all by themselves, rather than all at once, which I think would have been much better. But I'm not complaining. Contrary to my colleagues, I didn't end up flooding the whole bathroom (God know how they managed - but they swore that they just had a normal shower). The toilet and bidet are behind the glass wall, left of the mirror. I really liked the design of the sinks, too.

The hotel lobby comes with an impressive chandelier and you are welcomed by a very welcome coolness, which is so refreshing when coming in from nearly 40C outside.

There were a few downsides though: despite four lifts being available, I always had to wait a considerable time for any of them to come. Secondly, the Wi-fi connection (included in the price) was very weak, thirdly, there was no foreign TV channel available. Well, until my colleague's partner complained and we were then able to watch BBC World News. Last but not least, the windows weren't very sound-proof and I got woken by the building works outside at 7am every morning.

The hotel is located about a 10-15 minute walk from the city centre and at a price of €89 for B&B, I would definitely recommend it.

Sunday roast and a life in the countryside

It's nice to get out of the city once in a while. And a day in the countryside is always perfectly complemented by lunch in a traditional English Pub. And on a Sunday it really has to be Sunday Roast - of course with all the trimmings! After eight years in England I am even growing fond of gravy!

The other week, we stopped in Steyning, West Sussex on our way down to Brighton. Steyning is a small village with around 5,800 villagers. It comes with cute little houses and I would love to live in one of them. I wouldn't want to have to commute in to London though. So, unfortunately, as long as I haven't won the lottery and while I still have to work, it's probably not going to happen.

We will return for more Sunday Roasts though at Whites bar & kitchen! I enjoyed the Limousin Sussex Sirloin of Beef, and my partner had the South Downs Slow Roast Leg of Lamb - both came with dripping roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding (I never quite understand the concept of this piece of dough - but it's delicious!), cauliflower cheese and fresh local vegetables and of course gravy.

beef with horseradish sauce and burried red cabbage

lamb with mint sauce

lovely, isn't it?

Church Street

...and the church is just round the corner

Suburbia

Balls Bridge is a bridge in Dublin. Though the area is officially called Pembroke, it is often referred to as Ballsbridge. It's in the suburb of Dublin, but only a 15 minute walk away from the city centre. It is known for its very expensive properties. And the houses were indeed lovely!

I stayed at the Clyde Court hotel, who offered me a complimentary junior suite. The room was big, with a walk-in wardrobe, and king-size bed. Unfortunately, the guests in the suite above me were having a party. At 6pm. Loud music and shouting and even with the telly on in my room, I could hear it all. Feeling a little ungrateful, I went to reception and asked whether I could have another room. It wasn't clear whether another room was available and I was sent back to my room to wait for their phone call.

Half an hour passed and I decided that I would much rather pay for a room elsewhere than stay the night. I went back to reception. Apparently, the manager had gone to speak to the guests and asked them to keep the noise down. With no effect of course. I should have received a phone call. Which I hadn't. They did have standard rooms available, but they basically didn't want to give me one, as they were under strict instructions to treat me well, as they were hoping to get my company's business. I tried to explain to them again, that I really appreciated this, but that I would walk out of this place if I wasn't able to have another room.
So, eventually, I was given a standard room with views of the Aviva stadium.

The hotel room was nice enough, but the windows did not isolate very well. I wasn't even facing the main road, but the noise level from the outside traffic was surprisingly and annoyingly high.

I went for a little walk around the area and the houses really were stunning. Some of the were completely fenced off - or rather walled off - from the street. I thought the walls very much covered up the niceness of the houses.

View from the second hotel room

Love the balconies

High security?

This was the front of the houses!

I've always wanted to have bay windows like these

I love the windows on the side of the house

Not sure what this is meant to tell me...

Ballsbridge is also home to this monstrosity of a building

Good and bad tired

Good tired:
After a long day, you feel tired. You can't really keep your eyes open anymore. And you don't have to, cause you can just snuggle up in bed. And you know you will fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow. And you can sleep for as long as you like, as the alarm clock will stay silent the next morning, because it's finally the weekend.

Bad tired:
You get woken up at 4:00am by some w*nkers who think it's a great and hilarious idea to shout at the top of their voices on their way home from (presumably) a night out.

Monkey time

Dublin Zoo is located in Phoenix Park, one of the biggest (if not the biggest) inner city parks in the world. You can hire the Meerkat restaurant at Dublin Zoo for events such as dinners and weddings. During the day, it comes along as a rather simple cafeteria for Zoo visitors. At one end it includes the meerkat enclosure. That's the first added bonus - enjoy your meal while watching these ueber-cute animals!

The restaurant easily fits 200 people for a sit down dinner. You can hire a VIP animal for the night, such as a snake, so guests can get photos taken with the snake. For a little extra, guests can also be taken on 30 minute guided tours through the Zoo.

I'm not sure I would want my wedding there and it's quite difficult to imagine the room all made up, as it looks very basic during the day, but I do think that it offers a different experience, at a reasonable price - not easy to find in Dublin, which turned out to be surprisingly expensive.

After the visit of the Meerkats restaurant, we also had time to take a tour of the Zoo.
Have I mentioned that I love the perks my job comes with (at times)?

once you've stared at the bums - just look at the cute little one!

having a little snack on this very cool tree

cuddly, furry and so cute

I've never seen so many giraffes in one place - they didn't all fit into the photo

Quirky and colourful design

On my recent trip to Dublin, I went to check out a number of different hotels as potential speaker hotels for my event next year. All of them 4* and perfectly fine. But one of them was special and I completely fell in love with it: Trinity Capital Hotel.

The hotel is located in the city centre, just a few minutes from Trinity College and Grafton and O'Connell Street. It's above/next to a fire station - which worried me a bit. But the fire engines are not allowed to sound sirens after 9pm and before 7am - so you are guaranteed a noise-free night. In addition, windows facing the street are triple-glazed.

Rooms are spacious with spacious bathrooms. On the ground floor there are a number of restaurants and bars, with their own quirky designs. The lobby is dominated by impressive plush sofas and behind the reception desk is a collection of vintage pieces of luggage.

Prices for B&B start at €99. My photos unfortunately didn't turn out that great - the ones on the website are much better. I will certainly be back on my next trip to Dublin!

I want the red one for my living room!

with a bit of hoover coming in from the left

lobby with a fireplace

reception

14 days, 2.5 hours

... until the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics.

If Londoners are excited, I am unaware of it. Life goes on as usual. Public transport is getting busier with tourists starting to arrive because of summer holidays having started. This week the newspapers have been full of mis-management headlines regarding the security: too few trained security dogs, and extra help from the army being flown in from abroad. There has also been another problem with a flyover which they might not be able to fix before the Games and which will add further to the already anticipated traffic chaos.

There were also discussion about the (in-)appropriateness of the sponsors. Does fast food go together with sports? But also: who else would put up the money to fund the Games?

It's a bit of a pity, I think. Maybe the excitement will arrive when the torch arrives in a week's time. Even though personally, I'm just dreading the tube and DLR delays that will surely occur.

The Games also promise to be the wettest Olympics ever held.
Ah well, London is fulfilling all the cliches, isn't it?

Hope There's Someone

Good news

Who would have thought that chemotherapy could be regarded as good news.

Blood results are back and my Mum is able to continue the chemo, even though at a reduced dose. Her hair has started falling out after just one treatment, which she had four weeks ago. I always thought that this bit would bother me the least. After all - the hair will grow back. But now that this is actually happening to her, I am finding it really upsetting. One's hair is just such a prominent feature of one's appearance. You can't overlook the fact you are losing your hair, every time you see yourself in the mirror.

Next time I see her, she will look so different. If the hairdresser gets her way, she will have a blonde wig (my Mum has naturally black hair, and nowadays black with grey streaks).

Eating out

I love eating out. Not least as there is no washing up afterwards!

I am probably one of the few people on this planet who get excited about food on planes! Even with the normal-cost airlines, food nowadays only consists of a bag of crisps or peanuts. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when BA served a full English breakfast on my recent flight to Edinburgh.

Fish'n Chips at the Clyde Court Hotel in Ballsbridge/Dublin. Nice presentation, a tiny portion of pea puree and a reminder that I don't like plaice. Plaice is one of the English words where I ALWAYS forget what the German translation is. After having eaten this though, I hope I will remember next time. Secondly, what I like most about fish'n chips is the batter. And the batter wasn't that great.

Fettuccine Carbonara at Pacino near Grafton Street in Dublin. Massive portion and a little too garlicy for my taste but otherwise nice and very nice service, too.