Being on call all weekend I knew a quiet weekend was in store. I planned a Sunday Roast for Saturday evening, and then decided to invite Philippe, Ana, Jon and Pete along to try and dispell the myth about how terrible English cooking is. Even if I do say so myself, it turned out very well. Roast Chicken with roast potatoes, sausages, bacon, (home made) stuffing, carrots, brocolli, peas, sweetcorn and gravy. So here is how I did it: Made the stuffing. Minced up 4 pork(ish) sausages with 120 grams of breadcrumbs and a table spoon of parsley and sage.…
I’ve started to notice a trend with these posts. When I’m having a good time, I don’t stop to update the page. When I’m in a foul mood, I write as a form of therapy. So yes, I’m pissed off again. Guess what… road works, landlords and Spanish traffic, but I won’t go into that in detail. All I will say is that we were about to sign a contract on a flat yesterday (one we’d been working toward for the last 6 weeks) when we discovered a new construction, building a block of flats, had started up next door.…
Nice to be back in the UK. Welcomed by clear sunny winter days, Espe and I have had a busy extended weekend. Tarnished only by persistent colds and coughs for the pair of us. Saturday saw us off to Clapham North for the Annual Christmas Tapas meal, this time combined with Dan & Holly’s leaving do. Heading off to Australia on Boxing day they were graced by the company of 70 friends and colleagues. An excellent afternoon had by all, and I must say, a considerably less messy evening than the last two years. It was great to…
Once again a long time since my last update, but there’s quite a few things I want to cover. Firstly, a film: Koyaanisqatsi… Go watch it. Made by the same group of people that made Baraka (one of my favorite films) from the 80’s its an excellent display of cinematography with a matching sound track that should certainly get you thinking. Check out the koyaanisqatsi website. My work has taken a big change. There’s been a large re-org so I now belong to a different group. Initially no-one knew I was there and I wasn’t even welcomed into the group…
Back to Spain. Welcomed by a broken lock, a non functional lift and of course the roadworks… Still its not all bad. I have Esperanza and Fraggle Rock to keep me calm. Why fraggle rock? Well a few weeks ago one of the pub quiz questions was “what was the name of the dog in Fraggle Rock?” This inspired me to search for some episodes for memories sake. What did surprise me was how when Nico, Klaar, Espe and I sat down to watch it, we all sang along to the theme tune… each in our own language. It seems…
With my 2nd two weeks in Krakow drawing to a close, we managed to round a whole collection of engineers and hit the town for some beers. We started off in CK Brewer again, great food and large beer taps on the table. After that we moved onto Rdza. One of the many underground (literaly) clubs in Krakow. My third visit here, probably because Magda loves the place. Magda is the quietest person in the office, but after a couple of beers and some music, the difference is incredible. She will strut her stuff wth anyone (particularly the French), but…
Yesterday evening 12 of us went of to a go karting track in Krakow. One of the Cap engineers organised this and with 14 of us in attendance it was a good crack. (Nik: 25:05 is the time to beat!) Some more photos can be seen hereWe followed this up with a few beers and dinner. This, much like every night here, turned into a lot of beers and a club. Got to bed at 3:30, but thankfully I was on lates today. Seriously flagging right now though. Need to perk up as tonight is my last night here, and…
Yesterday I made the trip to Auschwitz in the south of Poland. Aushwitz was the largest of the Nazi concentration camps and today serves as a museum and memorial to the attrocities that went on there. Many colleagues had pointed out how horrendous it was, and others didn’t even want to go. It was indeed very disturbing, above all the size of it all, but even visiting the different sites that made up Auschwitz I could not begin to imagine what it was actually like. As Lenny put it, this was industrialised killing. It is quite hard to beleive that…