The main event for John's birthday was a surprise party which I'd been arranging by email for months! This has taken up a good deal of time and energy and lots of great support from our friend Alison Clarke and John's Manchester PA, Sue Neesham, who helped me to find a venue, create a guest list and track down endless email addresses and contacts. Readers of the blog will be unaware of all the preparation as, since John also reads the blog, I've been unable to talk about it!
We held the event at Imperial College, London and about 30 of John's former colleagues and friends were able to join us for canapes, drinks and speeches from David Bogle, one of John's early PhD students, Stratos, a long standing colleague and friend from Imperial and Lord Ron Oxburgh, former Rector at Imperial. Those who couldn't attend were able to send John messages, as, with a great deal of help from my good friends at Wordsearch (huge thanks to Katie, Kelly and Sandra) I managed to create a book, full of lovely words about John over the years, coupled with some compromisingly photos of his life!
We managed to keep the whole event a surprise. John thought we were going for dinner with Alison and David and that David had to drop some papers off at Imperial. I was sure he'd got wind of it but he claims he had no idea until he actually walked into the room and found it full of so many people he knew! It was a great event and a fairly august gathering with several Sirs, a Lord and the government's chief scientific advisor. I hope it made John feel special and realise how highly he is regarded by so many great people. I think it can be very hard in a new place, having to build a reputation from scratch after so many years - I know I feel like that myself. Anyway we had a great time and a lovely dinner afterwards with Alison and David, Liz and Keith Guy and Phil and Jane Ruffles and I was so relieved to have pulled it off and kept the surprise going for all that time!
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Celebrations for John's 60th
We spent John's actual birthday back at Luton Hoo, where we had our wedding. I think it has to be one of my most favourite places in the whole world and naturally it has such happy and romantic associations that I can't help but love being there. They made a tremendous fuss of us, Marje, the wedding organizer came out to great us and they brought us champagne to have with our sandwiches when we arrived and upgraded our room. Everyone kept wishing us a happy anniversary so we gave up explaining that it was still a month away and this was actually John's birthday. We stayed in a room we'd been in before, when we were organizing the wedding which has a beautiful view of the formal garden and a bathroom bigger than most people's living rooms. After a wonderful birthday supper, a good night's rest and a session in the pool and spa we headed to Rachel and Andrew's to be reunited with my side of the family and enjoy a curry and a catch up. We also had to admire Kirsty, who had been subjected to a professional grooming session from a lady who made her stand in a cage in the kitchen. Mum had been holding her nose to ensure there were no stray nips when combing the tricky bits and she looked very fetching!
Saturday morning we set off for Leysdown where we picked up Isobel and then made for the Hotel du Vin in Tunbridge Wells where mum joined us for another birthday celebration. Hotel du Vin is always a bit quirky but fun too and the food is great so we all had a nice dinner, a huge breakfast and a few celebratory glasses. Our trips to the UK always seem to involve huge amounts of delicious food and drink and I return to Abu Dhabi with a distinctly tight feeling in the clothing department and need to go back to the cereal bar and fruit regime to ensure that I don't have to repair too many zips and replace too many buttons!
Saturday morning we set off for Leysdown where we picked up Isobel and then made for the Hotel du Vin in Tunbridge Wells where mum joined us for another birthday celebration. Hotel du Vin is always a bit quirky but fun too and the food is great so we all had a nice dinner, a huge breakfast and a few celebratory glasses. Our trips to the UK always seem to involve huge amounts of delicious food and drink and I return to Abu Dhabi with a distinctly tight feeling in the clothing department and need to go back to the cereal bar and fruit regime to ensure that I don't have to repair too many zips and replace too many buttons!
Tooth ache and preparation for UK trip
The last weekend before our UK trip should have been a nice wind down with J back from his overseas trips and everything coming together. We had a lovely evening on the Friday when Helen and John came round for a meal and I was able to return some of their hospitality. Then on Saturday we had a lovely trip to the beach, had lunch watching the end of the Abu Dhabi Triathlon and a good swim - all strange to think that we would soon be back in the UK in March and not the kind of weather for beaches or sea swimming. However, during the course of the day my mouth started to hurt and by Sunday morning my face had swelled up and I was in serious agony.
You've got to hand it to the health service round here - I got a Dr's appointment for lunchtime and once she'd decided it was definitely tooth related she sent me straight down to see a dentist in the same hospital who I was able to see with just 20 minutes waiting. The dentist sent me straight for a pain killing injection (in a slightly embarassing place but it was well worth the indigity) and gave me a presciption for two kinds of anitbiotics and an appointment to return the next morning. X-rays were done in the same hospital on the spot and linked back to the dentist surgery via computer. Surprisingly the dentists were most complimentary of the UK dentist's root canal work and could find no reason for the huge abscess which had formed deep in the root so decided to do nothing but let the anti biotics deal with the infection. So far it has fixed it so I'm keeping everything crossed that I don't have to go back for a replacement root canal but I know I'll be in good hands if I do have to. This was all covered, bar 20%, by our health insurance which was even better. The main downside was a pretty severe reaction to one set of anti biotics which left me suffering a bit for several days and an embarrassing throwing up episode outside the business class check in but great faith in the Abu Dhabi health system.
In the middle of all of this I was also trying to get everything tidied up in order to be away for a bit but fortunately I can rely on Nidal to pick things up and she took over my 'to do' list very efficiently. I spent the last day redoing one of the ad agency contracts for one of the subsidiaries and at last felt like I had been able to make a useful contribution.
We headed for Manchester on the flight which leaves Abu Dhabi in the wee small hours which is a little painful, but despite my infirmities I managed to force down the obligatory glass of pre take off champagne - purely medicinal of course!
You've got to hand it to the health service round here - I got a Dr's appointment for lunchtime and once she'd decided it was definitely tooth related she sent me straight down to see a dentist in the same hospital who I was able to see with just 20 minutes waiting. The dentist sent me straight for a pain killing injection (in a slightly embarassing place but it was well worth the indigity) and gave me a presciption for two kinds of anitbiotics and an appointment to return the next morning. X-rays were done in the same hospital on the spot and linked back to the dentist surgery via computer. Surprisingly the dentists were most complimentary of the UK dentist's root canal work and could find no reason for the huge abscess which had formed deep in the root so decided to do nothing but let the anti biotics deal with the infection. So far it has fixed it so I'm keeping everything crossed that I don't have to go back for a replacement root canal but I know I'll be in good hands if I do have to. This was all covered, bar 20%, by our health insurance which was even better. The main downside was a pretty severe reaction to one set of anti biotics which left me suffering a bit for several days and an embarrassing throwing up episode outside the business class check in but great faith in the Abu Dhabi health system.
In the middle of all of this I was also trying to get everything tidied up in order to be away for a bit but fortunately I can rely on Nidal to pick things up and she took over my 'to do' list very efficiently. I spent the last day redoing one of the ad agency contracts for one of the subsidiaries and at last felt like I had been able to make a useful contribution.
We headed for Manchester on the flight which leaves Abu Dhabi in the wee small hours which is a little painful, but despite my infirmities I managed to force down the obligatory glass of pre take off champagne - purely medicinal of course!
Thursday, 11 March 2010
The ups and downs of life!
This week has been an interesting one with plenty of ups and plenty of matching downs! I just can't get the hang of how things get done around here and I think expecting people to be able to do things when you think they need doing is almost impossible and I should work much harder on achieving a zen like state. Me and zen are not things which go naturally together though as I tend to be more of a rushing around sort of a person.
Nidal has been off ill so I've really had to learn a bit more about getting the basic things done. John was less than impressed when a pop up exhibition stand arrived in our living room late last night and the two guys then proceeding to demonstrate to me how to erect it! However, they couldn't bring it to the college where we were exhibiting at any of the right times so it seemed like the only solution. John helped me to put it in the car and there were endless helpful guys at the other end who trundled it into position and helped me to put it up. It didn't help that in the rush last night one of the guys broke off a crucial plastic clip so I was forced to hold one of the panels on with a wodge of blu tack - I think it looked alright but it wasn't the best. I then had a hissy fit because the lady in HR had not sent the driver on time with the brochures though he did manage to arrive before the students started coming through. I was also able to admire the Masdar Institute stands and collateral that I helped to produce before Christmas when I was working with Wordsearch. I know I'm biased but I thought the looked great!
Excellent news in that I finally managed to find photos that my boss was happy with for his calendars and he's signed them off. OK so you might think March was a bit late for reprinting calendars but who am I to say! If anyone would like 500 2010 calendars I'd be willing to accept a fair price. He also liked the new format of my weekly report with a combination of Power Point and Excel so maybe I'm making progress.
I went down to the exhibition centre to talk to the people who organize the big defense show, IDEX. It's not taking place till next February but there already seems to be a lot of activity going on though I've no doubt that most of it will come together at the last minute as usual! We should have an amazing stand and we are presently talking about having a tank with scuba divers included and people abseiling down the new citygate tower next to the exhibition centre. It would be a great way of raising awareness for our training but perhaps a little on the ambitious side.
I've also been working on the design and venue for a possible management weekend conference and for once this resulted in a perk in that one of the hotels offered my a complimentary overnight stay. I thought that might give us a perfect little break if we went back out to Qasr Al Sarab on Friday night but as it turns out they are full this weekend so I'm going to use it when we go out there in April with Mum and Jo.
I also managed to scratch the car which I'm pretty fed up about. My own carelessness of not noticing that someone had knocked the metal stand at the entrance to our parking where you enter your card. Consequently I swung in at my usual angle and hit it. It's only a scratch but apparently before I can get a little guy to repaint it I still have to get a police report from a particular police station somewhere on the island. They must have a busy time with the amount of car scraping that goes on round here and my lovely Jeep is now less than perfect.
A talent search chap from an American company working out here called me, having found me on linked in, about a marketing role he's looking to fill and I've made it onto the shortlist. Whether it comes to anything or if I even think a move will be better I don't know but it's good for the confidence levels and general feeling good about myself which are pretty low at the moment.
Still it looks like I'm still quite marketable even after the struggle of trying to make some progress at EAI.
Nidal has been off ill so I've really had to learn a bit more about getting the basic things done. John was less than impressed when a pop up exhibition stand arrived in our living room late last night and the two guys then proceeding to demonstrate to me how to erect it! However, they couldn't bring it to the college where we were exhibiting at any of the right times so it seemed like the only solution. John helped me to put it in the car and there were endless helpful guys at the other end who trundled it into position and helped me to put it up. It didn't help that in the rush last night one of the guys broke off a crucial plastic clip so I was forced to hold one of the panels on with a wodge of blu tack - I think it looked alright but it wasn't the best. I then had a hissy fit because the lady in HR had not sent the driver on time with the brochures though he did manage to arrive before the students started coming through. I was also able to admire the Masdar Institute stands and collateral that I helped to produce before Christmas when I was working with Wordsearch. I know I'm biased but I thought the looked great!
Excellent news in that I finally managed to find photos that my boss was happy with for his calendars and he's signed them off. OK so you might think March was a bit late for reprinting calendars but who am I to say! If anyone would like 500 2010 calendars I'd be willing to accept a fair price. He also liked the new format of my weekly report with a combination of Power Point and Excel so maybe I'm making progress.
I went down to the exhibition centre to talk to the people who organize the big defense show, IDEX. It's not taking place till next February but there already seems to be a lot of activity going on though I've no doubt that most of it will come together at the last minute as usual! We should have an amazing stand and we are presently talking about having a tank with scuba divers included and people abseiling down the new citygate tower next to the exhibition centre. It would be a great way of raising awareness for our training but perhaps a little on the ambitious side.
I've also been working on the design and venue for a possible management weekend conference and for once this resulted in a perk in that one of the hotels offered my a complimentary overnight stay. I thought that might give us a perfect little break if we went back out to Qasr Al Sarab on Friday night but as it turns out they are full this weekend so I'm going to use it when we go out there in April with Mum and Jo.
I also managed to scratch the car which I'm pretty fed up about. My own carelessness of not noticing that someone had knocked the metal stand at the entrance to our parking where you enter your card. Consequently I swung in at my usual angle and hit it. It's only a scratch but apparently before I can get a little guy to repaint it I still have to get a police report from a particular police station somewhere on the island. They must have a busy time with the amount of car scraping that goes on round here and my lovely Jeep is now less than perfect.
A talent search chap from an American company working out here called me, having found me on linked in, about a marketing role he's looking to fill and I've made it onto the shortlist. Whether it comes to anything or if I even think a move will be better I don't know but it's good for the confidence levels and general feeling good about myself which are pretty low at the moment.
Still it looks like I'm still quite marketable even after the struggle of trying to make some progress at EAI.
Still plugging away
John came back from Korea on Saturday morning and we enjoyed a lazy day to help him recuperate before the trip to Dresden. That must have been quite a shock after Abu Dhabi as it was minus six and snowing but luckily he remembered to go back for his coat! They'd managed quite a punishing schedule crammed into one day with factory visits, workshops, dinner and even a trip to see 'The Magic Flute' at Dresden opera. He was also able to enjoy the Chateau Batailly and desert wine served in Etihad business class but it was still pretty tiring. I guess because everyone travels so much then no-one makes allowances and he came back to a huge Masdar Institute meeting (over 80 slides no less) and a very late finish and today involves a visit from the Australian ambassador and a Japanese delegation so no rest for the wicked!
I was well looked after once again by my lovely friends. On Sunday night I went to the races for a charity barbecue night with Angela and Kyeong which was super. As gambling is prohibited it did seem a bit strange watching the horses running round but without the shouting that comes with having a pound each way with the bookies! The food and company were great and I won a manicure in the raffle. A great prize as most of the others seem to involve waxing or other forms of hair removal! Monday night I was once again invited to Helen and John's next door and we enjoyed a meal together. They take great care of me. I went running with Helen at 6am on two mornings which was lovely. It's reasonably cool at that time and certainly sets you up for the day though actually getting out of bed at that time is painful. It spurred me on and I went out after work yesterday and I'm determined to keep it up this time.
John made it back from Dresden though he was pretty tired and with the traumas of yesterday we haven't yet had much time to talk about the usual ups and downs of my week but I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend in Abu Dhabi and the weather looks set fine for the beach which it certainly wasn't last weekend!
I was well looked after once again by my lovely friends. On Sunday night I went to the races for a charity barbecue night with Angela and Kyeong which was super. As gambling is prohibited it did seem a bit strange watching the horses running round but without the shouting that comes with having a pound each way with the bookies! The food and company were great and I won a manicure in the raffle. A great prize as most of the others seem to involve waxing or other forms of hair removal! Monday night I was once again invited to Helen and John's next door and we enjoyed a meal together. They take great care of me. I went running with Helen at 6am on two mornings which was lovely. It's reasonably cool at that time and certainly sets you up for the day though actually getting out of bed at that time is painful. It spurred me on and I went out after work yesterday and I'm determined to keep it up this time.
John made it back from Dresden though he was pretty tired and with the traumas of yesterday we haven't yet had much time to talk about the usual ups and downs of my week but I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend in Abu Dhabi and the weather looks set fine for the beach which it certainly wasn't last weekend!
Friday, 5 March 2010
The Hajar Mountains
Up in the tallest mountains in the UAE on a road that will one day take tour buses but is still more challenging. Pretty brooding in this week's weather and definitely not to be messed with. Brian is working really hard to dissuade people in RAK from creating chemical snow for the top of the mountain!
Ras Al Khaimah - a whole new experience
On Tuesday night, after the photo shoot I drove up to Ras Al Khaimah, the most northerly of the Emirates and close to the border with Oman. Everyone was full of dire warnings about adverse weather but the rain had cleared and it was a beautiful evening, the forecast was good and anyway, I lived in Manchester so I'm used to rain! It was the after effects of the rain which caused the problem as the 311, the main motorway North was closed after Dubai due to flooding. They literally just closed the road and diverted all traffic off it. There were no diversion signs, I don't have a map or sat nav and I'd never been in this area before. I kept trying to tell myself what an adventure this was but all I really felt was panic and a strong desire to go home. I ploughed on, trying to head in the right direction following intermittent signs and the car's compass. I ended up in grid locked traffic on the Sharjah ring road, which was also seriously flooded, though luckily the Jeep is high enough to cope with it but there were flooded out cars all around. After 3 hours and a trip round an industrial estate I finally found myself back on the right road and heading for RAK at a good speed. However, when I got off the motorway at the right junction it was pitch dark and the road under the motorway was just a huge lake. I took a deep breath and headed through it safely. However, on the other side the sand and stones had washed across the road and you couldn't see what was road and what was desert! I pulled over and a good samaritan stopped to see if he could help. He looked at my map and then said to follow him. He drove all the way back down the hill till we got to the hotel so that he could be sure I knew where he was going. I wished I had more words in Arabic to express my thanks for such a kind hearted gesture. It had taken me 5 1/2 hours to do 230km.
The hotel was literally brand new and the staff, though inexperienced, were falling over themselves to look after me. What's more the hotel had a mini bar and I have never been so grateful for a G&T in my life, even without the Perkins hand to make it and no ice or lemon! There was no room service menu yet but a kind chap came up with one and took my order for a sandwich and I felt huge relief and, once it was all over, could enjoy my ability to fight against the odds and have an adventure!
In the morning I opened the curtains to find the hotel was in the middle of an industrial zone and, as it was cloudy and windy, with lots of sand in the air, it did resemble a Blade Runner type set. Since part of the reason for my visit was to discuss with Al Shaheen their invitation by RAK tourism to help promote the Emirate I wondered how easy that would be. But then years ago I had to promote Middlesbrough so I'm used to that kind of marketing challenge!
The Manager of the Acacia actually came and introduced himself at breakfast and asked after my stay so they certainly do hospitality very well in RAK.
Brian, the Director of Al Shaheen Adventure training came to pick me up and we went off to visit their facility. They provide outward bound/adventure training, primarily for the UAE military and are about to build a beautiful new facility which will allow them to promote their offer to a much broader clientele. As mentioned before they are also talking to RAK tourism about promoting the Emirate as a tourist destination for adventurous and outdoor pursuits as they are on the edge of the Hajar Mountains and have a beautiful Gulf Coast line and some pretty nice desert. All fascinating things from a marketing and communications perspective.
Brian showed me round and I met the team and watched some students experiencing diving for the first time and we talked about the future and the new centre. Then we headed off into the mountains to see a group doing some rock climbing. This group are from the Vocational Institute, which is basically where they send the real no hopers, people with learning difficulties or just plain naughty, who have not been able to cope with the conventional education system. It was wonderful to watch these kids, who've been told all their lives that they'd never amount to anything and that they didn't have much of a future, and see the smiles on their faces as they came off the rock face. We talked to them with the help of one of the interpreters and it was clear that for many of them it was just the best thing they'd ever done. Afew days with Al Shaheen, working in groups and learning to rock climb, dive, mountain bike and see how much they could actually do must be a life changing experience for some of them. I was awestruck.
Brian then decided to show me just how amazing the mountains are, and with another of his colleagues he headed up a road which is still under construction up the mountain. He clearly knew the road and how to handle his SUV but I must admit to being more than a little scared as we climbed higher and higher on a rough track and hair pin bends, especially with the visible signs of recent rock falls due to the weather! However the views were amazing and we survived the experience unscathed.
We headed back to town and had a good look round. There is lots of work going on to create hotels, beautiful residential developments and leisure facilities around the creek in the centre of town. They even had a brand new Mall with a very new Spinney's and a Cafe Nero (which sadly we don't seem to have in Abu Dhabi yet).
There is a lot to do - so many parts of town are not yet developed and the property collapse has even hit out in RAK. The original settlement of the most beautiful old cottages with original wind towers is crumbling away and you have to dodge the goats and chickens on the road, even in the middle of town but you can certainly see that it has potential.
I headed back to Abu Dhabi through some lovely desert countryside which had a green fuzz over it brought on by the rain which has brought the camels out to graze. It looked idyllic. Despite missing the alternative road which Brian had suggested and the traffic on the National Paints flyover (always mentioned on the traffic news on Radio 2 and now I know why!) I made it back to Abu Dhabi in under 3 hours and the worst of it was coming from the Sheikh Zayed bridge onto the Corniche as someone seemed to have been messing around with the traffic light phasing.
My trip to RAK was certainly an adventure but I am looking forward to going again though I will pay more attention to the weather forecase in future!
The hotel was literally brand new and the staff, though inexperienced, were falling over themselves to look after me. What's more the hotel had a mini bar and I have never been so grateful for a G&T in my life, even without the Perkins hand to make it and no ice or lemon! There was no room service menu yet but a kind chap came up with one and took my order for a sandwich and I felt huge relief and, once it was all over, could enjoy my ability to fight against the odds and have an adventure!
In the morning I opened the curtains to find the hotel was in the middle of an industrial zone and, as it was cloudy and windy, with lots of sand in the air, it did resemble a Blade Runner type set. Since part of the reason for my visit was to discuss with Al Shaheen their invitation by RAK tourism to help promote the Emirate I wondered how easy that would be. But then years ago I had to promote Middlesbrough so I'm used to that kind of marketing challenge!
The Manager of the Acacia actually came and introduced himself at breakfast and asked after my stay so they certainly do hospitality very well in RAK.
Brian, the Director of Al Shaheen Adventure training came to pick me up and we went off to visit their facility. They provide outward bound/adventure training, primarily for the UAE military and are about to build a beautiful new facility which will allow them to promote their offer to a much broader clientele. As mentioned before they are also talking to RAK tourism about promoting the Emirate as a tourist destination for adventurous and outdoor pursuits as they are on the edge of the Hajar Mountains and have a beautiful Gulf Coast line and some pretty nice desert. All fascinating things from a marketing and communications perspective.
Brian showed me round and I met the team and watched some students experiencing diving for the first time and we talked about the future and the new centre. Then we headed off into the mountains to see a group doing some rock climbing. This group are from the Vocational Institute, which is basically where they send the real no hopers, people with learning difficulties or just plain naughty, who have not been able to cope with the conventional education system. It was wonderful to watch these kids, who've been told all their lives that they'd never amount to anything and that they didn't have much of a future, and see the smiles on their faces as they came off the rock face. We talked to them with the help of one of the interpreters and it was clear that for many of them it was just the best thing they'd ever done. Afew days with Al Shaheen, working in groups and learning to rock climb, dive, mountain bike and see how much they could actually do must be a life changing experience for some of them. I was awestruck.
Brian then decided to show me just how amazing the mountains are, and with another of his colleagues he headed up a road which is still under construction up the mountain. He clearly knew the road and how to handle his SUV but I must admit to being more than a little scared as we climbed higher and higher on a rough track and hair pin bends, especially with the visible signs of recent rock falls due to the weather! However the views were amazing and we survived the experience unscathed.
We headed back to town and had a good look round. There is lots of work going on to create hotels, beautiful residential developments and leisure facilities around the creek in the centre of town. They even had a brand new Mall with a very new Spinney's and a Cafe Nero (which sadly we don't seem to have in Abu Dhabi yet).
There is a lot to do - so many parts of town are not yet developed and the property collapse has even hit out in RAK. The original settlement of the most beautiful old cottages with original wind towers is crumbling away and you have to dodge the goats and chickens on the road, even in the middle of town but you can certainly see that it has potential.
I headed back to Abu Dhabi through some lovely desert countryside which had a green fuzz over it brought on by the rain which has brought the camels out to graze. It looked idyllic. Despite missing the alternative road which Brian had suggested and the traffic on the National Paints flyover (always mentioned on the traffic news on Radio 2 and now I know why!) I made it back to Abu Dhabi in under 3 hours and the worst of it was coming from the Sheikh Zayed bridge onto the Corniche as someone seemed to have been messing around with the traffic light phasing.
My trip to RAK was certainly an adventure but I am looking forward to going again though I will pay more attention to the weather forecase in future!
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