Vinopolis

On Monday night (my birthday) we went out to Vinopolis in London. It was something SJ had booked as a surprise and it was a night of wine tasting and a meal. The basic premise was France vs New Zealand in terms of the wine. Needless to say, in our book, NZ won out!

The nicest wine we tried was a NZ Pinot Noir from Delta vineyards...must try and look it up some time...

For my birthday, SJ has booked me in for a trip round Silverstone, followed by a choice of cars to drive round the track - I'll be picking the Ferrari!

The Red Lion at Longdon

Last night we went out to The Red Lion in Longdon. Someone we'd never been before but it had good reviews in the local papers. It's in a very nice spot just off the A51. There was nine of us in totla and we all had great meals. I ordered soup, followed b steak which was cooked to perfection. Thoroughly recommended!

Random pics

Just been transferring my iPhoto library back to my Macbook to mke it easier for me to post pics. Found some interesting ones that I've not posted before...above is the Frankfurt am Main Transmission Tower , Germany.


Clockwise from top left:
Strange black caterpillars all bunched together over the Chase. These were the only ones we saw on the whole of our walk - really bizzarre...Lake Balaton, Hungary...restaurant interior, Vezprem, Hungary...viaduct in Vezprem...

Bottlebrush plant - I've wanted one of these ever since returning from New Zealand and seeing their Pohutakawa trees. Next is part of a new walk over the Chase, lastly, my Dad finally getting t use the BBQ bought around 4 years ago!

Plans for the weekend

I think we're going to head north tomorrow evening as we're going out for a meal on Friday night at The Red Lion in Longdon...we've actually got the day off on Friday as...its my birthday on Monday! We were originally going to take the Monday off but I've got to be in work now so that's that idea scuppered. Anyway, we'll also be out on Saturday night - probably a meal at China Garden in Cannock followed by drinks later...

Cooling off

Went out last night for a meal at Tim's Table in Radlett...was excellent...not sure what to do today, the weather is a lot coller than it has been so might get to take the dogs out for a walk...they need it!

Daft dog...

You'd think he'd move a little further away from the wall wouldn't you...

Acrop(olop)olis

This week was a trip to Athens in Greece. Somewhere I'd not been before...stayed in the Hilton and this picture was taken from the rooftop restaurant. Its the acropolis...I didn't get an opportunity to have a look around unfortunately but I think its definitely somewhere I'd like to return to.

Saudi Arabia/Bahrain

Just spent a week in Saudi Arabia. I flew into Bahrain, stayed with a colleague on the Friday night, then travelled over the causeway into Saudi the next day.

What an odd country...incredibly hot (47 degrees C) and no alcohol! I stayed in a place called Al Khobar as I was giving a presentation at ARAMCO (based in Khobar) on the Monday evening

http://isasaudi.org/xoops/modules/news/article.php?storyid=22

I stayed at a Holiday Inn (where else) for 3 nights. The weirdest thing was watching the British Lions vs South Africa with a whole load of South Africans in a "compound". This compound was previously a British Aerospace facility and the security was incredible. It was also the only place you could get alcohol being brewed on site. Unfortunately there was a rite of passage of a chilli vodka shot...not great in the heat...and the Lions lost...

Saudi is an odd place really. On the one hand its somewhere that is a really interesting place to visit, on the other its somewhere I was quite glad to leave. Not many people get the chance to go to Saudi - they don't readily issue tourist visa's and so I feel quite luck to have been. What was weird was the shopping malls. First shop I saw was Debenham's followed by Marks & Spencer! How strange is that!

Jo'burg

Flew into Johannesburg on Saturday night for a week over there with our distributor. We were attending the S.A. Process Expo show and we also had some visits at a few customers. Its the middle of the SA winter akthough you wouldn't know it. Stayed at the Hilton. Was very nice. There's a lot of building work going on in to make the country ready for the 2010 World Cup. This is particularly evident on the roads as virtually every junction is being remodelled to make them more efficient.

Overall I was a little disappointed with Jo'burg - I never felt really safe and to me, the city had few redeeming features. Apparently Cape Town is where to go.

One thing that was nice though was the food and drink - the steaks were absolutely amazing, easily the best I've tasted, whilst the wine was on a par...

Summer Ball

We had some tickets to go the Capital FM Summer Ball. It was taking place at the Emirates stadium...quite an impressive place. The lineup was good too...Lionel Richie, Saturdays, Leona Lewis, Dizzee Rascal, etc, etc (...ohh and Blue...they were rubbish...)