Progress

Surely being able to bribe a Swiss Air hostess, in German, to get a standby seat on a flight converted to a business class ticket can be considered as progress in my language skills? Admittedly I had to sacrifice two of the Belgian chocolates kindly given to me by Bernard and Stijn earlier in the week, but in any case, the experience also served to prove my theory that we should definitely not kill all the Belgians, or at least not the ones that make the chocolates. I suppose it is just a shame that I had insufficient chocolates left to bribe the Air France flight to Pau to not be late. Grrrrrr.

Navel Gazing

It was a difficult decision to leave Accenture last year. Being the hopelessly structured individual that I am, I obviously made a list so I could check a year on whether or not the move had been successful. Here is ten twelfths of that list 3 weeks after my 1 year anniversary in Wipro…..

“The move to Wipro will have been successful if….

1. If I am doing more sales and less delivery work and enjoying the change
2. If I have more flexibility over my schedule – i.e. I am not on the same client site week in week out
3. If I manage to work more than 4 days at home in a typical month
4. If I manage to work regularly in all 3 locations of Paris, London and Zurich
5. If I have travelled to India and been exposed to a new culture
6. If I have been pleasantly surprised by the culture of Wipro and the quality of people who work there
7. If I really feel like part of a small start up and feel like I am developing my skills as an entrepreneur
8. If I feel like I can be successful there
9. If I have managed to complete my executive coaching course started at LBG
10. If we have bought a horse and I am managing to ride more regularly”

Your conclusions and answers on the back of a postcard.

Ich möchte zum Zurichberg Hotel

I am back in Zurich tonight after my two days in London. I was happy to be back in my new adopted “home”. It was also the first time I could try out in anger some of the German I learnt last week. I was very proud of myself when I asked the taxi driver to take me to my hotel. I was even prouder when we actually arrived at my hotel. The familiar faces at the hotel were also amused by my new found language skills, and they were very helpful in terms of correcting my pronunciation and adding in various missing words. It’s well known that German is not an attractive language at the best of times, but rest assured I successfully manage to butcher it beyond recognition. That said it’s been a long time since I’ve taken so much pleasure from learning a new trick and I am very happy at the prospect of some more intensive German lessons next week too.

Don’t Kill All the Belgians

I am in London today. It’s been a good day although travelling on the tube during rush hour in the sweltering heat reminded me of how nice it is to walk around in shorts and flip flops in the south of France. Internal and client meetings have gone well, although the highlight of the day was dinner with two old friends from Belgium who I used to work with. They were both very thoughtful and brought me a box of Belgian chocolates (my favourite marron noirs naturally), and a humorous cartoon book by Danny Wind book called “Let’s Kill All the Belgians”. The book is somewhat controversial it has to be said hence the reason why it was removed from the Amazon site no sooner than it had arrived on the shelves – thankfully Bernard was particularly quick to order his two copies. That said some of the illustrations are so far-fetched that they were vaguely hilarious. Tomorrow it’s some more meetings in London before a flight to Zurich in the evening (thankfully I am getting out of the UK before Thursday's general strike).

Bugger the Dam

Friday night Air France retardé. Grrrr. The options I therefore had were CDG or Schipol. I "opted" for an extra night in Amsterdam and can therefore take a direct flight home to Pau tomorrow morning. I can assure you that it is most frustrating after a full week on the road and another flight to London at 7.20AM on Monday morning (and that's without even mentioning the "slit your wrists Annie Lennox music" currently playing in the background of this faceless hotel bar). I'm going to drag myself off to bed so I can get up tomorrow at 5.30AM to start my weekend. In fact I am definitely leaving now; Chris Isaak's Blue Hotel ringing in my ears...... (I just need to pass by the concierge to get a rope so I can hang myself in my room)....er, and no, that's not the life change I was mentioning in my posts earlier in the week.

Tranquiliser Darts, Crutches and a Face Mask

I am currently in the Netherlands learning a bit of German amongst other things. I spoke to Sandie tonight and she told me how Maxime is in fine form, although he got a serious telling off this evening when Sandie found him crawling under the dinner table to bite the legs of our English au pair Marianne. Understandably Marianne was also not too impressed! I’m back tomorrow night so I will no doubt have to get the house back in order by virtue of some tranquilizers for the irate mother, a Hannibal Lecter style facemask for Maxime (or more probably a promise of a naughty Saturday this weekend), and some crutches for our legless au pair.

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssh!!

It's been 10 days or so since my last posting. This is largely because one, I've been busy, but two because I've just finalised a few significant life changes (Sandie - don't worry - none of this will come as a surprise to you). Hopefully over the next few days I can share everything with you, and also tell you how my German lessons are coming on. Sehr gut! Bis morgen.

Gateau au Chocolat? Off with his block!

Maxime really is a chip off the old block. Sandie took him to have his hair cut yesterday ahead of his siblings’ baptism this weekend. Fearless Maxime got his knickers well and truly in a twist when the lady brought out the shears. He left the barbers with tears in his eyes and his hair very much still on his head. He was coaxed (read bribed) by his mother who promised him a chocolate gateau if he went back. After 10 minutes of careful negotiations he agreed. He strolled back into the barbers clutching his hard won prize and issued a stern warning to the poor young girl who had to cut his hair, “toi me fais pas mal toi”. On this evidence I suspect he is going to end up a French baker, either that or an officer in the French army.

Heim süß Heim

My flight from Pau this afternoon was delayed meaning a re-route and detour to Basel was required. From there I needed to get a taxi and then catch a train to get to Zurich almost 3 hours later than normal. I was very happy as the train pulled into Zurich HB - I really like this city. It almost felt like coming home in some respects. At the end of the journey I have to say that, especially given the fact that I have a client meeting at 9AM tomorrow morning, I was very happy that there was a delightful Air France girl in Pau who took pity on me. That said, I was obviously disappointed to have missed my Monday night club sandwich here at the hotel. I'll have to make amends for that tomorrow. Now it's time for bed.

Competitive Dad

I really love Maxime. So much so that every now and again I cave in and buy him an ice cream. It’s a delight to watch chocolate drip down all over his sky blue T-Shirt. Our neighbour’s dog, an Irish Red Setter called Billie, also loves Maxime. Today he went out, killed, and dragged home a small toddler sized red squirrel so they could all play together. I can’t really compete with that.

New Addition to International Mad House

Fear not grandparents (and French social security services), this is not the means by which I inform you that Sandie is pregnant again. It is more to announce the arrival of our new jeune fille au pair today from England, Marianne. Sandie will pick her up from Pau airport at lunch time and over the course of the next day or so she’ll meet the French mother and father-in-law, Anglo-Irish father, Congolese nanny, Portuguese house cleaner and three very confused but happy little children. A good introduction I suppose ahead of the twins’ baptism on the 12th June when she’ll be subject to the wider families and friends in Biarritz.

Initially Sandie and I were concerned that a young student used to the high life in London would be tearing her hair out when she realises that she’s living out in the sticks on a farm in rural France. However now that Mimi is actually looking after the three kids in our house, I don’t think Marianne will be short on company. If anything I think she’ll now be tearing her hair out for a bit of peace and quiet. Marianne, who hails from the Wirral, is a language student in London and will be with us for 3 months to both help Sandie when I’m away during the week, and to improve her French. That said given the multi-ethnic environment in which she will be living, I dread to think what sort of French accent we’ll be sending her back with.