End of working week posting

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

It's Friday and it's been a bit of a strange week at work - a lot of people taking the school holidays - it's felt like limbo-land. Should be more normal next week, although the downside is that the traffic will be heavy again.

I've taken the opportunity to get a few holiday things sorted out. We know which flights we want to take to USA now - we'll book them tomorrow - and we've now booked our flights to Australia next year. Not Business Class this time - neither of us celebrating a big birthday next year - but World Traveller Plus at least gives us a bit more room than Economy. We used the BA Miles we had accumulated, plus the Companion Voucher we got as a result of taking on the Amex card. We had to pay the taxes of course, but it's still a pretty good deal.

I then started to organise our internal flights and accommodation in Australia - we fly in to Sydney but have a week in Perth plus time with Kelly - but I was stopped in midstream with the surprise news that there's a chance that Kelly might not be in Adelaide next year! She might be moving across the country - nothing definite, but we'll hang fire just now until we see what's happening.

We will be away from 17th February until 13th March, 2012 and in USA from 28th July to 22nd August, 2011. In Australia our week in Perth will be spend at www.accorvacationclub.com.au and in Southern California we have a week at http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/laxnc-marriotts-newport-coast-villas/

We'll just miss Scott and Lucy's 10th wedding anniversary, but we remember the occasion well - a sweltering day at Patrick Creek:

Well, I finished my second Jo Nesbo thriller last night - the 5th in the Harry Hole series - http://jonesbo.com/#/books/devil. Pretty good - a cross between Ian Rankin's Rebus (http://www.ianrankin.net/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=12) and Stiegg Larsson (http://www.stieglarsson.com/).

Forecast looks good - hope to get some more golf in this weekend.

Another week, another blog posting

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

and what a nice week it's been - especially the weekend - shorts weather again. We had dinner at the Masons on Saturday night - and it was lovely - but struggled a bit on Sunday. Just not used to late night eating any more - always a struggle to digest and sleep afterwards.

Then, last night it was wall to wall Masters - what a great event it was too.

Lucy Skyped us on Friday, just before her 10 mile run on Saturday - well done, girl! Jo was out in the back weeding when Lucy called:

That didn't stop Jo having a chat with Lucy, however - we now know our wireless network extends to at least the embankment - as long as the laptop has sufficient battery power!

Jo was back out there yesterday - as was I - but this time it was far more relaxing as she gets in to her latest murder mystery:

 I think she's reading all these novels to try to research how to complete the perfect crime. If I suddenly go missing, or die mysteriously, you know who the first suspect should be!

So now, I'm trying to book our flights to USA this summer - and also to Oz next year. It's not easy trying to unravel all the options. We've both got lots of BA Miles, and we've also got a Companion Voucher which entitles one of us to a free flight anywhere as long as the other booking is made using the BA Miles. However, it's impossible to get summer flights to USA using BA Miles - all those offers are gone now - but we might be able to get them to Oz next year, although this would mean travelling all that way cattle class. The offers are complicated and restrictive and you have to do them online - it would be nice to be able to talk to somebody who could explain all the options in simple terms.

So, another week at work - and it looks like the weather is set to change - pity - we were just getting used to it. Have a good one y'all.