I am now officially middle-aged

Nope, you've not missed my birthday or any form of major event which might mark this occassion...I have just bought a set of professional cookware and am secretly quite chuffed with the purchase...

What has happened to me!?!

PANS!!!

...not shoes or frocks!?!?!

Surely this must be some alternative form of mid-life crisis when you covet household objects instead of a new outfit...

Miss Sensible & her friend plus the World's most enormous rucksacks have now been deposited at school ready to climb into the minibus and head off to do their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition. It looks like they'll have excellent weather to yomp round the Cotswolds with half a hundredweight of kit and a compass...not to mention copious amounts of Kendal Mintcake!! :o)

In case of emergency open here....

it has been a somewhat trying week so in some respects I was not surprised to return to the office yesterday to find mrs. Cor-Blimey had left the pictured item on my desk (which I hasten to add was for the journey home!).

We've been dealing with some interesting stuff recently; she has a long-running complex, intertwined grievance and whistle-blowing case which has now got even more political and underhand...almost the stuff of those Corporate shenanigans you see on TV dramas; whilst my workload has included issues as diverse as how to deal with a member of staff who has had a boob job (funnily enough the company sickness policy doesn't cover this....possibly comes under the heading of aesthetics rather than illness), to changes in employment regulations in Fiji and the associated impact to the business. Some days it's enough to fry your brain!!

Travel broadens the mind

in this instance via the Emirates Entertainment channel. Last trip it was the travels of Ibn Battuta the Medieval Moroccan Islamic Scholar and the account of his extensive 30 year travels, and this time I watched a fascinating series about the history of Russian art narrated by art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon who outlined how Russia changed from a feudal nation with aristocratic excess to a hotbed of revolution and demonstrating how in line with this art moved from being a servant of the state to an agent of its destruction. Really interesting and enlightening stuff.

The programmes covered everything from the beautiful work of Rublev the icon painter, through to gaudy Faberge eggs; and eventually to the abstract work of Kandinsky, as well as Mayakovsky and Alexander Rodchenko and the origins of art as a form of Communist advertising.

I loved seeing the Russian architecture too...particularly the Byzantine influences, the beautiful gleaming 'onion' domes and the later obsession with a kind of Baroque fusion...albeit the interiors with all the gold leaf were somewhat OTT for my taste!

Why the interest..? Combination of things....my Dad speaks Russian and in my childhood that always seemed quite exotic so prompted an initial curiosity...later on Russian history was brought to life by Miss Edmondson when I studied it for A Level history...how could you not have a fascination with 18th Century St. Petersburg!?! Another aspect of the coverage brought to mind schooldays too...due to 'cultural sensitivities' Emirates had taken steps to blur any elements of 'pert' or 'dangly' bits in the art work...memories of Sister Josephine (a retired nun), sitting in the sixth section of the school library happily taking a black marker pen or scissors to any 'inappropriate material' in the publications...ahhh those were the days...added an interesting & challenging dimension to studying A Level English Literature texts!!! Bless....

Three trips to the Middle East in the last 6 weeks!

Feeling slightly frazzled. Barely got out of the hotel during the last two trips and have watched all the decent films on the flight so don't want to go anywhere until April now when they'll have refreshed the entertainment menu ;o)

Back to Blightly tomorrow...although it's been a flying visit it's been a productive trip by the looks of things... Made an offer for a key post which has been accepted, and also managed to hook up with a Dubai based recruitment consultancy which might come in handy at some point.

Other than that I've been sorting out other stuff long-distance and being driven mad by our business development guys who still bid for stuff without telling me....Has anyone got 160 Gurkhas lying around I can borrow…? Need them for a potential project we're bidding for in Iraq...Only just sorted out the Fijian fiasco and now this!?! May be forced to pinch a Gurkha's Kukris to wave menacingly at a few people...or perhaps even draw blood ;o)

Greetings

from the 06.07hrs to London Paddington...calling at various quaint little stations throughout Worcestershire & the Cotswolds, taking forever and a day to reach it's final destination :o/

Long day ahead....roll on the weekend!

Bizarre or what...?

Miss Sensible is one of those strange folk who is able to partially function whilst asleep. I can't tell you how scary it is to speak to someone who appears to exhibit all the signs of being in the land of nod and then opens their eyes and speaks, but isn't really 'with you'...!?!

Tonight she was tired after a hard days slog at school so went for a doze. I went to wake her for dinner and she looked at be with semi-focused eyes and said "Is that the wand?"....methinks a little too much Harry Potter has been imbued or perhaps Professor McGonagall has cast a spell....maybe she's actually really under the influence of the 'Imperius' curse...

Bowing to pressure

I'm due to be away on business tomorrow and it's Shrove Tuesday hence I won't be home to make the ubiquitous pancakes. That constitutes a major disaster apparently!! Complaints ensued so I've now been on duty tonight instead making sufficient batter to provide the starving masses with copious amounts of crêpes.

The debate which reigns is always traditional lemon & sugar, less conventional maple syrup, or some more adventurous filling...?? We've had some interesting combinations over the years but if I were to print the details you'd think of me as a lesser mother so I will desist.

Thinking about it, choice of fillings says a whole heap about a person....could be a whole new form of personality profiling to add to my psychometric testing repertoire ;o)

One year ago to this very day

I took up a new job and headed off to Afghanistan to learn about the organisation and ended being training on loading and firing an assortment of guns as well as doing some offensive and defensive driving in a B6 armoured vehicle. Hard to believe that's a whole 12 months ago as it's whizzed by so fast! This business is really something else....still as exciting and challenging as it first seemed...Today I've been dealing with stuff as diverse as security clearances, bid non-compliance and clinical governance, as well as doing a Skype interviews with an prospective Aviation Security Director based in Italy & a Logistics Director in Qatar....somehow doubt it will ever become mundane and boring...far, far more chance of me getting burnt out!!!

Where am I...? What day is it...?

Awoke in a hotel room this morning with genuinely absolutely no idea which country I was in and what I was supposed to be doing next...I know it's a case of seen one hotel room, seen 'em all, but perhaps I may be travelling a trifle too much....