Twice The Continents, Twice The Fatigue!

Happy Hours, Stag Nights, Hangovers and Big Seats!

no good pictures this week ... I can hear many of you tuning out!

Sorry it’s been two-weeks since my last posting, but I’ve been busy and I had to squeeze in a trip to Dallas. Now it’s Sunday August 13th, and the momentum of my trip seems to be swinging towards wrapping things up, handing things off and trying to squeeze in things I haven’t got to in the last seven months. Sadly, that list is too long; I could spend another year and still leave with a huge volume of things I still had to do. Anybody that spends two weeks in Europe and says “been there done that!” needs to get off the pipe and take another look. Anyway, this was a week of work-related stuff and socializing with work people. Sadly, on both Friday and Saturday I forgot my camera at home so I don’t have any really exciting pictures to share with you. Maybe I’ll dig in to my archive and see if I can find some interesting shots you haven’t seen. Here’s a quick synopsis of events since my last blog.

Friday (Aug 4) Kinnard

The View From My Office
An old Hounslow shot!

-Orsmond Happy Hour

Janet Meares, who seems to be the central happy hour coordinator for the Hounslow office had set up a Friday night round of drinks in Richmond a really cool suburb of London. The event was for two purposes, first of all to celebrate this Thursday’s wedding of Mark and Gemma, and secondly to commemorate the imminent departure of one Mr. James Kinnard back to the United States (a far more solemn affair). Mark is a good guy, and his wife seems pretty cool so they make a good couple. We had a pretty good showing of Sabre folks and in the first few hours I had managed to put down about seven pints of miscellaneous beers and cider. While I was never out of control (i.e. I didn’t get fired … this time!), I was feeling pretty good. When I got home, somehow I decided to check my email and ended up falling asleep fully clothed on the sofa. When I woke up, the hangover was not congruent with the amount I drank and I only had about three hours until I was supposed to meet Mark and a bunch of guys in London for a night of pre-wedding celebrations. A gallon of water, several aspirin, and a bit more sleep and I was ready to go.

Saturday (Aug 5) The Stag Party Continues!

Mark and his friends went to Latvia for the international leg of his stag party (bachelor party), but Saturday was the final party in the series. A bunch of guys visiting various local Soho & Chinatown bars. Things were going along fine until we hit “The Vodka Bar” which, as its name implies, serves a whole bunch of types of vodka. So the shots started coming (chocolate, grape, passion fruit, strawberry, vanilla … and Chili Pepper!). Not one to back away from a challenge, I happily shot the chili vodka and did my best to hold it down, which I did, for at least the 45 seconds it took me to get to the bathroom. After the purging I wasn’t much in the mood for drinking, so I switched to water and Diet Cokes. Excused myself around 11p.m and was in bed before midnight … thank God! I had a morning flight to Dallas, and I HATE flying with a hangover. The Sabre women on the flight seemed a little disappointed that I actually looked rested and showered. I fear I let them down :-) But anyway, I scored a business class seat, which really does make for a far more comfortable hop across the pond.

Sunday through Today (Aug 6 - 13) Dallas!

Work, work related dinner, work, work related dinner, work, work related dinner. On Tuesday night I decided to give the visiting English people a taste of Texas. I had initially thought that I would take them to Dallas to a top-end restaurant and a club, but then it donned on me that they were from London and had access to countless world-class restaurants and clubs. So instead, I took them to Fort Worth. We had steaks at Del Frisco (which were awesome), and then headed for the historic Stockyards District to party at Billy Bobs. But something was still missing … an authentic blonde Texan! So I invited my friend Stephanie, she works at Travelocity so I had no issue including her with our ‘work’ group. Dinner was awesome, but Billy Bob’s was closed when we got there (bummer). After much negotiating Stephanie sold the group on finding another bar, somewhere in there we lost ½ the group but the rest of us went to a Texas bar called “The White Elephant Room” .. I think! This bar is about as country as you can get and while Rob, Sarah, Katharine and I played pool Stephanie and Janet roamed the bar. I don’t know the entire story but they tell me a redneck engaged Janet in conversation and Steph had to translate. Apparently, this guy “knew a person who was from Leeds; and he was a communist.” Apparently in his country mind, all other English people must also be commies. :-)

Friday, we were all concerned about the security delays caused by the latest round of whackos that feel that world peace can only be solved by blowing up airplanes. Seriously, what is their fixation with blowing up airplanes … I don’t get it. But anyway, to avoid shortening our meeting we moved it the Admiral’s Club at DFW (inside security). So from Friday morning to Saturday morning I was in the air travel system which found me in London on Saturday. I had plans to do some fun stuff this weekend, but it’s not working out that way … I’ve just been too freaking tired. I got to bed around 9 or 10 last night and got up at noon. Went out to the couch to read the paper and plan my day and fell asleep for another 90 minutes. Maybe my lifestyle is catching up with me. :-)

Anyway with just a hair over two weeks left in the UK I don’t plan to waste any of it. On Friday morning I fly to Germany for a long weekend hanging out with Anja. I’m certain beer will play a central part in whatever we do. Then the next weekend, I’m toying with the idea of hopping a train to Edinburgh for a last taste of Scotland. My friend Donna is also talking about coming back for another week, so with two blog entries left, content shouldn’t be a problem. Jan I know you’re disappointed, but it doesn’t look like I’ll make Oxford or Cambridge this time around (or Spain, or Northern Ireland, or the Lake District, or Inverness, or Croatia, or …. )

Have a great week everyone!

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