Jiggedy jog

Thursday, Friday

I had asked my son David to email me my bank details or a photo of the statement. Nothing in email so I contacted daughter Penny via twitter to chase him up, since Skype doesn't work at the hotel and my SIM card doesn't allow overseas calls. Apparently he sent an SMS to my Australian phone, so not much use either.

With all this messing around and some more futile calls to the bank I realised I needed to hurry downstairs to catch the bus, since they only go every half hour. In the rush I seem to have left my wireless mouse behind. I realised this before I left the hotel but didn't have time to get it. (later - it turned up in a different pocket under some papers)

I was glad I'd bought the return ticket yesterday since the single is 5pound and the return 9. I left the country with about 75p in coins in my wallet, so would have been short for 2 singles.

I managed to get very thing on the plane ok. The luggage limit is higher than on domestic flights and after a query about the laptop case it was allowed on as hand luggage even though it was a bit heavy.

The plane is absolutely full. I am in the last aisle seat available in the very back row and every seat in this section is occupied. It seems Malaysian is recovering after it's tragedies this year.

I have watched 3 movies, listened to some music and standup and had  a few naps but it is still a pain flying over 12 hours.

I still have some symptoms of the flu but fortunately am not coughing to often. When I do it sounds like I've been smoking for 40 years.

We were a bit late arriving at KL but still had 90 minutes for the connection. THis flight was also quite fullbut there were at least a few spare seats here and there. BY contrast, I was in the second row of economy so off the plane quickly, bought some whiskey in duty free and had no waiting at the e passport machine.

My bag took a while but they waved me through even though I' d told them I had (clean) golf shoes with me.

David was waiting to drive me home, even that he'd previously said he couldn't do it.

I finally had the info to call the bank and it seems there are no extra transactions, so it was probably lost rather than stolen. It has been stopped and a replacement will arrive well before I'm likely to need it again.

It has been an interesting and enjoyable 3 plus weeks. I have had some great interactions with friends, seen some lovely scenery, started a new business relationship and generally had too much good food.

However as they say, "There's no place like home" and I'm glad to be back..


This is the end of this blog. ===========================================================

Fast cars and loose change

Wednesday

Another day in the office. I read through some existing reports and specifications and added my comments as well as writing a technical overview.

They seem to find my work valuable and I hope this will lead to further collaboration.

I found out more about the office and grounds.

It was at one time a visitor centre for a gardening organisation and you can still see the information written on some of the walls.

The gardens are extensive, some 6 acres and stretch all the way to the road where the b&b is located. About 4 or 5 times larger than my initial impression on Monday.

 I took a bit of a stroll through it and saw a couple of deer at the lower levels.

They are committed to restoring it but initially the goal was just to make sure it didn't get worse after several years of neglect while it was on the market.

Iain allows school groups, scouts etc. to use the grounds and there is evenb a playground In one corner.

The company also has a pool car that can be used by staff when they need to drive on company business. Actually there are two, but the old Volvo was at the airport since one of the guys had used it to get there for a flight.


Iain drove me to lunch at the pub in the other one.

It's an Aston Martin DB9!

It is well badged with the company logo and is a bit of a talking point and advertising method for the company.




We arranged for the taxi to come at 5 instead of 6, since they tend to close the office at that time and it made me much more comfortable making the flight with time to spare.

I also found out as I arrived at the airport later that they sponsor a memorial to a RAF squadron. The picture left shows the iconic control tower as well.

Once back at Heathrow, I collected my left luggage. When I went to pay with my visa I couldn't find my card. I had enough cash to pay the   20 pounds for that and 9 pounds for a rerun bus ticket to the hotel. I finished up with less than a pound in coins left.

Fortunately I didn't need to buy anything because a search of purse, wallet, laptop case to failed to turn it up.

I rang the bank to report it but since I didn't have it I didn't know the number or my account number. All he stuff was at home. Likewise I didn't have the codes to log into the web site.

They can find info using last name and post code but this only works for uk post codes. This seems to be a serious flaw in the system and I will have to wait till I get home now.