A bit about our travels...

So now to the travels. First in UK.

We took another trip into the Cotswolds a while ago and visited a National Trust house called >> Snowshill Manor. It was a big old house that an eccentric old man lived in. He had traveled the world and collected a vast array of 'stuff' that he kept in the house. Every single inch of the house was covered in 'things'. He couldn't even live in it - he slept in a small cottage out the back. The garden was also very beautiful. Unfortunately I lost my phone (left it on the train would you believe) and with it about two months worth of photos so here's some from the web.

first the front of the house...

then the back and the garden...

and finally, on the way there, we passed a lavender field. It wasn't in flower yet but here's a pic of it in full bloom...

So after visiting the Manor, we decided to take a long way back to the motorway and passed through our 'new favourite village'TM. Broadway. It was a true Cotswold village and the shops...we could have spent thousands of pounds! Once again, photos were in camera that I lost but here's some web photos.

So that was our trip to the Cotswolds.

The next big adventure was going to see Michael Ball in Concert at Oakley Manor in Basingstoke.

It was a bit of a rush to get to the concert as I was flying back from Madrid (in Arun's private jet no less!) but we made it to the concert with just minutes to spare before it started. We had Gold seats right up the front. It was an outdoor concert in the grounds of this huge manor house in Basingstoke called Oakley Hall.

There was a drinks tent and all different types of food. It was very civilised. There was only about 500 people there so felt very intimate - like he was performing a concert for a few friends in the backyard (some backyard though!!!)

The concert was awesome and he was in full voice. It felt very weird that we were watching this guy sing after being introduced to him in an Andrew Lloyd Webber special on TV all those years ago in Wellington. He even sang at our wedding (Love Changes Everything)...tonight we finally got to see him sing it live.

It was funny, he started singing this song about an hour into it and it was like the cue or something because all these women just started rushing for the front of the stage creating a mosh pit! Man, it was funny. All these grey haired ladies banging along at the front of the stage. We actually joined them after a while so we could get a close up look. We have some phone photos but will add these later.

It was a superb night and made us truly grateful that we had been given the opportunity to live here for a year.

Another occasion where we loved being in the UK was a day at the Polo. We got to watch Prince William and Prince Harry play in the Vodafone Charity Polo Cup. Here's a few photos of the day (but we didn't take them)...

There was only about 150 people there. We were at a charity lunch but didn't really know anyone and then wandered down to the pitch to watch the game. It was an entertaining game - easy to watch - and we all went in and 'tread the divots' at half time.

After the match there was a prize giving and here's a few pics from our video camera...just to show how close we got...

There was a little bit of coverage in the press as apparently Harry drove around the grounds with friends on the bonnet of his car drinking...shocking!

Finally...a couple of trips to Europe.

I got to fly to Madrid for the Chief Executive's first Roadshow. I flew with Arun in his private jet and have to say - that's the way to travel! I was only in Madrid for 24 hours and didn't get to see much of the city but did go out for dinner with the Spanish comms team. We ate in an outdoor restaurant in a large plaza (square). Dinner was at 10pm (as is the way in Spain) and was a Tapas meal with a few glasses of wine. European food is simply the best!

The restaurant was just to the left of this photo...

I also travelled to Milan this week which was beautiful (Rome is still my favourite though). I was there for a meeting and got to spend a couple of hours looking round the centre of Milan - lots of Gucci, Prada etc and LOTS of tagging and graffiti but also an amazing cathedral (Il Duomo). Unfortunately, as seems to be the way round Europe at the moment, it was being restored and so the front was covered in scaffolding. I had my bags with me so couldn't go in (didn't really want to leave them with the guards) so here's some photos from the web.

Have some more photos (like the beer glasses when we had a beer in the Gucci shop!) but will need to get these off my phone - more soon...

A bit about work...

Wow - June since the last post...slack

The last couple of months have been exceptionally busy both on the work front and socially.

First work (well Geoff's work).

The team recently went through Black Thursday - a day when big announcements were made across the business that also affected our team.

The day started with a meeting where Darren (my boss) announced that he was leaving the business after five years. Very sad but not exactly unexpected. He's been a bit frustrated by the time it takes to do things and the amount of 'managing up' he has to do. Also five years is a long time. He's off to the dark side and will be working for an agency. Everyone was quite emotional about his announcement. He has a lot of respect and admiration in our team. It's a real shame for me as he was the main reason for me moving over here - to learn from the best. Oh well, I got eight months so that's great!

The next announcement was a change to the structure of the Corporate Affairs team (my wider department). This was done by the big boss and it meant changes to all of the teams within the department (Internal Communications included).

After this meeting we went back into a meeting with just our team to get the details of what the changes mean for us. Darren announced that the team was going from 15 people down to nine - quite a cut. Six of my team are now out of a job. He then met with each of the team individually and let them know where they fitted in the structure (if at all!). I was last as I was just on assignment and (thankfully) he has asked me to stay on to the end of the contract. Yay!!!

Unfortunately Karen, Sam, Heather, Emma, Mark and Karen M no longer have jobs and will be leaving before end of September. Most of them are actually happy about it which is good.

Louisa (the person who I am covering) secured a role as Internal Communications Manager, Business and Strategy - a much bigger job. That means that over the next few months I'm doing this job. It includes ghost writing for the Chief Executive, communicating all financial results and business performance, launching the new strategy of the company to the business and organising, writing and attending the Chief Executives Global roadshow - not bad for a little kiwi boy! I am really enjoying the new challenge!

Darren had his final leaving do last week which was exceptionally sad. We had a few drinks at The Bunk - a local pub. It was a very pleasant evening sitting outside getting slowly sloshed. Darren gave a very moving farewell speech (not a dry eye in the house) and said some very nice things to everyone in the team. Here's a pic of him mid flow.



We also had a caricaturist (sp?) doing pictures of everyone. Here's what he thought of me...



Finally on the work front - I got to attend a brilliant course in June. I am officially now an Internal Communications Black Belt!

It was a four day residential course through Melcrum Publishing (specialists in Internal Communications). It was held at the Cranfield School of Management and was called the Internal Communications Black Belt Program. Read about it >> here. Twas brilliant and I learnt HEAPS! God, it's good to get together with a group of people and talk about Internal Communications! Not something that happened too often in NZ. In fact there were more people in the class (about 16) than in the entire IC industry in NZ!

Bridge is also having a brilliant time at work. She really does have an awesome team and very much enjoys the camaraderie that she's built up.

Last week, she organised a team building day clearing bracken from Snellsmore Common. It was a hot day (mid-30s) but everyone seemed to have a good time. Here's some pics from the video she took of the day.

And here's some of her mates at work...

Mike Howie...

Steve...

Mike Boss and Codgy Wodgy...

And that's it for work...next post will be about travels...

GALLERY PART TWO

We're in Chester and have just visited Jane and Mike's old house. We then drove into Chester to find our B&B (quite honestly the worst B&B in England and puts Fawlty Towers to shame - what a crock!!!). So bad, we ended up leaving after one day and coming home early.

Chester (central) was lovely though and most picturesque. We loved the main street and all the exceptionally old buildings with exceptionally new shops in them. We then took a walk along the river and had a bottle of wine in a bar on the banks of the river. A couple more wines and a game of scrabble at another pub and it was time to roll into bed.


We left the next day and decided to take a look around Stratford-Upon-Avon. Given it was the last day of easter, seemed like everyone else in England thoought it would be a good idea too! Will definitely have to go back and spend some time there...maybe see a play or two!

The next weekend trip was to Bournemouth. I had been invited to an awards dinner for the print industry. Our inhouse magazine had been nominated for an award and the design company had invited Bridge and I to accept the award should we win.

It was great seeing the sea again! They have a pier with a fun fair on the end, deck chairs you have to pay for and looks just like you would expect an English seaside town to look. We had a great time looking round. Unfortunately it was really cold and so the 'look around' didn't last long. Oh...and we didn't win the award...but had a good time anyway.

And then the cats arrived...

Be prepared for lots of cat photos!

There trip was without incident and I think we were more stressed about the whole thing than they were. They arrived at Heathrow and we collected them from Animal Control. We drove them home and let them out. They spent the afternoon of the first day exploring the house and were a little bit quiet but by that evening it was like they'd never been gone. Lot's of cuddling, sleeping in laps etc and lots of purring. It really is great to have them with us again.

They're now right at home!

The next set of photos is to celebrate Spring. We're about three weeks away from the longest day. It's light about 4am and isn't truly dark until after 10pm. It doesn't make it easy to sleep as you wake up and think you've slept in coz it's so sunny but it's only 4.30am! Bit tough in the last week as I've been working loooonnnnggg hours and needing to get up about 5am - keep thinking I've slept in!

The last couple of weeks have been a bit grey but this weekend showed England off to it's absolute best. Long warm sunny days without a breath of wind.

At work we have a lake in the middle of all the buildings and it's populated by a host of ducks, swans and small birds that look like Pukeko but don't know what they're called. Anyway, what with spring and all - the ducks just had ducklings. The talk of the campus. This week was a bit cold and here they are all huddled together...and so cute!

Anyway, the garden is looking amazing. The landlords have done an amazing job of creating an 'english country garden' and every week a new flower comes out. As I sit at the computer I'm looking out on HUGE poppies, a lovely blue flower (don't know the name), flowering Broom and lot's of spring growth. Here's what I mean:

you can't really tell from this pic but bright pink and yellow

Just to show you how quickly it's changing. These photos are just three weeks apart...

And here's where we live...

The best thing is the vine on the front of the house is a combination of honeysuckle and mini roses and is fit to burst with flowers in the next few weeks. Will post photos as soon as they come out.

Yesterday we drove to Hungerford (our fav village!) to go to the garden centre, We drove through Hungerford Heath and the heath was filled with buttercups!

Oh and given brilliant weather - we had our first BBQ of the season (well actually of the year!) last night...most pleasant.

...watch this space