Brussels & the weekend

So last few days have been interesting.

Brake work on Wednesday actually went without fault - they did actually discover my rear tyres were bald, and since then the weathermen are busy telling us we're expecting snow, that there'll be some massive blizzard heralding the new ice age and we're all going to die. British weathermen seem to love their jobs too much, everythings always "the worst something in so many years". Likely we'll get a bit of drissle with about 1cm of snow afterwards, but the country will still grind to a halt. Given the change in conditions though it seems sensible to get the tyres sorted.

So, booked it in for Saturday morning.

Friday was spent in Brussels, Belgium doing some customer presentations which all went very well. Brussels as a city is actually extremely boring, but then again I rarely get to see much of it as I fly in and out on the same day (as with Amsterdam). Now that i'm living back in the south of England thats a lot more difficult. Before I'd just have a quick 20 minute drive down to Birmingham airport to board the 6:35am flight to Brussels. Now I have to get up at 3:00am to do the 1.5 hour drive up to the airport, and the UK's motorways are so horribly unpredictable that you cant take any chances - so you make it 2 hours. So there was me, half asleep staring at a dreadfully made latte in the airport wondering why I bother with this job - and why on earth people think it's exciting to travel so much. I did get a pretty staggering sun set in Brussels - photos are being sorted but haivng an argument with my camera right now.

Here's my itinery for the rest of 2005:

December 8th - Basle, Switzerland - 1 Day
December 14th - Brussels, Belgium - 1 Day
December 20th - Rome, Italy - 2 days (both meetings)

So during that time I'll get to see the inside of some airports, the insides of some taxis, some hotels, and some offices. If I'm very lucky I'll end up somewhere with a view. Though this is not likely given my employers preferences for hotels.

Yesterday Morning got my tyres done - both rear wheels at the cost of £478! But it's like having my car for the first time all over again. I've not had much to smile about since getting back from Seattle and the rather unpleasant change in circumstances - but yesterday I had a very big grin from ear to ear as I remembered how much fun having my car is! Did some shopping with friends yesterday, sitting in Ottakars in Milton Keynes shopping centre, drinking coffee and talking about books and figuring out why Nita needs to understand how to see again (lots of books on how to look at paintings). Surely that's pretty straight forward?! 1. Open eyes. 2. Aim them in general direction of painting. 3. Focus on said painting. 4. Identify objects and colours in said painting. 5. If painting still does not resemble a work of art, you may either be in the Tate Modern, or it's a light fitting in the gallery.

In the evening I did a bit more driving about, then joined friends for very very good wine. Today, I've decided that as its sunday and I have nothing better to do (again!) I'm going to tie up all the loose ends and fiddly bits with work that didnt get done last week.