Wednesday 31 December 2008

As the year draws to a close



it is probably time to sit back and take stock of what has happened and indeed what is still happening in the world. We have plenty of wars, not very much food, drought, floods, severe snow and ice storms, earthquakes, avalanches and no doubt plenty of other things that fill the newspapers and TV screens- anybody have any good news for me?
I am happy to be home early from the office today- to help out in the kitchen and get the place ready for our guests this evening. It is nice to celebrate in the neighbourhood and not have to fight with lots of other people for a taxi at 1:45 on a freezing cold 1st January morning :-) First I will need to speak with Figaro and have my few remaining hairs chopped into some kind of order and I think that I might even go crazy and shave for the occasion............
Next year will be another tough one for most people involved in business- the full effects of this current crisis are still to be felt and the good news is that a change of presidency in the USA might put a little fire under the pot and get things moving again. How long it will take to pay back the new debt levels is something that I would rather not bother myself with.
Happy New Year- whoever and wherever you are!

Saturday 27 December 2008

We have had a wonderfully calorific Christmas


and have just decided that it is our turn to host the New Year's Eve festivities.......... we take it turn about with some neighbours, so it will be relaxed and enjoyable and an easy walk home for the others at the end of the evening. After making it into the spinning class at the gym at lunchtime today and trying to get things back on the road, the idea of a large New Year's celebration doesn't thrill me but I am sure that I will have fun when the time arrives.
I was lucky enough to receive some great Christmas gifts (thank you to all concerned) and I am really looking forward to reading my way through some of my new books. Now is as good a time as any to think about New Year's Resolutions.......... nothing springs to mind just yet, but hopefully some ideas will surface in the next few days.
In spite of the time of year, I will be in the office this week- every day apart from Thursday and I am hoping to get some training sessions in the gym as well. Monday night we are planning on visiting Photo08 which is an exhibition by a group of Swiss photographers and promises to be an interesting evening.
Not a lot more to report, but I would love to see a photo of Jacqueline tipping a drink on big sister Georgette's head :-)

Tuesday 23 December 2008

We have been posting on this blog for over a year now


and although in the big picture that is not a long time, I am pretty happy with the way that things are going. It gives me a chance to fire off random thoughts at the world and let out a little steam from time to time.
Tomorrow morning I will head into the office for a few hours and then head home to get right into the Christmas spirit. I won the bet and we will definitely be having another green Christmas, but there is no reason not to enjoy ourselves.
Reminds me of my mother asking at the end of Christmas lunch........ "who would like pudding?" To which we all responded "Me!" The next question was always "would you like custard, cream or ice cream?" which was always greeted with the only possible response..... "Yes please!"
Merry Christmas everyone and best wishes for 2009.

Sunday 21 December 2008

Although things looked promising last week, I would bet my lunch money


that we are now in for another green Christmas. The temperatures are considerably higher and with a couple of days of rain, things have just washed away :-( It will nevertheless be enjoyable and even if it is 5° we will still have good appetites for the food-fest.
Many thanks to the Mini Mooses for the blog post- we are very happy that your parcels arrived in time and hope that you all have a great Christmas in sunny Singapore. Loved the photos of Kai in his new football shirt and also of Miss Noodle's reindeer!
We have just finished a most enjoyable Sunday dinner with Enzo and Cornelia- a nice chance to catch up before Christmas. Enzo has been promoted to Director of the bank and spent a considerable amount of time celebrating that fact (and other things) on Friday afternoon. Hope that you arrived home safely and that the guest room is comfortable :-)
I have set my alarm for early in the morning and am planning on heading off to the gym for a spinning class. Not bothering to go into the office, so I hope to be able to achieve something worthwhile on my day off........

Thursday 18 December 2008

It has been a tiring week


and after last night's drinks I will be off to bed quite early this evening. We have some Australian visitors in town at the moment and Catherine spent the day in Luzern with them today- tomorrow they are off to Zermatt. I hope that the sky is clear and that the sun is shining down there as it would be a shame to travel so far and not get to see the Matterhorn.
I'm starting to get back into the Christmas spirit..... it will be nice to have this coming Monday to do some shopping and sort a few things out and then really cruise into the holiday long weekends. We will be catching up with friends and taking it pretty easy, but if the weather is nice we may even get the snowshoes out and go for a trip to the hills.
The Chief has invited us to an end of year party at the restaurant Okara tomorrow evening. Catherine won't be able to attend as she will be travelling so I guess that I will have to eat her share of the sushi as well :-) I really should take my camera along and try to get some pictures- will see how I feel about that idea in the morning.

Sunday 14 December 2008

It's not very often that I will say this


but I will be glad when the weekend is over and I can head back to the office. Christmas is rapidly approaching and I really couldn't care less. Just hoping that I can find some way to relax and enjoy the couple of long weekends that I have in front of me........

Wednesday 10 December 2008

Not one of the great weeks of the modern era


after spending a couple of hours arguing with my laptop on Monday night and not managing to take any photos to get my project started, I was out last night and spent too much time drinking red wine in Urania and then eating sushi and drinking Carlsberg at The Chief's. Catherine then called me this morning to tell me that she had been made redundant from work and was packing her stuff and heading home........ this was certainly not a disaster and it will probably get her out of a bad situation, but it did come as a bit of a shock.
Apologies to all who were waiting to see some more of my photos during the 50/fifty challenge but after missing out on the first 3 days out of seven, the whole thing has really passed me by :-( Maybe next year.

Sunday 7 December 2008

The bike marathon yesterday was a lot of fun


and luckily I had a reliable partner so that I only had to ride 3 hours instead of the whole 6! That was just right for me and although I am a little stiff today, I think that I might get into the gym later to do a few exercises and then do a little shopping in town as well. Zürich is super-conservative and normally closed on Sunday (as far as shopping goes) but in the last few years they have introduced a couple of shopping Sundays in December to pump up the volume.
Things are getting busy as the end of the year approaches- out for drinks and dinner with different people, we have dinner guests next weekend and the following week visitors from Australia for a few nights. It is always nice to catch up with people, but we will certainly be looking forward to a couple of relaxing long weekends over Christmas and New Year.
My one week long 50/fifty photo challenge kicks off tomorrow and while it will be fun, it is also difficult at this time of year as the days are so short. If the worst comes to the worst and I have to shoot indoors and with flash for most of the week, I guess that it would be no great disaster.

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Gosh, is it Wednesday already?


It has been a funny start to the week- it always takes me a day or two to get back into the swing of things after time off and this week was no exception. Hard to believe that December is already here and that we are very much on the countdown to Christmas and a couple of nice long weekends.
I am very much looking forward to a dinner out tomorrow night- the boss of our desk celebrated 30 years with the company on Monday and has invited a group of us out for the evening. It will certainly be a lot of fun, although Friday might get off to a slow start.
Had a quick beer with Pipo last night and a bite of sushi at the Chief's. As per usual, the food was great, the beer was most enjoyable and the "sushi mafia" were in good form. The real pity was that we had wasted 25 minutes walking around in the Christmas Market in the main railway station here in Zürich beforehand. The time would have been much better invested sitting at the sushi bar.
Stupidly opened a thread at Nikoncafe this evening and saw that someone is trying to fire up a photo challenge- 50th week/50mm lens which was a lot of fun last year and I really should get involved in again.