Just a quick post, as I am heading out the door for Bristol!  I was sent this at work today…scarey!  Enjoy your weekend

to be green with envy..

I have booked a trip for December, my Xmas present to myself.  I know it is a long way away still, and I am planning more trips before then..but it looks so cool..I just had to share.

Christmas markets of the Italian Alps

Join us in the scenic Dolomites for a festive holiday on which you’ll discover the delightful Christmas Markets at Bolzano and Merano, and discover a part-Italian, part-Austrian land where you’ll find pizzerias and bier-kellers side by side, where hearty food is accompanied by local wine and where desert is as likely to be apfel strudel as ice cream.

If you think you can handle more…here it is.  Depart 5th December all going well with my booking..

I may be offline for a few days as I travel to Bristol for the weekend, straight from work tomorrow night.  Will check in again soon though!

Standing on the train, coming into the stop to get off, I peered out the window as we passed by a bridge over the river Thames.  There was a group of about 20 swans, (and a couple of random ducks), all lined up in formation swimming along.  Off to find some dinner I presume.

Who would have thought that the coffee experiences of the week would warrant a blog entry!!  Just in case you are thinking about tuning out about now, I will point out that this post isn’t about Starbucks, my comfort coffee house, but about my new coffee experiences at RT.  Now my new 9-5 offers 2 great coffee options - the do it yourself coffee bar where you can do a quick capp, latte or tea and the serviced coffee bar, where the service is friendly and the coffee (Illy) is a little nicer.  So far in my 7 working days to-date I have

- started up about 3 loyalty cards at the serviced coffee bar, because I forgot to take my card down each time.  I now have it at the bar and..they know my name

- took a while to discover the art of adding extra water at the self-serve.  You need to turn it on…get some water and then turn it off..yes it will turn off itself after a bit, but after a full cup-full, so topping up, you need to stop

- you need to put the lids on the coffee properly (mandatory to have a lid on all beverages), so that you don’t spill said coffee all over your trousers…on a Monday morning..

So, for all you cappuccino, latte, machiatto and even flavoured coffee (iced or hot) lovers out there, I’ll have one on you (cause they are only 65p at the coffee bar!)

The trains in England are my friend at the moment and are also the source of a number of experiences, views and travel plans.  Without a car over here, i am doing some of my trip planning based around good old public transport. I am also using it to get too and from work in London at the moment, so all up I am getting some good travelling on National Rail experience.

Just when I think I have the low-down, I get on a different train and it is a whole new experience.  This morning I missed my usual fast-train so I decided to take a different slower one, it stopped at more places and took a different route which was very scenic actually AND I got a seat instead of standing up against the door.  It was pretty close re time, ie got in the door at work spot on 9am instead of around 20mins earlier, but it was good for a bit of a change.  I kept wanting them to stop so I could take some photos!

By the way, National Rail has a pretty good web-site which I use for trip planning, timetables etc.  It is very handy.  Trains are also a great place to ‘people-watch’.  What a mixture of interesting, rude, friendly, strange, business-like and funny, all together heading to the same destination….

PS - thanks for the travel suggestions, keep them coming.  I take the point about the ‘control freak’ thing, many of you are probably nodding your heads at that when you think of me (outed by my own parents..)and yes I will try not to be too organised and play-it-as-it comes as well..promise

Walking back from the train station at the end of a working day is very likely going to become my pondering time.  Ideas for my writing and my blog posts no doubt.  That is as long as I am not getting drowned in the rain or distracted by a bird or some other wildlife.  Today, I found myself pondering on my walk home on a number of items, but the main one relates to my experience over here.  In my mind, I am still not totally sure how long I want to stay in the UK.  Don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying the experience, but it still seems very much just that, an experience, with a return planned in 12-24 months.  So, what I was pondering was this :-

If I have 2 years, to effectively do what I want to do in regards to travel and living overseas (funds permitting), then what do I want to ensure I cover in those 2 years?  I haven’t really seriously worked this out.  I have ideas and possibilities but where do I want to go and what do I want to do… If you had unlimited funds (not that I am saying I do by any means), but for the sake of the exercise if you did, where would you go readers??  Fill me with some inspiration and ideas and allow yourselves to dream along with me.  I am going to start making a list of must-sees and must-do’s, before my experience comes to an end and I wonder where the time went. 

The other thing I was pondering was train travel, this in it’s own right merits a blog post, so I will save it for a rainy day.  Till morrow!

It has been a bit of a lazy Sunday, not much happening.  Did go for a walk to Crowthorne and back, which was about the extent of my energy.  I think the last week has caught up with me a bit, but I am re-charging for the week ahead hopefully :0)

I have done a bit more research on travel destinations, a wide variety of things and decided and booked up a small weekend getaway this coming weekend to Bristol.  I can get there by train from London in about 1.5hrs, so will leave Fri night and then either come back on Sunday night, or possibly stop over in London on Sunday night…Found what looks like a nice hotel on LateRooms which had a *Hot Special* and have booked 2 nights there.  So just need to work out some places to visit - the guidebooks have quite a few, including a walk which leaves on weekends which might be good.

Just drooling back over all my Greece photos.  Sent them off to some of my fellow travellers and got a couple of emails back which is excellent!  Been looking at a few more trips that the same company is offering, around Oct when my contract finishes, seen a couple that look good, so better get to saving some money I reckon..Italy or Spain next on the European agenda I feel..

On the way home from Reading, and my shopping trip today, I walked past Keats Road and it got me thinking about the poet, Keats and what was his story..

Here is a bit of info on him and, his first publication, To Solitude.  Just for a bit of cultyah!

TO SOLITUDE

O SOLITUDE! If I must with thee dwell,
  Let it not be among the jumbled heap
  Of murky buildings; - climb with me the steep,
Nature’s Observatory - whence the dell,
Its flowery slopes - its rivers crystal swell,
  May seem a span: let me thy vigils keep
  ’Mongst boughs pavilioned; where the Deer’s swift leap
Startles the wild Bee from the Fox-glove bell.
Ah! fain would I frequent such scenes with thee;
  But the sweet converse of an innocent mind,
  Whose words are images of thoughts refin’d,
Is my soul’s pleasure; and it sure must be
  Almost the highest bliss of human kind,
When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.

Things are going well at Rio Tinto so far.  I have only worked for 2 days for the last couple of weeks and spent a bit of time getting laptop set-up, logging helpdesk calls and today, having some IT training.  They have some excellent systems, especially ones which synch the email and phone, quite seemlessly, and with wireless and a laptop, you can walk around the building, hop into meeting or phone rooms and have instant access to email, network etc.  Also, today, we got all the low-down on accessing the system and emails externally using broadband or wireless, so if need arises, you can easily work from home.

Have also been impressed with the great recycling initiatives, for rubbish and also with the water in the loos!  Great to see a large company being environmentally aware in their corporate office.  Still trying to remember everyone’s names and what they do, but everyone has been very nice and friendly.  And still trying to remember not to leave things on my desk..otherwise the desk fairy will tell me off apparently.

Bit tired after my travel and 2 days work, so looking forward to a sleep in tomorrow, followed by a cappuccino in Crowthorne and maybe a bit of shopping for some more work clothes.  I don’t think I can get away with wearing my 4 good tops in a full week of work…that means one has to be worn twice!  Have a great weekend everyone…

PS - still a few more photos to come from Greece…so if you wanted to check back there should be a few more new ones by the end of the weekend