Heading toward Christmas

It's late October and as we head toward the festival of Christmas it seems strange to look back on the year behind us.

Last Christmas I missed my company Chirstmas party because I fell ill with the flu. Colleagues who had not had the flu shot were much worse off than me and spent the entire Christmas and New Year ill in bed.

The year seemed to go very quickly and in September I found myself in California. Something I'd always wanted to do but never thought I would achieve.

California is a very beautiful country / state and I would like to visit it again. Will I be able to do so? Maybe not, but we shall see.

Better weather is here

After an indifferent summer here in the UK, I was fortunate enough to spend a week in Silicon Valley, California.

The weather was gorgeous. Cool and overcast in the early morning, with the sun punching its way through the overcast very quickly to bring a delightfully hot -though not muggy- day. (Muggy is an British word for when the weather is hot and damp.)

When I got back home, it started to rain, so all was normal. And the weather remained normal until this week. I.E., sunny with periods of cloudy weather with some rain.

The weather has become unseasonally warm this week, with temperatures in our sun trap back garden reaching a high of 32C.

It's almost as nice -but not quite as nice- as the weather in California.

When the weather is like this it is known as an Indian Summer, a term borrowed from America.

Santa Clara is cool!

I loved my time in Santa Clara! The meal with exmos did not happen, due to security at San Francisco Airport taking two hours to get through. Apparently it was thought to be a very good idea to send everyone but a tiny handful of staff on break when they KNEW four VERY full 747s would be arriving at pretty much the same time.

So there was the ridiculous spectacle of hundreds of visitors to the USA waiting in a massive line, whilst the domestic arrivals/US citizens staff were sat doing nothing!

Eventually a small woman with a fiery, feisty nature came up, berated them and turned most of the gates from US to foreign visitors. But by the time it was too late to get to the hotel, register for the convention and then sort myself out.

But! I was able to enjoy some drinks with Mrs E and Wine Country Girl from the RFM board, so that did make up for it, as they were delightful company.

Will I be back in San Francisco next year? Perhaps. We shall wait and see!

California or not?

The proposed trip to California is looking a little bit iffy at the moment.

I should be in California in mid-September but for a variety of reasons -all logistical- that is starting to look a little less likely, now.

It might happen, but it is no longer certain.

Oh, well.

I might -fingers crossed- be in California in September

Not for long, under a week, probably, but I have an invitation to a business conference of sorts.


I have never flown before, so that would be interesting.