Author: Richard

Goodnight Vienna

| Richard

Well that was a busy week! The Friday before last, I was heading back in the rain from a meeting with a Client when my phone rang and a colleague asked if I’d be available to go to Vienna for a day the following week to do some training for another Client.  The answer, as always, was yes. When I got back to the office, it all started going pear-shaped…

It transpired it was two days’ training: join mid-morning with a German lawyer’s last session and then repeat on the Friday before an evening flight home; my colleague would be staying at the comfy Hotel de France. But there were problems: firstly, I couldn’t guarantee arriving on time if I travelled on Thursday morning, so I had to make arrangements to fly out on the Wednesday evening (which meant cancelling another meeting) and I couldn’t fly back on the Friday because all the flights back were fully booked, so I now needed to stay another night and fly home on Saturday which meant cancelling all my plans up in Norfolk.

By Tuesday, more changes were afoot: half the delegates were calling in sick, so the venue (which had been a lovely hotel in central Vienna) had been cancelled and we would be doing it at the Client’s offices 15km outside the city. This meant cancelling the hotels I had managed to find and instead I was put up in what was thankfully a four star guest house 5km from the offices, the Landhaus Tschipan. They had also asked us to condense two days’ of training into one, the Thursday and I still couldn’t get a flight back!

Wednesday was horribly wet in London but landing in Vienna that evening, I was greeted by a lovely warm evening and I went for some beers with the German lawyer to run through the slides and edit them down.

Thursday went very well indeed and when we had finished we realised all the HR staff had gone home and there was no-one to take us back or even arrange a taxi … so we walked the 5km back in full suits and carrying laptops in high 20s temperatures! We then changed and grabbed a taxi into central Vienna to meet up with my other two colleagues for beers and a meal before heading back.  Vienna is a beautiful city by night!

Friday morning I checked out of the Tschipan and headed to my hotel for Friday: the five star Steigenberger Hotel Herrenhof in the historic part of Vienna. A bit more work until lunchtime and then I headed out for a sightseeing wander around the shopping areas and the Naschtmarkt: some 10km in the sun and high 20s temperatures: no wonder I got sunburnt!

Back to the hotel to change before I met up with my colleagues at the University of Vienna where they’d been delivering a course for the post-graduate MSc Law course. Lovely ribs and beers before heading off to St Stephen’s Square for more café culture and beer and a wander down to the Danube itself. I finally stumbled into bed at 2.30am!

A light breakfast – or two – before heading back to the airport for a flight home … to the same cold and wet London I’d left behind. Ah well!

 

Kawasaki Day at the Ace Cafe

| Richard

Today was Kawasaki Day at the Ace Cafe London. It was also the Virgin London Marathon and where I live the roads close at 8.00am. Despite GT taking part in the marathon – she managed a 4:00:44 finish time! – I headed off before the road closures to the Ace Cafe for Kawasaki Day, celebrating 40 years.

Of course, 11 and 23 mile markers en route were too good to pass unnoticed so I hoisted celebratory wheelies as I drove through!

Getting to the Ace at 8.00am I grabbed a cuppa and breakfast and then decided to have the ZRX dyno’d again now I’ve put some miles on it and the results were very impressive: 163.2bhp and 98ft/lb which even beat some poor bloke with a shiny ZZR1400 and Akra pipes!

Here are some photos too:

H2 750 Zephyr Chat H1 500 7cyl KH606! Zephyr ZRXs Z900s H1 Tank Z1000 Tank ZRX Tank ZX-10R Collage Yes... Blue Rex

Ireland for Easter

| Richard

With my 50th Birthday falling on Good Friday, GT decided to take me to Ireland with her kids to stay with family. Her mother has a house in Co. Carlow and there’s another family cottage (beautifully renovated and refurbished) to stay in just down the road … and that’s what we did: GT and I in the cottage and her kids staying at her Mum’s.

Thursday 5th and we went shopping and meeting and greeting family before settling down in the front of a log fire with a book and a bottle of wine.

Friday 6th brought a big surprise present from GT: a trackday in a Ferrari to be arranged by me to suit me! Then after lunch we headed over to Altamont Gardens for a wander around. A pity we couldn’t get closer to the spooky house:

Altamont House

Saturday 7th and I decided that after a few weeks break from running, I’d give the dodgy calf muscle a workout with a short 3.2 mile run whilst GT carried on for another 11.5 miles. She’s a machine! And all this before breakfast, after which we went for another walk out and about. The Irish provide handy hints for you when planning your next serial killing too:

Leave No Trace
Handy Hints

Then on for a wonderful meal in the evening at the excellent Sha-Roe Bistro 20 mins away in Clonegal, with delicious food and wine before a drink next door then back to the cottage.

Sunday 8th saw us heading up to Fraughan Rock Glen for a walk up to the upper waterfall and a few snacks before we headed back down to the pub for steaks and proper Guinness for lunch.

Fraggle Rock. Or Something.

Monday 9th was the only day that rain was forecast for, so we spent it at an activity centre in Carlow and I finished off the last of the Stieg Larsson Dragon Tattoo/Millennium Trilogy books on the Kindle App on my iPhone. I’d also seen this wonderful farmhouse on an earlier drive, so a photo opportunity presented itself.

Desolate

Tuesday 10th and GT and I started the day with another run before we headed off to Glendalough for more walking and sightseeing around the place after a couple of Guinnesses with lunch at the Hollywood Inn.

Hollywood Inn
GT and Blue
Poulanass Waterfall
Miners' Village at Glendalough

An early night and then back off to Dublin Airport on Wednesday.

Great long weekend!

Insurance Renewal

| Richard

Just renewed my bike insurance with Motorcycle Direct and noting the recent speeding offence.

Protected no-claims, fully comprehensive with declared modifications and living in London. SD&P plus commuting. £158.72.

Result!

Weekend Break

| Richard

Well what a great weekend that was!

Nipped over to GT’s after work on Friday for a lovely home-cooked meal before an early night as GT was up early on Saturday morning for another cheeky 20 mile run before breakfast! She’s almost ready for her seventh marathon in three weeks’ time; her third London Marathon.

So when she got back, I got up and we headed into Epsom: GT to get a pedicure and me for a coffee and porridge at Caffè Nero. Then we set off for our weekend destination…

GT was a tad hungry by now, so shortly after leaving hers (and returning to pick up some undies!), we stopped for lunch at the Bear in Oxshott. Lovely food too with huge sandwiches and excellent fillings plus some great choices of starters and sharing platters.

Then on to our hotel for the weekend: Luton Hoo where one of GT’s friends was celebrating her birthday that evening. I’d had a cunning plan and booked us a room in the Mansion House itself as I had (incorrectly) assumed we’d be eating in the main house rather than one of the other buildings on the estate so we wouldn’t need to walk anywhere or go out in the cold that night.

Luton Hoo
Luton Hoo

And we were greeted with a pleasant surprise: we were upgraded to a Mansion House Suite – usually a £500 night option – which was heroically impressive with its own sitting area, a massive bed, a lobby and separate bathroom, walk-in wardrobes, etc.

Manor House Suite
Manor House Suite

The bottle of champagne I’d ordered was there chilling in its ice bucket and so everything was great as we spent the afternoon with a photoshoot and sipping champagne. GT said she could easily get used to this! My favourite from the shoot is on my photography profiles/pages.

Time then to get dressed for dinner: GT in a new LBD and heels – GT had brought a selection of stilettos with her including the Jimmy Choos, of course – and me in a suit and tie.

We then realised that Lu’s birthday dinner was actually taking place in the brasserie which was a short taxi ride away – the hotel has a fleet of its own taxis to ferry guests around the estate – so off we went for more good food and wines with great company before heading back to the main house for a nightcap!

The next morning we had a late start with a leisurely breakfast in the restaurant before heading outside for a walk around the extensive gardens (and a quick play on their croquet lawn) before coming back for a pot of tea in their gardens in the warm spring sunshine.

More Tea, Vicar?
More Tea, Vicar?

Sadly, we then had to pack and head off home after lunch. A memorable weekend!

Pausing For Breath

| Richard

Well it’s been a hectic few weeks since I finished – albeit temporarily – in Wigan at the end of February.

Knowing I had a week or so without fee-earning, I decided to use some of my 2011 holiday entitlement and bugger off for a city break to Barcelona, staying in a suite at the Hotel 1898 right on La Rambla. Utter luxury and recommended! I grabbed some snaps whilst out and about which are on my photography site and Flickr.

The following week and I was back in London with a number of evening dos to go to including being entertained with GT at the Texas Embassy Cantina off Trafalgar Square: a great laugh with some lawyers I’d drink with any time.  And drink we did, which prompted an overnight stay with a shopping trip on my way in to work the following night to pick up a new shirt at London Bridge!

Hired Gun
Gunslingers

The weekend saw an invitation from a long-standing Client to celebrate a result we had had by having lunch at Caffe Mamma in Richmond followed by the England v Ireland 6 Nations rugby match at Twickenham. And lots of drinking.

England v Ireland
England v Ireland at Twickenham

The next week was busy with speaking engagements and evening meetings before a really epic weekend, starting with the Pop Will Eat Itself gig at the Electric Ballroom, Camden on the Friday after some excellent tapas at Bar Gansa.

Pop Will Eat Itself at the Electric Ballroom
The Poppies take to the stage at the Electric Ballroom

Then Saturday was spent up in Wymondham seeing Amy and her Uni mates before heading into Norwich for Nando’s and the Norwich v Wolves match with Jack. Sunday was more shopping before heading back down to London and work again this week. Some interesting work in the pipeline…

On the ball, City
On the ball, City!

Robin Hood, Or What Is “Fair”?

| Richard

So we had a new Budget with the Chancellor, Gideon, heralding things that won’t happen for another year in the hope that we will assume he means April 2012 when he refers to “next April” when in fact it’s April 2013.

But apart from that, the Government continue to bang on about everyone paying their fair share in taxes, unless you’re Simon Hughes MP, in which case it’s a “fare share“…

This latest statement by Simon Hughes MP is headlined “Budget makes sure the richest pay their fare share – Simon Hughes MP” but then goes on to fanfare that:

“…hundreds of thousands of South Londoners on low and middle incomes given a tax cut, paid for by raising the burden of tax on the wealthy.”

…

“Liberal Democrats have made sure that this government has done what Labour never did – make sure the richest pay their fair share … despite a cut in the top income tax rate to 45p next year the richest will pay five times the amount in taxes they do today.”

Oh I see! So that’s fair is it?

And where does this magical “five times the amount” come from? I haven’t seen that calculation shown anywhere, or is it just another case of “lies, damned lies and statistics”?

What’s wrong with a proportional tax system whereby everyone pays the same tax in percentage terms? Does a “rich” person use more of what the Government provides from taxes by way of health and welfare than a lower paid person? I’d wager not; probably the opposite with private healthcare being a likely perk. Education? Surely the “rich” are more likely to pay for Quentin and Letitia to go be educated privately too. Local services are paid through Council Tax which increases with property size so the better off are already paying more for local services that way.

If you are going to look at taxation based upon affordability, why not own up and call it that?

For the record, I’m not rich by any means and by a quirk of the tax system which appears bewilderingly complex and confusing, HMRC has already decided that I somehow paid less tax through PAYE then I should have last year – HMRC helpfully provided my tax code which calculated the “incorrect” deductions – and taking that and the tax rules into account, for 2012/2013 I will have a negative code, i.e. I will pay tax on more than I actually earn.

Which is “fair”, if you happen to be a Liberal Democrat politician, obviously. Or a Conservative. Tricky to tell them apart…

London 2012 Olympic Games

| Richard

Yet more reasons for abandoning London during the Olympic Games have come out this week: reports of a lack of hotel rooms and extortionate pricing for those which are available have been discussed on various news channels.

It’s all about supply and demand, of course.

In this case, demand is high because of both the ‘main’ Olympic Games as well as the Paralympic Games afterwards. As noted on the BBC’s “Democracy Live” website:

 ”Speaking during questions on 9 February 2012, Ms Jowell told MPs of a mother who had been forced to pay £1,000 a night for a specially adapted hotel room in order to take her disabled daughter to the Paralympic Games.

“The same room would cost £375 during the Easter holidays, a 167% increase, Ms Jowell claimed.

“She told MPs that her team’s research found that hotel prices in London during the course of the games were, on average, 315% higher than normal.”

Of course demand will be high from tourists and visitors wanting to watch the Games, but it’s also the supply side that’s being affected. Why? Well it’s down to that great gravy train of excess and privilege known as “the Olympic family”. This is estimated to mean 78,400 people. Yes, 78,400!  Of these, well over 60% aren’t actually athletes or officials:

“National Olympic Committees (NOC) 19,900
Includes:
– Athletes
– Team officials

International Federations (IF) 4,150
Includes:
– Technical officials
– International Federations staff and guests

Media 21,300
Includes:
– Press, photographers, journalists
– Rights holding broadcasters
– Olympic Broadcast Organisation

International Olympic Committee (IOC) 1,650
Includes:
– IOC members
– World AntiDoping Agency
– Court of Arbitration of Sport
– IOC Medical Commission
– IOC staff
– Observers and guests

Marketing partners (sponsors) 31,400
Includes:
– The Olympic Partners and guests
– Marketing Partner Coach Programme (ticketed)

Grand total 78,400″

Wow!

This is the bunch that will be bringing traffic chaos to London with the Olympic Route Network of Olympic Family-only traffic lanes carved out of the already-congested existing road network.  It’s explained nicely here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16277688

And where are all these Olympic Family members staying? Well maybe in the rooms they’ve block-booked at specially reduced rates:

“Under a deal struck in 2005, Locog booked around 600,000 room nights in London during the course of the games, for Olympic officials, media and others.

“In January, around 120,000 of these rooms were put back on sale to the public after Locog said it no longer needed them.”

Ah! That would explain it! I’m so pleased I won’t be here in London during the Olympics…

You Know I’m Waiting

| Richard

Transport for London now has a really useful service whereby you can track how long you’ll need to wait for a bus at any given stop. Excellent stuff!

It does, however, really show up the complete lie published by TFL on its timetable for the 381 bus route which promises a bus every “10 – 12 minutes” during the day.

Last night, for instance, the mobile service was suggesting a 25 minute wait at City Hall for my bus home so I walked and never was passed by one. This morning it’s a 20 minute wait.

Our local MP, Simon Hughes, has been promising action on this bus route since I moved here in 2008 and like all LibDem promises, it’s been an empty one.

Must try harder…