Ally clearing snow from the car

Volvo Group Headquarters

Volvo Group is an enormous company that scans the globe so you might expect it's headquarters to be a towering skyscraper in a bustling city centre. Not so. It's an attractive rambling "mansion" on top of a hill in Gothenburg with courtyard garden in the middle (see photo above). Most of the offices look out onto gorgeous views. A nice environment to work in. Those concrete jungalists could learn a thing or two.

Local wildlife

We discovered there is an animal sanctuary just outside Cambridge so decided to explore it. It was a lot of fun, especially seeing the excitement of the little kiddies. The animals were all in large pens thankfully - and are clearly very very well treated and well loved. They are all sanctuary animals rescued from ill run zoos or private collectors. The only mishap was when I got a little close to a Llama and it sneezed all over my face - just like it did to Captain Haddock in Tintin's "Prisoners of the Sun". Much to Ally's delight and continued mirth. Oh well, at least now I won't fall for the same trick in South America.

Tiger, Tiger, burning bright...

I don't like seeing Tigers in cages but these fellows looked happy enough in their big enclosure. Tigers are officially my favourite cat (yes, I know it's not very patriotic being African and all that) and it has long been a life goal of mine to see one in the wild. I came so close in Nepal- actually heard one roaring in the long grass just 20 metres from where I was - but the fellow never showed himself.

My favourite poem at school was "The Tiger" by William Blake and I always think of it when I see a tiger in any form - even if these particular tabbies didn't quite live up to their fearsome reputation.

In case you haven't read this poem, here is is:

The Tiger

TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

(William Blake 1757–1827)

All the Presidents Men

Both Ally and I really enjoyed this classic 1976 movie about the unearthing of the Watergate scandal by two investigative journalists - brilliantly acted by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. When I was at school, I thought about going into investigative journalism and after watching this movie, I'm glad I didn't. The endless leg-work and phoning around that the two had to do to crack the story was absolutely staggering. I would't have had the tenacity or killer instinct to get even close. The director of the movie does an incredible job of keeping the movie suspenseful and intriguing and as the story progresses, you get more and more involved. Another goodie. 

Spring has sprung

Glorious weather has arrived at last and the daffodils are blooming. I almost couldn't believe it when I stepped off the plane from Sweden and suddenly felt extremely hot in my winter jacket. Blue skies. Glorious sunshine. I'd forgotten just how good it felt. Ally and I celebrated with an evening walk by the river. Thank goodness for the weather because we needed a bit of cheering up. Ally's being messed around with her new job. They've kept delaying her start date so she phoned up today to discover they haven't actually "authorised" her role yet with the director and it's not even a definite thing. Basically they've been offering her a job that doesn't even exist yet. We'll only find out on Monday. At best, she'll only start on April 1st now. Not very professional. And on top of that, she took the car for a basic £100 service and ended up with a £750 bill. When it rains, it pours! But at least the sun is shining...

Some geese can be notoriously nasty. In fact, poor Ally was severely traumatised by a troop of hissing "feathered monsters" when she was a teenager. They had her running around a swimming pool with them in hot pursuit. But these Cambridge geese (see photo) were awfully cute and waddled past us at close quarters with gentle hello's. I took a couple of close up shots while Ally cowered on top of a nearby table in terror. Her teenage memories were still acutely fresh.

Where's my bag?

Gothenburg city airport is notorious for making you wait ages for your bag. And when you see their apparatus for transporting luggage from the plane to the airport, you're not suprised. No wonder too, that when it's snowing, your bags arrive sopping wet on the conveyer belt. I think they need to upgrade their technology! It might be quaint the first time, but not the 42nd.

Happy snaps

A photo from the taxi window. The sun was shining in Sweden too. Not quite as warm though - I still needed my winter jacket.

Hotel Rwanda

We saw this movie at the cinema on Sunday night and thought it was extremely good. It's the true-life story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsis refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda. Don Cheadle, who plays the lead, is absolutely brilliant - I'm not suprised he was nominated for an Oscar.

It would have been easy for the crew to give a one-sided tale about the horror of war and fill a 90 minute picture with nothing but blood and guts. Instead, the crew put together a film that will resonate for years. It involves politics, culture, family, religion, race, and many other questions of ethics. It tells the whole story from all perspectives and was full of humanity. Recommended!

Quick Update

Good news! Ally's job came through today - it's all official. She starts working for Minolta on Monday on the salary she wanted so if feeling very chuffed. The offices are an hour's drive from Cambridge so there is unfortunately a bit of a commute. But it will be good experience working for a big company to compare against. She'll be part of a an "HR team" instead of "Being HR" as she has been at most of her companies to date.

Sunday twitching at Fowlmere

I added a new bird to my life list: a GoldCrest (Regulus regulus) It was more exciting than the Latin name would lead you to believe!

Treasure from Cape Town

Thanks for sending these through mum. That's a fantastic shot of Jo and the kiddies (her new hair-style looks absolutely great) and it always warms my heart to see Mike and Matthew together - two kindred spirits connecting!!

Day trip to Suffolk

We drove to Suffolk today and had a bracing walk along the beach with Amanda and Johnathon. Filled up on lots of fresh air and plenty of good laughs. Suffolk is a relatively sleepy town at this time of year (not quite high season yet) but is very quaint and attractive in it's own way. We enjoyed visiting some nice art galleries and sampling the local brew - a bitter but tasty ale that is famous, though I can't for the life of me remember it's name.

I didn't get wet, believe it or not, but Amanda got a good shot of me dwarfed by a wall of water that narrowly missed me.

A warm, sunny day by the sea side. Well, maybe not!

A little critter we found on the beach

On the cannon

Warming up in the pub

Silly devils through the glass

Mid week update

I'm glad to report that my sniffling and snuffling is much reduced and I'm feeling human again - so much so that I managed a tennis lesson last night. My cold has taken it's toll though and I was huffing and puffing dramatically - and that was just from swinging my racket with almost no movement of the feet.

My terrible forearm is progressing well at last thank goodness. Who would have thought that all that squash I played as a young school kid could have corrupted my stroke to much. It was like learning again from scratch. Squash is all about using the wrist and keeping an open racket. That's paramount to disaster in tennis with the result that all my shots kept slicing straight up to the roof.

Ally had a successful job interview on Tuesday with Minolta and everything looked very positive indeed. However, she then didn't hear back from them or the agency (and still hadn't early today) so we're wondering what is going on. Hopefully it's simply that tthings work slower there than at World Challenge where things got done at lightning speed. We're holding fingers.

I've also been looking for a person to hire for my team and have been doing lots of interviewing. I think we have found the right person and are in the process of doing a job offer. Hiring is always a bit scary. No matter how vigorous the interview process, people can always suprise (on the up as well as downside.) A bit like a lottery really.

Ally's just starting to get cabin fever but her break has been a god send. Just what she needed. She's become a fitness fiend of note with body pump one night and cyber spinning the next - and is looking wonderful and fit. Putting me to shame. I haven't been to gym properly in over two weeks. Starts tomorrow!

Happily the weather has warmed up a bit from the icy spell we've had recently, but there's rumours we're in for a wet weekend. If it does play ball, we've decided to go for a drive to the coast with Amanda and Johnathon which would be lovely. Will give me a couple of hours to pet Geena in the back! Sure Ally won't mind - she might even join in.

Our trip to Canada is now organised (dates set and plane booked) and we're very excited. It's going to be great to see our Canadian family and do some hiking. Canada has been on our life lists for ages now. It's a pity August is so far away. Counting the days...

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

I managed to get hold of this elusive movie on e-Bay in VHS format, again for just a couple of pounds. Why it's not yet available in the UK in DVD format is beyond me - what an awesome movie. It's made me into even more of a fan of Humphrey Bogart who plays a ragged, gritty character slipping into an insane bout of gold lust. Walter Huston is also brilliant in this movie. Enthralling plot too with a very clever ending. I'm not suprised this 1948 movie is such a classic and number 66 on the IMDB list.

So that's 99 movies out 100. Just one to go - the 1944 version of Double Indemnity. It's the rarest of the top 100 movies in the UK, though I hear rumours it's being released in the UK in April. I'll also be keeping a tight watch on e-Bay.

Travel blogging

Two friends of Mike are travelling through Canada and South America. They're keeping a blog here which has some great photos. Take a look. Wets our appetite big time...

Snowy Cambridge

Well, they've been warning us about it for ages and today it finally snowed with gusto. Everything in Cambridge looked very different, clothed all white. Poor Ally wasn't too charmed though as she had to drive an hour and half to an interview through icy roads. It's snowing everywhere in Europe at the moment - I was in Gothenberg this week and I've rarely seen so much snow. We have a rather chilly weekend ahead. Unfortuntely I've come down with the dreaded lurgy (a nasty bout of flu that downed Ally for close to a week) so I think I'll be staying in.

Jo and Anthony in wedding garb

A nice picture sent by mum. Jo and Ant went to two weddings in two days. Jo is wearing the bracelet we gave her for Xmas and Ally is very chuffed and touched that she likes it enough for wedding wear!

Volvo Construction Equipment SPM project

Priceless moments (Cambridge years: 2004 - 2005)

Blogging and photography

• Starting my blog and photography (an instant love affair)
• Learning to use Dreamweaver and creating a site around the blog
• Bird in flight in colleges

Cambridge living

• Finding and moving into our Cambridge apartment
• Library (for movies)
• Cambridge crepes
• Gym & tennis (with Louis)
• Rollerblading
• John Barleycorn ribs
• Picnics
• River and punting
• Botanical Garden
• Cycling along river
• Dinner with Amanda and Johnathon and by the fire
• Ally's face as she fed the lambs at Wimpole Estate
• Meeting up with Nicky (rollerblading, Lion King)

Volvo

• Volvo.com meetings (Bokenas, Rostaried)
• Abba party and dancing forfeit on table
• Barbecue at Matts - whole clove of garlic!
• Mindmanager
• Getting Things Done
• Tennis with Louis
• Volvo Sailing day
• Making Mark and co laugh in Gothenburg

Trips

UK

• Weekend away in East Bourne with Colleen and Steve
• Cliffs where scatter ashes

Egypt, Prague

• Diving in Dahab
• Ride on a horse ridden carriage (Prague)

Canada

• Zip lining in Canada
• Rollerblade Stanley Park
• The Grind walk
• Lake Louise

Business trips

• Amsterdam conference with Volvo (Ally with me)
• Shopping in Greensboro (i-pod, rollerblades, clothes galore)
• Driving on icey roads in Greensboro
• Snow in Greensboro with Caroline - driving
• Iguazu Falls and seeing Toucans

Western Australia

• Birding in Australia
• Shannon National Park (cosy hut, dam, forest walk, little shop)
• Geo caching (Lighthouse & Magazine) - Macavity the Cat
• Rottnest Island (bicycles, camping, lighthouse, quokka, restaurant, birding)
• Snuggling up in the cosy cabin at Shannon National Park
• Lunch at Margarrette's River - and a gorgeous parrot, river walk

Movies

2005

2004

Volvo Construction Equipment dealer sites

Volvo Volvo Construction Equipment web strategy

Volvo CE Used Equipment tool

Taking measure.

Saw this quote in a bookstore today and really like it:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the places and moments that take our breath away. (Anon)

The American Cemetary

One of the loveliest, most peaceful and certainly most moving places in East Aglia is the American Cemetary, which stands on a beautifully landscaped hillside just outside Cambridge. It commemorates 3812 American soldiers who died in the Second World War. We visited it today despite the chilly weather and were glad we did.

Every so often you see something that moves you to the core - and seeing this little note under one of the graves was such a moment. Nearly 4000 memorial graves may give you a sense of scale of the war but to trully appreciate the emotional depth of the loss, it just takes a simple note like this. The note was written recently. 60 years may have passed but somewhere out there, a women called Mary still deeply feels the loss of her loved one. True love never dies.

Duck Soup

I managed to get hold of Duck Soup on E-Bay last week. It's one the 3 elusive movies I've been trying to get hold of for a while. Cost me the princely sum of £1:30. I love E-Bay! Duck Soup is cetainly an acquired taste for any one who likes The Marx Brothers and contains some pretty risque one-liners for a movie made in the 1930's. So now I've seen 98 of the top 100 IMDB movies. Only two more to go and I can get a life...

 

Gatwick re-union

Rosemarie and Nick flew through Gatwick today on their way from Jersey to Madeira where they will have a week's holiday. We drove down to see them and had a great chat and catch up. Great to see them again. They look happy as they start their new adventure in Jersey and Nick starts his new job when they get back. We hope to visit them in Jersey later this year.

A Brief History of the Human Race

I'm recently started this book and am really enjoying it. The History of Mankind in just 359 pages - and not just western history; it includes an historic account of every continent. It might be brief but it's full of interesting ideas and anecdotes - to be recommended.

Talking of brief histories, I found an account of The History of the Universe in 200 Words or less on the web. Impressive but not many of the 200 words are short!

Happy 5th year wedding anniversary

Wow, are we on the same wavelength or what! Ally and I made cards for each other for our anniversary. Ally made her card a week ago, I made mine yesterday. Isn't it amazing that the themes are the same! Two rose together. Almost surreal. I really like the poem above so included it in the card - it's particularly special because Ally adores "cream coloured" roses.

Winter Bluebells

We went for celebratory lunch at a nice restaurant in Camridge. Then for a short walk by Trinity College. The Bluebells are blooming - a lovely flash of lavender against the stark, winter trees. It is a rainy weekend but the snow that all the weather channels have been predicting all week has not materialised. Instead of a sprinkling of snow, we got the bluebells.

Ally and Una in London

Ally visited Una in London (an ex colleague and very good friend) on Friday night to see her off before she moves to Sydney to try out life there. It will be great to have a friendly face there when we arrive.