'Tis the season to attend work do's

With nothing planned holiday wise until Christmas (yes it will be 1 whole month without leaving the UK!!), there is not much else to do other than to attend work Christmas parties. This is one thing the English seem to excel at - inventing 3 or 4 different reasons (and dates) to get the company to pay for everyone to get stuck in the Christmas cheer. I for one am happy with this local custom, and being the seasoned traveller that I am, I have embraced the local culture and by Christmas day will have attended at least 4 Christmas do's.

Only other thing occurring other than work and rugby and do's is getting the Wagen ready for our Christmas holiday to the French Alps!! We are going to Sainte Foy for a week of snowboarding and presents!! So it is now at the mechanics getting a service.

Mid-season Rugby tour to Amsterdam

In mid November I went on a weekend tour with my rugby club to Amsterdam. Here is a summary of our trip:

- 30 blokes
- 1 lost bag (lost by the airline)
- Several beers consumed
- 1 game lost and played poorly by 15 very hung over players
- Watched 1 international match between Netherlands and Ukraine (Ukraine won both the game and the huge brawl in the 2nd half)
- A few more beers consumed
- Fly home

End of report.

Back to merry old England

After cruising around the French Riviera with all the rich people, we spent about €60 on tolls and drove from Nice back to Calais. We stayed overnight and got a ferry in the morning back to Dover.

Just as I dreamed, it was cloudy and rainy when we arrived back in England. Would you believe it, after about 10,000 kms (6,000 miles), driving in Portuguese sand dunes and rough tracks, over the Sierra Nevada mountains in Spain and up ski fields in Andorra the car started to play up about 10 miles from home! It was only a small thing but I was glad that the car had got us all that way!!

That flat looked just the same as when we left and we dragged all the gear inside and I got ready to go back to work!