gone for a swim!

Well, I've been busy the past week or so in holiday in Dahab, Egypt, learning to dive. Went with my workmate Nicola and together we got to the first stage of being a diver, the PADI Open Water Diver qualification. It was a real challenge, both physically (learning how to swim properly), academically (learning the course work and studying for the exam!) and emotionally (facing up to your fears about the things that could go wrong)!

The dive company we did our course with, Poseidon Divers, were excellent, very professional. They do a wide variety of courses and we were the only Open Water Divers there that week. There were people studying for Technical and Master Diver qualifications as well. Although we had a great time, the course was quite full on so I'd suggest if anyone was going to do it, to think about doing the first part of the course at home in a pool and then doing the open water dives on holiday. It was very tiring!

We stayed at the Coral Coast Hotel about ten minutes north of the main centre of Dahab. This was brilliant as we didn't have to deal with all the restaurant and shop touts every time we left the hotel. We had a lovely view out over the Gulf of Aqaba over to Saudi Arabia with some stunning mountain views.

Dahab itself is nice and laid back - it's grown quite a bit since I was there in 1996 but still is a lot nicer than the larger resort town of Sharm El Sheikh. There are restaurants and nice sitting areas all along the waterfront and the food and drink is incredibly cheap. Mains courses are generally about 25LE - about £2.50!

hiccup!

I know I get hiccups frequently but at least I don't get them for two years like this poor chap

the new Harry

Saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on Saturday night. I quite enjoyed it, the design (endless rain, not a shaft of sunlight!) was great. Liked David Thewlis in it and thought there was too little of Gary Oldman.

Marquis of Granby

Went for a couple of pints after movies on Saturday night to the Marquis of Granby on Percy St, off Tottenham Court Road. Apparently it's a bit of an old Orwell haunt. We merely found that it was overdecorated with St George's crosses, ahead of the Big Game on Sunday evening. Quite a nice pub though - we managed to get a seat at 9.30 on a Saturday night, it wasn't v smoky and they had Hoegaarden on tap. Yay!

CBK Academy

This is where I'll be for the next couple of days - the Pendley Manor Hotel in Hertfordshire. Our whole department of 65 is going - we have an Emotional Intelligence Workshop tomorrow, then cocktails, dinner and entertainment in the evening (which we have to dress up for!). Then on Wednesday, there's some unspecified team activites. I'm hoping it's not blindfold driving or, even worse, quad biking! We have to wear trainers or boots and we're in a meadow so it sounds a bit daunting.

Bad Education

Friday night, Kt and I went to see Bad Education, the new Pedro Almodovar film. Very good, fabulous music and story within a story sequences.

new offices

Had a busy busy week last week so no posts. Am back again now - we are now ensconsed in new offices at More London near London Bridge. Journey to work is a little longer but I'm still able to take the number 17 bus all the way. The new offices are lovely. Luckily I'm not a hoteller and have my own personal desk. About half the department are hotdesking and have to book a desk so that they have somewhere to sit every day.