The Boy and The Coconut Tree

I had a really odd thought today, or group of thoughts. I was thinking of a song I liked and had sent it to someone I had just met and liked, for me it was just a cute pop song that had come into my head at the same time as I had met this person, so for me it was a simple reminder, for them it seemed to be a declaration of love and this made me look back and realise I had done this before, my love of pop music, my superficial love of pop music can mean something very different to the people I share those songs with. I sent a song to someone a few years ago and they we so animated and quizzed me on the lyrics and I had to shrug it off as it was 'just a song' I liked at the time. What they thought was a declaration of undying, everlasting love was nothing symbolic for me at all. Strange how we fail to see what others see, or what others feel. I hope I don't do that again or if I do, the next song I send to someone I meet will simpy be a cheesy ABBA song with no meaning but th

Sitting in my hotel room looking at the Duomo in Florence and packing for my flight later today.  It is a wonderfully sunny warm day here and though there was a brief thunderstorm last night, it has blown through now and the city is still as stunning, and the air is a little fresher. I seriously love Florence, it isn't just a living museum with art and history everywhere, it is a living, working city and there is something interesting going on in every street and the smaller crowds of tourists this summer made it feel far more Italian and human and that was lovely, here are some pictures of Florence (River Arno, Duomo, Santa Croce, Room Mate Hotel Luca). First let us get down to Tripe, something I never liked but my grandparents and many of their generation loved. It is big in Florence; people eat it as a snack, and it can be found in the high-end restaurants as well as cheap cafes. I ended up eating it by accident last week in a lovely Osteria near th

Today is my official first day of gardening leave, a funny expression as I have no garden and I am sure many people who are on gardening leave also lack a garden or even a few plants to care for as the days pass by. So, all firms, and departments within them need to restructure, it would make no sense to not adapt but to do so behind the mask of #Covid19 seems excessively underhand. When loyal workers are helping a firm stay afloat during the crisis, when employees are isolated from their colleagues and often isolated from their friends and family it is a hammer blow to find yourself, in the space of 3 weeks, on gardening leave and looking for a new role in the worst recession in centuries. Some people are well equipped for his new normal, some are not. But never underestimate what betraying loyalty can do to a reputation. #redundancy #pensions #unemployed #openforwork I found out about my redundancy on July 16th, today is August 5th, it happened so fast my feet barely touched the

Wake up Have coffee Login to work Have coffee Small talk with colleagues on Teams Work Lunch Go for a walk/run Work Log off eat watch tv Sleep Rinse and repeat

So, we are now entering week 6 of lockdown, it is a strange time for us all, it is bring out the best and worst in people.  For me the first few weekends were the hardest, the weekends are when we are naturally more sociable so whereas I can cope with being on my own on weeknights the weekends are much harder and as each week passes, the blurring between work days and non-working days has increased.  On a positive note it has increased charity, people are doing more for each other, people are filling the gaps and cracks that years of austerity have increased.  People are noticing how hard people in health and social care work and hopefully they will not forget this when it comes to voting. It is very hard to applaud for the NHS then vote for the people who would savage it and sell the profitable bits off to vultures like Richard Branson (who then comes cap in hand asking for a bailout).  Of the negatives, the nimbyism has annoyed me, yes some people are going to the park and sitti

This is going to be a rant and some of you will roll your eyes as I am in Bali, far from the craziness at home and and and. Well the craziness at home is spreading.  Last night I was turned away from check-in because Turkey had decided, a few hours before my flight, to close its borders to people from the UK, even for transit.  Their advice was to request a refund and sit it out. Well thats all fine and dandy but how long will I end up being here?   So my list of offenders (bad customer service are as follows) https://www.turkishairlines.com/ for selling me a ticket for £1100 then telling me to claim a refund rather than re-route me. Opodo for not being contactable at all for 2 days and counting Emirate for hanging up on me after 45 minutes and telling me to wait and see what happens And finally but definitely the worst, Lastminute.com for selling me insurance I can't use, flights I cannot change and not responding to any messages for 3 days and counting. I w

Bali is described by many as a paradise. I saw little of that last night as I drove from the airport to my hotel in torrential rain past endless neon signs offering me everything from massagaes, burgers, go go boys and currency exchanges.  My hotel had kept reception open late to let me check in late and that was lovely, they greeted me from my taxi (paid for by them) with a huge umbrella, check in took 5 minutes and they showed me my huge lovely room which opens up to the pool, paradise indeed.   I slept like a baby and no real sign of jetlag (I slept a lot on my two flights getting here) and had a huge breakfast on the terrace (again by the pool) and then headed to the beach. Now Seminyak beach is raved about and sadly it sure seems popular with plastic bags and other bits of rubbish and the hawkers selling everything from sarongs to foot massages.  I topped up my tan as I watched a group of 5 Dutch boys take surfing lessons, they were hilarious and I may have