This week brought about yet another impromptu visit to New York, this time for the both of us. Friday was the annual Wings Club Dinner Dance where the entire who's who of aviation turns out in their finery to mingle and schmooze.
In Annalie's team, Carla was supposed to be going as she made all of the arrangements and would have been running the logistics. However her mum is quite poorly and she didn't want to head off to New York for the weekend just in case. So she asked Annalie to cover for her so we got to go to the whole event.
This meant that we got to spend two nights at the Waldorf Astoria of all places! Given its reputation, we thought we were in for a right treat. However, even though we were upgraded to a suite, it was a pretty poor effort really. The room was badly designed and felt very normal, rather than the sumptuous luxury you'd expect. Anyway, we weren't paying so we shouldn't really complain!
We headed off to the Dinner Dance, which was a pretty good affair. All of the right faces seemed to be there and the IAE guys could mingle with the best.
After the meal was finished, we decided to have a look at the "silent auction" where a bunch of aviation-related "prizes" were on offer. The way it works is that each "prize" has a sheet of paper attached to it and you have to sign up your name and bid. So you can see who has bid what.
The only one that really took our fancy was the most expensive of the lot (typical!)! Two business class flights from LA to Auckland. We uhmmed and ahhed about it for a bit and then decided we'd give it a go (we won't tell you for how much!). Shortly after we were outbid by $100. There was only about 40 minutes to go so we thought we'd hang around to see how much more interest there was and potentially get the last bid in before the papers were collected.
Ian dutifully hung around and there were no more bids placed. We asked a Kiwi colleague from Rolls-Royce if it was a good deal and he said it wasn't dirt cheap but it wasn't bad either. So as the papers were beign collected, Ian pounced and claimed the prize as ours.
Or so we thought... As the organisers were sifting through the collected bid sheets, Ian went to confirm our status with them. Only to be told by the woman who ran the auction that we had been outbid because she had been authorised by a friend to bid more than us.
This outraged us because it didn't follow the spirit of the auction and we felt very cheated. Annalie then took it up with her but she just kept going on about the fact that she was authorised to do the bids but she'd been too busy running the auction to place a genuine bid on the paper. And she tried the guilt trip by claiming it was for a 90 year-old man who she'd known for 40 years.
She didn't seem to want to know and walked off. When we asked her colleague if we could take a photo of the bid page as proof of our status, she stormed back over shouting at us "OK, you've won, we'll call you on Monday. Are you happy now? You've just ruined a perfectly good evening!" We wondered whose evening had been more ruined though
Everyone we spoke to after that agreed with us that it wasn't right and that we should stick to our guns, but it still left a very bad taste.
Anyway, on Saturday morning we debated the situation and thought we'd go and check out how much the flights would be if we wanted to buy them directly with Air New Zealand. Turns out our winning bid is about half the price of two business class tickets from LA to Auckland so we thought we'd stick at it. It would be the holiday of a lifetime for us and the one place in the world we really want to go. Here's hoping we get that call tomorrow
On Saturday afternoon, IAE took some customers to the matinee showing of the Broadway production of Boeing Boeing. It's a hilarious comedy and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. It's recommended to go and see and it's on in London until 5th January too. We were amazed at how many of the actors we knew from TV and film.
After we'd packed off the IAE execs and their customers to their evening meal, we decided to head back towards Theater Land for something to eat. One of the guys had pointed out an Italian advertised in the Show programme so we thought we'd head for there. It turned out to be directly opposite the theatre so we thought we'd treat ourselves (on IAE of course ). It was a fantastic meal and so we reported back to the recommender.
We had intended to go to the Rockefeller Center ice rink, which, amazingly, is already open. However the weather on Saturday night was dreadful with huge storms rolling in, so we headed back to the hotel instead. Ian refused to get a taxi so we ended up getting back to the Waldorf looking like drowned rats! We thought we'd see what the weather was like on Sunday morning to maybe get to go before we left.
We expected the rain to still be lashing it down, but when we opened the curtains it was beautiful clear blue skies so we thought we'd head out and try. When we got there the rink was quite empty, but everyone on it was a fairly good skater. Somewhat fearful of how stupid we would look, we waited a while until a few more, slightly unsteady people got on. Eventually we decided to go for it, after all, it is one of the things on our "bucket list" and we duly got skated up.
After an unsteady start, we both started to get the hang of it, although the last time either of us ventured onto the ice (without a snowboard on our feet that is!) was well over 15 years ago! There's even some photos to prove we remained upright! All was going well and there were no tumbles, until right at the end. Ian stopped to make a suggestion about calling it quits and Annalie tried to stop to talk to him, but somehow lost her balance and fell backwards, cracking her head on the ice. No major damage, except to Annalie's ego, but she skated around once more before we headed back to the hotel and then home. At least it's one more thing ticked off the list.
Other major happenings this week include the fact that Annalie's new passport has arrived already. She wasn't expecting it for at least another week but she's happy to have one in her possession once again - she doesn't feel like persona non grata any more! She's still going to wait until after the holiday to Hawaii to go out of the country to get her new visa. She's just paranoid that she'll get stuck without a visa and this holiday is important!!! It's a bucket list item too.
We've both been a bit more sporty this week than we have for a while. Annalie went to the gym for the first time in about a month and Ian got to play another game of volleyball, which he really enjoyed. Then we both played football on Thursday night with the IAE crew. We were meant to be on the same team, but as one of the guys was late, Ian swapped teams to make up the numbers for them. It was a good game, very close, but Annalie's team ended up victorious, maintaining her 100% record
This week promises not to be quite so eventful!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
A bonus week
This week has been a bit of a bonus as Annalie was meant to be away in India, but instead has an extra week at home. The passport didn't turn up anywhere so she's had to stay in CT - not that she really wanted to go to India again
On Sunday we had a fairly relaxed day and decided to go for a walk in Wadsworth Falls State Park just outside Middletown. We wanted to try and take advantage of the beautiful fall colours that are springing up. It was just over 3 miles in total and we did it in a respectable hour and a half, even with Ian making best use of his camera! We will get some more photos uploaded soon, we promise! We just don't seem to get round to it.
That night we went to Dan and Fi's for dinner. They have just moved into their proper home out here so invited us round for a chili and some beers.
On Monday Annalie ended up travelling to New York with work to help out with IAE's Board Meeting. Her team member that normally organises these events, David, has been in hospital (nothing life threatening) that has kept him away. Because of this, the IAE execs were a little bit nervous of Carla doing it solo, even though Annalie had complete faith in her. But she went along anyway, just to satisfy their request.
As expected, it all went very smoothly, no one need have worried, but the execs were grateful for Annalie's attendance.
On Tuesday Ian had another drill night out playing with the Fire Department. They went playing up with a hydrant at Mario's Pond to test one of the guys to check he was competent to use one of the pumps on the engine.
While they were there, Ian was being taught more about the company's light rescue vehicle, normally used as a back-up vehicle that has extra bits of kit on it. It's the kind of thing he can get involved in before he gets qualified. He's still waiting for news on a course for that but there's nothing coming in the foreseeable future.
The Pond is right in the middle of an apple orchard so when Ian and the guys finished the drill, they treated themselves to fresh apples off the trees. We're not sure if that's classed as theft though Mario happens to be a member of the Fire Police and an ex-Captain of the Fire House and is the Dad and Grandad of two of the current members.
On Thursday we went out to meet a potential member of our ski house. Nadine lives in South Windsor and works just down the road from IAE in East Hartford. We met her and her friend for a drink at Houlihan's so that we could all check each other out At the end of it, Nadine was in and our house statistics are looking very healthy. We don't need many more now.
This weekend it was the Glastonbury Apple Harvest Festival, or Applefest, an annual institution. The Fire Department run a stall selling Fries (chips to most of you!) and Ian was invited to help out. On Friday he went out with the guys to help set up ahead of the weekend's festivities.
That evening he headed off to JFK for another of his airport runs. This time it was Bruce's wife's parents as Tracy is booked in for an elective c-section on Tuesday. The flight was quite a late arrival anyway, scheduled for 9pm, but it didn't land until 9.50pm and then Tracy's parents are farmers, so they have to go through a special routine at Customs. So Ian didn't get home again until gone 1am.
By 3.30am he was up again as his Fire Department pager went off this time for someone's smoke alarm going off So at least he was back in bed for 4.30.
Ian's shifts at the show were 12-5 so he wasn't in for an early rise at least. Annalie got up and had her first hairdresser's appointment over here. She's been too nervous to get it done so far as all the girls have horror stories about how poor the hairdressers are out here. It wasn't exactly what she planned but it is a good cut so at least she knows she can go back there.
Just before 12 we both headed off down to the Applefest. Ian went straight to work and Annalie went off for a bit of a wander round all the stalls. Lots of apple pies for sale (no surprises there then!!) but the thing that got Annalie stopped were the two tiny labrador puppies at the Guiding Eyes for the Blind stall! One black and one yellow, they were adorable and she almost signed up to be a puppy raiser there and then! Maybe after we've ticked off a few more bits on our wish list
Saturday night we ventured into Hartford to see a production of Sweeney Todd. It was very different to anything we've seen before but it was well put together and very cultured of us . The only downside was that the legroom was non-existent so Ian was almost folded in two for the whole night.
On our way home we stopped off at the South Tavern to meet one of the other guys from the Fire Department. The Boston Red Sox are playing the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series play-offs and this was game 6 of 7, with Tampa leading 3-2 going into this game. Hugh is a Sox fan, so Ian takes great pleasure in jesting with him (being a Yankees fan of course) so he was hoping to turn up to a Tampa victory to take them into the finals.
Unfortunately Boston clinched it 4-2, setting up a decider on Sunday night. Ian is still hoping that the Sox don't stage a comeback having been 3-1 down at one point, but they are known for being good in a fightback.
And we've had some new visitors on the deck. There's a couple of resident Blue Jays that have started to frequent our feeder - well, more like the food that the other birds tip onto the floor. The Blue Jays are far too big to fit on the feeder. And there's also been a couple of sightings of a Dark Eyed Junco (that Birds of Connecticut book works a treat - thanks Gary!). Obviously the changing seasons are bringing some new birds back to Glastonbury for the winter.
On Sunday we had a fairly relaxed day and decided to go for a walk in Wadsworth Falls State Park just outside Middletown. We wanted to try and take advantage of the beautiful fall colours that are springing up. It was just over 3 miles in total and we did it in a respectable hour and a half, even with Ian making best use of his camera! We will get some more photos uploaded soon, we promise! We just don't seem to get round to it.
That night we went to Dan and Fi's for dinner. They have just moved into their proper home out here so invited us round for a chili and some beers.
On Monday Annalie ended up travelling to New York with work to help out with IAE's Board Meeting. Her team member that normally organises these events, David, has been in hospital (nothing life threatening) that has kept him away. Because of this, the IAE execs were a little bit nervous of Carla doing it solo, even though Annalie had complete faith in her. But she went along anyway, just to satisfy their request.
As expected, it all went very smoothly, no one need have worried, but the execs were grateful for Annalie's attendance.
On Tuesday Ian had another drill night out playing with the Fire Department. They went playing up with a hydrant at Mario's Pond to test one of the guys to check he was competent to use one of the pumps on the engine.
While they were there, Ian was being taught more about the company's light rescue vehicle, normally used as a back-up vehicle that has extra bits of kit on it. It's the kind of thing he can get involved in before he gets qualified. He's still waiting for news on a course for that but there's nothing coming in the foreseeable future.
The Pond is right in the middle of an apple orchard so when Ian and the guys finished the drill, they treated themselves to fresh apples off the trees. We're not sure if that's classed as theft though Mario happens to be a member of the Fire Police and an ex-Captain of the Fire House and is the Dad and Grandad of two of the current members.
On Thursday we went out to meet a potential member of our ski house. Nadine lives in South Windsor and works just down the road from IAE in East Hartford. We met her and her friend for a drink at Houlihan's so that we could all check each other out At the end of it, Nadine was in and our house statistics are looking very healthy. We don't need many more now.
This weekend it was the Glastonbury Apple Harvest Festival, or Applefest, an annual institution. The Fire Department run a stall selling Fries (chips to most of you!) and Ian was invited to help out. On Friday he went out with the guys to help set up ahead of the weekend's festivities.
That evening he headed off to JFK for another of his airport runs. This time it was Bruce's wife's parents as Tracy is booked in for an elective c-section on Tuesday. The flight was quite a late arrival anyway, scheduled for 9pm, but it didn't land until 9.50pm and then Tracy's parents are farmers, so they have to go through a special routine at Customs. So Ian didn't get home again until gone 1am.
By 3.30am he was up again as his Fire Department pager went off this time for someone's smoke alarm going off So at least he was back in bed for 4.30.
Ian's shifts at the show were 12-5 so he wasn't in for an early rise at least. Annalie got up and had her first hairdresser's appointment over here. She's been too nervous to get it done so far as all the girls have horror stories about how poor the hairdressers are out here. It wasn't exactly what she planned but it is a good cut so at least she knows she can go back there.
Just before 12 we both headed off down to the Applefest. Ian went straight to work and Annalie went off for a bit of a wander round all the stalls. Lots of apple pies for sale (no surprises there then!!) but the thing that got Annalie stopped were the two tiny labrador puppies at the Guiding Eyes for the Blind stall! One black and one yellow, they were adorable and she almost signed up to be a puppy raiser there and then! Maybe after we've ticked off a few more bits on our wish list
Saturday night we ventured into Hartford to see a production of Sweeney Todd. It was very different to anything we've seen before but it was well put together and very cultured of us . The only downside was that the legroom was non-existent so Ian was almost folded in two for the whole night.
On our way home we stopped off at the South Tavern to meet one of the other guys from the Fire Department. The Boston Red Sox are playing the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series play-offs and this was game 6 of 7, with Tampa leading 3-2 going into this game. Hugh is a Sox fan, so Ian takes great pleasure in jesting with him (being a Yankees fan of course) so he was hoping to turn up to a Tampa victory to take them into the finals.
Unfortunately Boston clinched it 4-2, setting up a decider on Sunday night. Ian is still hoping that the Sox don't stage a comeback having been 3-1 down at one point, but they are known for being good in a fightback.
And we've had some new visitors on the deck. There's a couple of resident Blue Jays that have started to frequent our feeder - well, more like the food that the other birds tip onto the floor. The Blue Jays are far too big to fit on the feeder. And there's also been a couple of sightings of a Dark Eyed Junco (that Birds of Connecticut book works a treat - thanks Gary!). Obviously the changing seasons are bringing some new birds back to Glastonbury for the winter.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Fall is falling
It's been a hectic couple of weeks, which is why we've not been on to update things.
The leaves are now turning here in Connecticut and we're surrounded by colour wherever we go. The roads have become corridors of greens, ambers and reds that are simply stunning. The view from our deck has changed completely and continues to alter on a daily basis. The tree right outside our deck, the one that gets in the way of our view of Hartford, is starting to fade and soon we'll have an unobstructed outlook across the valley.
The last Sunday in September, we met up with our friends Dan and Fi the morning after they arrived here. We took them for breakfast at our favourite diner, Ken's, to welcome them properly to the country.
That afternoon, Annalie went off to India for her first ever visit to help commemorate the launch of IAE's new engine. She had set up a press conference in Delhi as part of this but the logistics proved to be more challenging than she initially anticipated.
The first issue that was identified was that some of the guest invitations had gone out with the wrong time on. Second, we discovered that the conference room we'd booked wasn't at the hotel we thought it was at. So she and some of the other guys had a bit of a nightmare explaining what had happened and trying to undo it. It all turned out fine in the end and the events were a big success, but it was a lot of hassle to get there.
Annalie thought Delhi wasn't what she expected, but then she didn't know what to expect either! Still it was a good trip and worth it.
After dropping Annalie at the airport, Ian went off to represent her in the IAE team for the American Heart Association Heartwalk, a sponsored jaunt around Bushnell Park in Hartford. This was followed by some after-walk refreshments at the Diamond Bar.
The rest of his week alone was pretty quiet, just focusing on responding to shouts with the Fire Department and keeping out of trouble! On the Thursday he trotted off down to New York again, this time to pick up our friend Annie who came to visit. The traffic was a bit of a nightmare, taking a long time to get home, so a late dinner was had before Annie hit the hay.
On the Friday, Annalie returned home from India. When she landed in Chicago, there was a 4-hour layover before her flight to Bradley, and despite her hopes that she'd be able to get an earlier flight, she was already on the first American Airlines shuttle up to Hartford, so she duly waited her time in the lounge.
That night was the Rolls-Royce secondees and wives "Girls Night Out", combined with a Baby Shower as three of the girls are due to give birth later this month. We all trooped down to Annie's nail bar (no relation to our Annie!!) to have a combination of manicures and pedicures, before heading back to Suzy's house on our estate for pizza and wine. It was a really nice night and we all felt very pampered by the end of it, but Annie and Annalie weren't faring too well with their individual jet lag!
On the Saturday we took Annie up to West Farms Mall as she was after a winter coat, but she spent more time trying on jewellery in Tiffany's When we headed back to Glastonbury we decided to stop in the party store, iParty, to look at Annie's options for a 70's party we were going to that night. Ian and Annalie were going "in character" so Annie decided that's what she wanted too. After confering with Wikipedia to confirm the timeframe, we agreed that Wonder Woman was the way forward
So that night, Hans Solo, Princess Leia and Wonder Woman could all be seen in a Jeep Liberty driving to Berlin although we were desperately hoping not to be pulled over by the cops Dan and Fi went as Shaggy and Daphne and followed us there, so we were in good company. We really thought that the Americans were totally into this dressing up malarkey, but it was the Brits that made the most effort on this occasion. A good laugh was had by all, despite the host, whose birthday it was, falling over blind drunk and passing out before he'd reached midnight.
Sunday was a much more relaxed day, but after we'd finally made it out the door for lunch, we then hit the shops. Annie discovered the true value of American discount stores, especially shoe shops(!) picking up about 5 or 6 pairs in Manchester!! Annalie and Ian made do with a pair each and then went and treated themselves to a new printer, as their existing one was a bit knackered.
On Monday, Annie got all adventurous and went off to hire a car to go and explore Cape Cod. Only the local car rental place didn't have any cars, so she ended up with a dirty great big pick-up truck for the price of a car Ian was most jealous!!
While Annie was gone, we had a fairly quiet time, although Annalie has been busy with work this week. She was due to travel to India again this weekend. However, on Thursday night, she decided to check on her passport, except she couldn't find it. Anywhere Considering she'd only been back in the country less than a week, it seemed extraordinary that she should lose it like this. But it was nowhere to be found She spent all of Friday checking out what she would have to do and trying to find it again, but to no avail.
So she's got to start from square one. She has to apply by post to the British Embassy in Washington as in the US, you can't walk into an Embassy and be issued with a passport on the same day. This should take 2-3 weeks before that returns, then she's got to leave the US in order to visit a US Embassy to be reissued with her Visa. It's a real hassle and timing is just awful. Once she leaves the States, she can't return without her Visa, so there is the risk of being stranded. So she doesn't want to risk leaving the country before the holiday to Hawaii. After she returns from there, she has just over a week before she is due to travel to Europe again, so she is debating a trip to Canada during that week as they supply Visas in a day, or she may bring forward her trip to Europe to go to the US Embassy in London. She has to decide how best to go about getting the Visa again.
We're not sure what effect this has on Ian's Visa though and whether he will require a new one to be issued as well. We're checking with the immigration lawyers on that.
So Annalie now has a lot more time at home than she anticipated. Her trip to China is almost certainly off, unless someone at Rolls-Royce in Washington can pull a few strings and get the passport rushed through. If that's the case, she may be able to get her Visa in Hong Kong as she goes via there to her Chinese destination.
With the extra time, we decided to head back up to Manchester to look for a camera to take underwater when we're in Hawaii. We've got some interesting stuff planned during our time in the Pacific Ocean, so want to be able to ensure we get it all captured. We didn't end up buying one as we've also asked a friend from IAE if we can borrow theirs, so we'll wait to find out before shelling out.
However, we did pop into a ski and snowboard shop that had just opened for the season. While we were there, Ian suddenly developed a need for a new board, even though boots were his priority But his current board is not a wide fitting, and considering the size of his plates of meat, a wide board is almost a must. So he ended up with both in the end. While all Annalie came out with was a neoprene face mask for when it gets really cold up there - which we're told it most definitely will be.
Well, at least it's something to look forward to after a fairly hellish week. After all, we'll probably never live 2 hours from a major ski resort again!
The leaves are now turning here in Connecticut and we're surrounded by colour wherever we go. The roads have become corridors of greens, ambers and reds that are simply stunning. The view from our deck has changed completely and continues to alter on a daily basis. The tree right outside our deck, the one that gets in the way of our view of Hartford, is starting to fade and soon we'll have an unobstructed outlook across the valley.
The last Sunday in September, we met up with our friends Dan and Fi the morning after they arrived here. We took them for breakfast at our favourite diner, Ken's, to welcome them properly to the country.
That afternoon, Annalie went off to India for her first ever visit to help commemorate the launch of IAE's new engine. She had set up a press conference in Delhi as part of this but the logistics proved to be more challenging than she initially anticipated.
The first issue that was identified was that some of the guest invitations had gone out with the wrong time on. Second, we discovered that the conference room we'd booked wasn't at the hotel we thought it was at. So she and some of the other guys had a bit of a nightmare explaining what had happened and trying to undo it. It all turned out fine in the end and the events were a big success, but it was a lot of hassle to get there.
Annalie thought Delhi wasn't what she expected, but then she didn't know what to expect either! Still it was a good trip and worth it.
After dropping Annalie at the airport, Ian went off to represent her in the IAE team for the American Heart Association Heartwalk, a sponsored jaunt around Bushnell Park in Hartford. This was followed by some after-walk refreshments at the Diamond Bar.
The rest of his week alone was pretty quiet, just focusing on responding to shouts with the Fire Department and keeping out of trouble! On the Thursday he trotted off down to New York again, this time to pick up our friend Annie who came to visit. The traffic was a bit of a nightmare, taking a long time to get home, so a late dinner was had before Annie hit the hay.
On the Friday, Annalie returned home from India. When she landed in Chicago, there was a 4-hour layover before her flight to Bradley, and despite her hopes that she'd be able to get an earlier flight, she was already on the first American Airlines shuttle up to Hartford, so she duly waited her time in the lounge.
That night was the Rolls-Royce secondees and wives "Girls Night Out", combined with a Baby Shower as three of the girls are due to give birth later this month. We all trooped down to Annie's nail bar (no relation to our Annie!!) to have a combination of manicures and pedicures, before heading back to Suzy's house on our estate for pizza and wine. It was a really nice night and we all felt very pampered by the end of it, but Annie and Annalie weren't faring too well with their individual jet lag!
On the Saturday we took Annie up to West Farms Mall as she was after a winter coat, but she spent more time trying on jewellery in Tiffany's When we headed back to Glastonbury we decided to stop in the party store, iParty, to look at Annie's options for a 70's party we were going to that night. Ian and Annalie were going "in character" so Annie decided that's what she wanted too. After confering with Wikipedia to confirm the timeframe, we agreed that Wonder Woman was the way forward
So that night, Hans Solo, Princess Leia and Wonder Woman could all be seen in a Jeep Liberty driving to Berlin although we were desperately hoping not to be pulled over by the cops Dan and Fi went as Shaggy and Daphne and followed us there, so we were in good company. We really thought that the Americans were totally into this dressing up malarkey, but it was the Brits that made the most effort on this occasion. A good laugh was had by all, despite the host, whose birthday it was, falling over blind drunk and passing out before he'd reached midnight.
Sunday was a much more relaxed day, but after we'd finally made it out the door for lunch, we then hit the shops. Annie discovered the true value of American discount stores, especially shoe shops(!) picking up about 5 or 6 pairs in Manchester!! Annalie and Ian made do with a pair each and then went and treated themselves to a new printer, as their existing one was a bit knackered.
On Monday, Annie got all adventurous and went off to hire a car to go and explore Cape Cod. Only the local car rental place didn't have any cars, so she ended up with a dirty great big pick-up truck for the price of a car Ian was most jealous!!
While Annie was gone, we had a fairly quiet time, although Annalie has been busy with work this week. She was due to travel to India again this weekend. However, on Thursday night, she decided to check on her passport, except she couldn't find it. Anywhere Considering she'd only been back in the country less than a week, it seemed extraordinary that she should lose it like this. But it was nowhere to be found She spent all of Friday checking out what she would have to do and trying to find it again, but to no avail.
So she's got to start from square one. She has to apply by post to the British Embassy in Washington as in the US, you can't walk into an Embassy and be issued with a passport on the same day. This should take 2-3 weeks before that returns, then she's got to leave the US in order to visit a US Embassy to be reissued with her Visa. It's a real hassle and timing is just awful. Once she leaves the States, she can't return without her Visa, so there is the risk of being stranded. So she doesn't want to risk leaving the country before the holiday to Hawaii. After she returns from there, she has just over a week before she is due to travel to Europe again, so she is debating a trip to Canada during that week as they supply Visas in a day, or she may bring forward her trip to Europe to go to the US Embassy in London. She has to decide how best to go about getting the Visa again.
We're not sure what effect this has on Ian's Visa though and whether he will require a new one to be issued as well. We're checking with the immigration lawyers on that.
So Annalie now has a lot more time at home than she anticipated. Her trip to China is almost certainly off, unless someone at Rolls-Royce in Washington can pull a few strings and get the passport rushed through. If that's the case, she may be able to get her Visa in Hong Kong as she goes via there to her Chinese destination.
With the extra time, we decided to head back up to Manchester to look for a camera to take underwater when we're in Hawaii. We've got some interesting stuff planned during our time in the Pacific Ocean, so want to be able to ensure we get it all captured. We didn't end up buying one as we've also asked a friend from IAE if we can borrow theirs, so we'll wait to find out before shelling out.
However, we did pop into a ski and snowboard shop that had just opened for the season. While we were there, Ian suddenly developed a need for a new board, even though boots were his priority But his current board is not a wide fitting, and considering the size of his plates of meat, a wide board is almost a must. So he ended up with both in the end. While all Annalie came out with was a neoprene face mask for when it gets really cold up there - which we're told it most definitely will be.
Well, at least it's something to look forward to after a fairly hellish week. After all, we'll probably never live 2 hours from a major ski resort again!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
A jet set week
This week has seen us living quite seperate lives for a change as we've both had lots of our own things to do.
Sunday was a nice, relaxed day together as there was no alarm to drag us out of bed. Although having said that, Annalie forced herself up at 9am (bliss!) to watch the Chelsea vs Man Utd game (thanks to the time difference).
We then popped out to Manchester to pick up a few bits and bumped into our friend Mhairi who had just got back from holiday. We have rented the ski house for the winter with Mhairi so we have to catch up with her on what shares have been sold for that.
Later that evening, Ian wanted to watch the final game at Yankee Stadium on TV as it promised to be a huge finale. There was a lot of reminiscing and paying homage to players past and present, it was a bit of a ceremony. Once the game got under way, it was hard to see if the Orioles were going to seriously contend the final game and hand the Yankees victory. The Yankees did win in the end and everyone said goodbye to the historic venue.
On Monday, Annalie took a trip to New York with work this time. One of IAE's largest customers, JetBlue, opened a shiny new terminal at JFK so she got invited to the ribbon cutting ceremony there. A few freebies were to be had and the Radio City Rockettes performed, so it was an interesting day. She didn't stick around for the performance by Estelle, instead wanting to hit the road to get home at a reasonable hour. She made sure she got a goodie bag before she left though, which included the most useful item - a Dunkin' Donuts gift card although we haven't checked how much is loaded on it yet! It was still about 8pm before she reached Glastonbury, so she met Ian at one of our favourite local restaurants for some tea.
Tuesday was a celebratory day for IAE as it delivered the firts of a new engine to Indian airline IndiGo. So Annalie and her team organised an employee celebration at the one and only curry house in Glastonbury It was quite a poor turnout though, worse than we expected, but we reckon that's because we didn't advertise the fact that there was free booze Ian had drill night at the fire house so he went off playing with hoses for the night
Although Ian professes he has nothing to do right now, he seems to get invited to various weekday events through Annalie's work. On Wednesday he managed to get invited to a very exclusive golf course called Fishers Island for a corporate tournament. The course is on an island in the Long Island Sound so it was a ferry from New London for him.
He had an amazing day, even though his golf wasn't on top form. The course itself is the kind that some people can only dream of playing. It's a Links style, so surrounded by water (obviously being an island!) and quite windy, making it very tricky to play in places. Ian lost about 6 balls throughout the day, which isn't too bad, considering. This time it was Ian's turn to come back loaded with freebies, including an extra golf top for Annalie and a bunch of free tickets to the local art museum in Hartford, the Wadsworth Atheneum.
Thursday saw Annalie head down to DC for the day. She was invited to an aviation networking lunch and also took the opportunity for her first visit to the Rolls-Royce office down there. For the first time she met one of the Rolls-Royce communications team that she's "known" virtually for the last three and a half years, but never had the opportunity to meet, so that was nice. The lunch was also a good opportunity to catch up with some people that she works with and journalists she deals with on a regular basis. It was an awfully long day though - up at 3.30am for a 6am flight, not getting back home until about 7.45pm
Friday was a nice opportunity to have a night in together, so we vegged and cleared some of the recorded programmes on the DVR - which was sorely needed. And we also watched Die Hard 4 on TV.
On Saturday Ian had an airport pick-up booked from Boston, so after lunch, he headed off that way. It was quite surprising he didn't bump into our friends Dan and Fi as they arrived to embark on their new life here (welcome to America!!) but Ian's pick-up was through before them. When he got back, we headed down to the fire house as they had arranged a social "picnic" for everyone, and Annalie got her first opportunity to meet the other lunatics that all volunteer for the fire department. They seem like a fun bunch, so Annalie can see why Ian has taken to them so well.
Tomorrow Annalie is heading off on her first ever trip to India. She has a work event in Delhi, so is hoping that the bombings have stopped She's excited because it's her first trip to the country but she is a little worried about her health ass everyone keeps warning her about the food. Maybe it will be a good weight loss opportunity
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