After the Ball -- or is that Balls.

2017 has been an exquisitely weird year so far. Ok ,so yes there is more than 2 months yet to go and yes the world could end before it gets to the end ---maybe even more reason to write down my thoughts now rather than take the RISK of waiting -- you know , just in case. 

 

It started with me having to recognise that the gentleman above -- Mr. Peter Greenhalgh -- became an ex CEO of M+W Group or my ex CEO after more than a 20 year relationship as a friend , a colleague and a Boss.

 

 

 

At the end of 2016 there was the start of what has been a year of a Cull within the Company and a restructuring to the point where it was impossible to find more than one person in the company that I genuinely knew and for the most part respected, and this was one of the saddest things for me , as I had so much fondness for a company that I had helped to grow from the mid 1990's, and who had given me the opportunity to get around the world meeting lots of amazing people -- 2 of which are below and who both still work for M+W.

 

Mr Ged Grey who has been a friend and an on and off work colleague working with me for over 30 years and Mr Matthias Zorn, just one of thousands of people who I came to know back in the early days of our working for Intel and AMD, to name but just a couple.

Just in case any other work ex-work colleagues might stumble upon this Blog , I apologise for not mentioning you all-- I just happened to find a picture of Matthias.

 

So the year started strangly on the work front but on the personal front Lynda and I had the chance to do an amazing trip with Mike & Janet James in January up to Meteora , North of Larissa heading towards North Greece and saw the most amazing sites -- baring in mind that the closest I had come to one of these was watching James Bond ( Roger Moore) going up in a wicker basket into the Monastery.

 

We hit this place in the January of this year and it was about a metre deep of snow generally -- Oh and for the record , and when the brits get 4 inches of snow and there are all windgers going on at the roads are not taken care of -- the greeks around the monasteries up at around 3k metres had the roads nicely cleared and had snow ploughs and gritters all over the place-- driving was great.

 

Here are a couple of shots of our visit -- Breath taking from up there ---

 

Mr James looking cool

The ladies doing a bit of modelling of the Monastery Boutique -- stunning

 

So that was January

 

By the end of March I was out of work and while there was a "what the hell do I do now " moment we went to Greece for 5 weeks over the Greek Easter. Much working on the wedding planning went on during this time, for Terry & Charlottes wedding, but also included a wonderful easter sunday celebration at Andonnis and Maria Klellis's house with the rest of the Greek Family and I will take a lot of great memories from spending time with Nicholas , Andonnis Father and the last time with him before his passing.

 

Strange things were also happening in the world as well-----

 

We were getting -- and still getting --- strange changes from the so called most powerful country in the world and learning how one man and his intransigence can negatively impact his own country and the world---

 

 

Should have taken off the goggles when getting the spray tan

 

And a scary figure when he tells the rest of the world where he's going to shove this.

 

Or

 

 

In over a year we have gone to a situation where I for one am unsure as to whether we will stay in or not -- or is it gonna be soft or hard, are we gonna pay tens of Billions or are we gonna play hard bell and pay nothing .

Quite frankly I can honestly say I don't really care either way now - what I really want to see is a bit of spine in our governments leadership and get this country back onto a path that people can confidently move forward in the knowledge that there is a future worth having.

 

WE have had some of this

 

And some of this

 

Actually we have had 4 of each .

 

We have sadly lost Alan Bain , Raymond Chevallier , Thomas Papadakis and Nicolas Klellis, who have passed this summer and they will all be very sadly missed.

 

And we have had weddings for Gemma and Jay, Giorgos & Despina, Tania & Nilos and of course Terry and our Charlotte. Another Blog of the wedding on another day.

 

So mixed feelings but as they say --life moves on and we need to keep ourselves focused on what comes next and taking care of those that still here.

 

Lynda said yesterday that "you appear bored and I want you to keep yourself busy" but do you know what , I feel great and am getting used to the idea that I do not have to leap out of the bed at the crack of sparrows, to roar off up or down a motorway, -- to find myself in an office as the first person every morning and to still be there after most have left , and to now only need to be focused on what is important to Lynda, me,  the family and friends , rather than all day, night and weekends worrying about ungrateful people who do not respect what you are endeavouring to help them with and don't realise that they have a corporate requirement to operate within the Companies procedures-- that includes the Directors who remain who while shouting loudly about compliance and working within our approved ISO standards , work however they feel like , providing it achieves the bottom line.

 

So , what comes next --- well we need to find things to do -- but first getting used to this idea--

 

 

When we realise that it is now all about us -- then we can start to think about finding one or two of these to undertake---

 

We have to just get our heads around the fact that this was decades in the making , with many sacrifices made between both Lynda and Me and so we don't waste the time that we have in front of us.

 

There is a definite need to ensure that we get off our bum's and get out and about -- not to just curl up in front of the TV and do nothing. Also , while it would be easy to just go out to Greece to our house there and do nothing, again we have the opportunity to do some and see some extraordinary things now.

So over the coming weeks we have some things that we need to get started or finished----            

- get to see some of our friends in Bristol , Chichester and Suffolk

- get contract updated for Greek house at the Greek Embassy .

We need to get plans in place for a trip to North Greece sometime in January to here--

 

 

   

 

We are well into the detailed planning and finalising our next years Road Trip to the USA one more time --- Plane tickets are booked, the car is booked, and some of our hotels and stop of locations are booked so we can expect more of this -----

 

although we wont be at Southfork

 

Would be nice if we couple get a Rodeo in

 

For sure we will see some of this

 

 And definitely manage to squeeze in some breakfast out in the Saguaro national park.

 

And all of this with my mate, partner, and love of my life -- love this woman and this picture.

 

 

That will bring us up to June and then we can start to think about getting over to ---

 

This is Aegina , Greece -- Hope to see this parade during the Fistiki festival in early September

 

 

 https://youtu.be/LTS8r3xxnvM    this is a link to a YouTube video of a Quilombo Street band in Aegina at the September Fistiki festival or if it is no good go to YouTube and put in "Quilombo band in Aegina---I love it.

 

Hope you enjoy

 

 

 

 

Welcome Strangers

This weekend as I mentioned , we will be --as I mentioned, welcoming some friends to Aegina Island for the first time for them and us, and we are so looking forward to it.

So I thought I would look at it from what they will see as first timers and what they can expect to see if they are lucky.

The first things they see are these---

-- one of the above are going to be what is likely to be the transport from Pireaus, Athens to the Island of Aegina.

 

When they are getting close the first likely views are of these images----

 

The column at Klonas archaeological site - Dates back to over 700 BC and was the sea faring capital of Greece at that time -- and the Port of Aegina---

 

Then they get to see Frankie and Kardia, both of which we are very proud of----

 

 

While they will be able to chill out in the most relaxing place ( for us at least) around-

 

 

 

 there are going to be plenty of great things for them to see and maybe learn a little of the history of Aegina at the same time---

 

The island map shows the key locations, ports , archaeological, churches etc--

 

It also shows that Aegina is the Jewel in the centre of the Soronics---

 

 

All being well we will be able to show them some of this --

 

 The Temple of Afae

 The Marchello Tower in Aegina town

 The column at Klonos Archaeological site in Aegina town--- where the first coinage came to Greece from the island of Aegina

 

 The first coins back around 700 BC had a turtle on them -- and Aegina is renowned for having turtles around its shores ----

You could be forgiven for thinking that from the coin design below that they also had Kodi back then ---

 

So we might get to see this --- it would be rude not to pop in to say hi to Saint Nektarios

 

 

For sure there will be the odd cup of something along here

 

or a bite to eat in somewhere as good as this place--- Kapos Etsi

 

or a little drinkie in the Mighty Avli Bar-

 

So we hope for a couple of things to make it as pleasant as possible --- firstly we hope that the forecast is accurate cause it says that its gonna be around the late 20's and sunny, and that we can sort out the transport for the island tour.

 

We would appreciate no power cuts or water turned off please.

 

Oh, and there are no complications with getting these good folk too and from the island, thank you very much.

 

Roll on Saturday