A trainers life

This is my first blog for a while, but I thought that I would let you know what I have been doing for the last couple of months, and why I have had no time to blog….
Well I blame ITIL Version 3 for all my woes……
ITIL version 3 was released in May 2007 and since then I have had little time to myself.  Course development and continual improvement has taken up most of my free time.  The rest of my time has been spent delivering courses.
We now have a number of version 3 courses developed and accredited with ISEB.

• ITIL V3 1 day overview
  
• ITIL V3 3 day Foundation
  
• ITIL V3 1 day Foundation bridge
  
• ITIL V3 4 day Managers bridge (exams available from Q1 2008).

If anyone wants to see what they look like take a browse at the links above.
So far we are achieving over 87% pass rate at ITIL V3 Foundation, and it is increasing steadily with every course we run.  Hopefully we will get it up to the near 99% we had for ITIL Version 2.
Teaching ITIL Version 3 has also been a lot more taxing than ITIL Version 2 ever was. ITIL Version 2 was mainly based on 10 core processes and the Service Desk function.  ITIL Version 3 is mainly about the principles and practices which make up the Service Lifecycle comprising: Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement.  The underpinning V2 processes are still there, and have been refined and added to.  New process, such as Information Security Management and Supplier Management have been added to the pot, making the training course far more intense, as there is a lot more to cram into the some 3 days.
The initial quality of materials supplied by APMG, such as the original sample question papers has also been an issue, with many complaining about interpretation and ambiguity problems.  This to some extent has now improved with new sample papers being issued, and we are constantly providing feedback to improve the courses further.
We still have another 10 more advanced course modules to develop, the five lifecycle courses, the four capability module courses and the top level “Managing through the Lifecycle” course, so we have plenty of work to fill all of our spare time to Christmas and beyond I suspect.

As per the classic comedy film on travel, have a read of the saga below…it may raise a titter or two…!! 

It’s Thursday 21st June, I’ve finished off my last session for the week on the Service Delivery course in Lisbon, and it’s time to go home.  A quick beer in the hotel, followed by a short taxi trip to Lisbon airport and check in with easyJet as normal.

An announcement was made that due to delays with the incoming flight, the outward bound flight would be about two hours late…great, but you have to expect some disruption at time…..Little did I know that this was going to be the start of a very long escapade.

Apparently the incoming flight was delayed due to the outgoing flight from Bordeaux to Luton, before turning around and taking passengers from Luton to Lisbon.  Because of this significant delay, easyJet decided to put on another flight to try and reduce the impact - fair dues.  So, rather than take off at 21:05, we were faced with a 23:15 departure.

Eventually boarded the 737, and as is usual with these flights it was quite full (if not totally).  Pilot get’s on the PA to apologise for the delay etc etc, and we get pushed back off the stand by the tractor unit.  As is usual the plane is turned slightly so that it’s facing the right way (it would be handy wouldn’t it!?), and this is where it all went pear-shaped!

I don’t know the full facts, but something went wrong between the tractor unit (groundcrew) and the pilot, but it would appear that the brakes had not been applied, so that when the towbar was disconnected, the plane started to roll forward - quite rightly the pilot hit the anchors, resulting in the plane coming to an immediate halt.  This felt like we had run into something quite hard, with the result being that one of the stewardesses was thrown forward violently, hurting her arm in the process.  Once all had calmed down, the pilot got on the PA, apologising for his error, and sort of explained what had occurred.  But because the stewardess was in pain, it was decided to get the plane back on the stand so that she could receive medical attention.  After about 30 minutes, the pilot announces that the paramedics had insisted that the stewardess attended hospital for further examination.  As a result, this meant that there were only two cabin crew members, and the rules state that there is a certain ratio of passengers to crew members, and that this meant that 50 passengers would have to get off.

It’s getting on for midnight now and there’s all sorts of babbling going on about what everyone wanted, or more to the point, what they didn’t want.  The pilot comes back on to re-iterate position, and asks for volunteers - free accommodation in hotel with flight home, plus 250 euros as compensation (this was later reduced to 150 euros for some reason…!?).  It was clear that the plane wasn’t going anywhere until the issue was sorted, and that as most of the passengers were Portuguese going to London for a break, I decided that as I wouldn’t be impacted greatly, I would volunteer.  After another period of time, and as there weren’t enough volunteers, they started to eject people based on if you were one of the last to check-in, then you were off the flight. 

Everyone who had got off then had to wait whilst they found the relevant baggage, so the plane was unloaded and reloaded! Nearly 01:00 now and we are trailing groundstaff around an empty airport, trying to decied what they were going to do with all of us.  They were supposed to be sorting out the return flights before the hotel for the night, but this was taking too long so they gave up and shipped us all to a central Lisbon hotel on a coach, and that we would be informed about the flights at 11:00 the following morning.  Got to bed shortly before 03:00 in a very nice 5-star hotel (apparently the flight eventually got back to Luton at about 03:30).

11:00 on Friday 22nd June in the hotel lobby, and I eventually get to speak to a receptionist, who politely tells me that “Yes, you will be flying home tomorrow” - Saturday 23rd…..  Nope I say, this isn’t right as I need to get home on the Friday (’cos I’m off on holiday in the early hours of Sunday morning, and yes it is with easyJet and I’m going to Faro!!).  I get put on to the easyJet desk at the airport and state my case.  I was told that I was informed the previous night that I would fly home on the Saturday - wrong again, I wasn’t told anything the previous night!  The agent was quite good about it, apart from telling me that all the easyJet flights were full, she looked around for other options.  A Monarch flight to Gatwick was an option, but as my car was at Luton airport, this meant getting from Gatwick to Luton somehow.  I said that this would be acceptable if there was nothing else available.  She agreed to keep trying and would get back to me once anything was confirmed.  About an hour later, the Monarch flight was confirmed, so I now had to plan how to get across London.  Rang a friend back in the UK for help, and we worked out that I could get the Gatwick Express into London, then jump on the Coach from London Victoria, to Luton airport….sorted!  Oh…hence the title of this blog as well, by the way.

Magnificent three course lunch at the hotel (free!), then taxi to airport with another chap in the same position.  Booked in with Monarch without any hitches (considering I had no ticket or ref no etc), nice spacious seats (with allocated seat numbers at check in…yippee…), and we were on our way.  Landed at Gatwick just before 21:00, bought a ticket for the Gatwick Express which left about 21:35, arriving in Victoria at 22:05.  I knew the coach was due at 22:30, so after faffing around trying to find ticket office, to be told I buy the ticket off the driver, then establishing that the driver didn’t have the facility to take cards, I got ripped off by one of those ATM’s that charges, but I eventually get on the coach…and we are off.

Coach travel through the centre of London on a Friday night isn’t the most speedy, but after hitting the M1 we made reasonable headway, and after a handful of stops, eventually go to Luton airport at approximately 23:45.  Got the shuttle bus to the car park, and drove home like a madman, falling into bed about 01:30…. only 24 hours later than initially planned!!

Claim for expenses incurred and the 250 euros (a European ruling this apparently) has been submitted to easyJet, we await their response with interest.

So…an interesting return trip back from Lisbon.

NB….But there is a second part to this story, you will have to see Steve’s entry to get the full gory details on this….

Happy travelling.

 PPS - Happy to report that easyJet stood by their offer and refunded the 250 euros… after a little bit of chasing.  Didn’t manage to get back the £25 or so for the train and coach mind!

Finally, after several abortive attempts to get to Portugal it’s finally come off.
We have been scheduled to deliver a Managers Certificate course, so Steve and I are off to the sunnier climes, although I’m only there for the four days due to me being the 2nd trainer, with Steve doing all five.  Flying from Luton to Lisbon on Sunday 6th May, and yes, we have to work on the Bank Holiday as it isn’t one in Portugal. Given details about a hotel near to the venue by one of our associates, which turned out to be great, as this was about a 400m walk to the venue.  Steve ended up in one about a mile away due to the original being full - taxis each way!!
Never been to Portugal or Lisbon before, so was a little apprehensive about the language, especially as I understood that they don’t exactly get on with the Spanish (and I can speak Spanish!), so managed to get by with ‘pidgin english’, although my understanding of spanish made life a little easier.
Being a latin country, they were very ‘flexible’ about their start/end times and lunch breaks etc.  We arrived at the venue just before 9:00, when some of the staff just about started rolling in.  Contact then arrived to tell us that the scheduled time was for 10:30 on the first day, with 10:00 for the remainder of the week….. lunch was from 13:00 until 14:30 and end times around 17:30…..very relaxed.  The delegates arrived and thankfully their English was a lot better than our Portuguese, the only issue being that there were only 5…one failed to put in an appearance, which meant the syndicate work was going to be a little difficult, but we decided that all five could get together and discuss the topics in Portguese then present back to us in English - which worked very well.  They certainly had a good grounding in IT and understood the basics, it was the usual “forget what you do now, this is what you should be doing” sort of thing, but all went well.
The lunch time breaks were interesting…similar to the Spanish, the Portuguese don’t do eating by halves….  A full three course menu each day in a local restaurant, with a significant amount of the menu being fish – although to the idiots like me who couldn’t read Portuguese it might as well have been in Martian.  Thankfully our delegates, who became our mentors for lunch, translated most of the dishes available – although there were one or two translations that proved to be difficult…. But by the end of the week, both Steve and I were fluent in most of the fish that you can eat in a Portuguese restaurant.
Ergo…  Bacalhau    -        Cod
          Robalhau      -        Bass
          Cherne                  -        Grouper
Our guests also informed us what was the appropriate wine that we should try – Douro being one such type that we found and enjoyed (the red (tinto) version) at an Italian restaurant one night.
The venue and hotels were a little distant from the city centre, so we decided to explore the area on different nights.  First night, I got changed at my hotel and we both then walked to Steve’s hotel.  It didn’t look far on the map, but when its 250 and it’s up and down hills and you aren’t exactly sure which direction you are travelling in, it took us nearly 50 minutes.  By that time we were shattered, so decided to get a taxi into the city centre to find somewhere to eat.  The taxi driver dropped us off at the area called Baixa, which is the restaurant and shopping area in the city centre, and we wandered along looking for a suitable venue.  Like most places on the Med, it’s a case of trying to avoid being physically dragged into a restaurant, but we gave in at one place and sat down for an evening meal.  Let’s try the local Piri Piri we thought, only to find there was none left….doh!  We chose something else, for the life of me I can’t remember what, but it wasn’t exactly inspiring whatever it was.  This mood was made worse by realising that we had also been ripped off by about 10 euros which I didn’t spot until I got home to the UK.
Second night we decided that it was too far to walk from one hotel to the other, so we caught a taxi to Steve’s hotel, and then walked from their towards Baixa.  Well, that’s what we thought we were doing.  It was a pleasant evening for a stroll, but we didn’t realise that we were in fact heading off at a tangent from where we wanted to be…. And after about an hour of walking we ended up at the dock front with the huge suspension bridge to our right.  We figured out which direction we should go, and headed off.  About another 20 minutes or so later, after trailing through back streets, up and down steep hills, we eventually got back to the area we wanted.  Starving, sweating and worn out, we decided to try an Italian restaurant and ordered some pizzas, beer and wine.  The beer was for quenching our thirst before the meal and the wine arrived, but the waiter seemed genuinely upset that we wanted to drink beer along with a decent wine…. But to be honest, the beer hardly touched the sides so there was no need for him to be overly concerned.  This is the restaurant were we spotted the Douro on the wine list, I think it was named Lello (or similar) and very nice it was too – a little like a Rioja really, but with a bit of a cherry after-flavour.  Sated, we fell back in a taxi and went back to our respective hotels – although it must be said that the Lisbon taxi drivers must all be frustrated GP drivers…all pedestrians are valid targets and lane changing is a sight to be held.
The following evening, yet another approach was adopted.  Taxi from my hotel to Steve’s, quick beer, then another taxi into the Baixa area.  Didn’t get lost once…..thanks in the main to the taxi driver of course!  Had a wander around a bit to see what was available, and saw some really nice architecture, dating back several centuries, with main square just by the river.  We could see the Castle Jorge above us, but decided that it was too difficult for us to try – after the exploits of the previous evenings.  Wandered around until we came across a likely restaurant, and this time we did order piri piri….and it was available.  Having said that it was a little disappointing when it arrived – basically it’s fried chicken, with chilli oil to dribble over…. Not a sauce of any sorts which was what I was expecting…never mind.  Taxi back to the hotel and fall into bed (again)…very tiring all this training mullarkey..!!
 

So here we are with another good food guide from Purple Griffon.

I had an email from one of our finance people, pointing out that a lot of meal expense claims are for Indian restaurants….she must have been doing a trend analysis on my receipts (good proactive problem management!).

The Indian Palace in Thurso has only been open about a year I believe, which means that when I first visited here last year it was relatively new.  The only other option available to locals until this opened was a 30 mile drive to Wick….!!   I did enjoy my meal last time I was here, hence my decision to visit again. When I was shown to my table there was about another 10-12 diners on 3-4 tables so it wasn’t busy, also not empty as sometimes happens.

It’s an unusual set up with the main dining area and bar on the first floor, with what looks to be an overflow dining area on the ground floor - unless all this was below the high tide level….!!  Friendly staff show you to a nice and cleanly decorated dining area, with good quality table utensils and decorations etc.   Whilst pondering the menu, I decided to have a few popadoms, with the obligatory chutney dishes…only the lime pickle was anything to shout about, the mango chutney being a bit like mango jam with no ’solids’ at all, but was ok.

A bottle of the obligatory Cobra followed, and I placed an order for a Chicken Pathia which was described as medium hot (I think!), Pilau Rice and Bombay Potatoe.  This is one of the dishes I have on a regular basis, so wanted to compare this offering with what I’m used to.  After a short wait, the main meal arrived - all presented very nicely with the Chicken and Potatoes on serving platters, and the rice in a dish.  The chicken was very tasty, in fact it was a little hotter than what I’m used to for a Pathia, but it wasn’t overly hot. If I was to criticise this dish, it would be because it focused on a hot taste rather than the usual ’sweet and sour’ that you tend to get with most Pathias - but depends on what you are used to of course.  Needed to have another Cobra to help the curry slip down (honest boss!), but all in all it was a good allround meal. 

Well done Indian Palace, I give you 3.5 chillis out of 5

Time for another venture north of the border…. and beyond as Buzz Lightyear would say.  Another opportunity for the far north of Scotland, right on the north coast near Thurso.  Flights, taxi and hotel all booked well in advance and all was going well until I got to Birmingham airport.

I was due to fly with bmibaby from Birmingham to Aberdeen, and then catch the Aberdeen to Wick flight before finishing the journey by taxi to Thurso.  Arrived at B’ham just under two hours before flight, only to be told “Did I know that my flight had been cancelled?”.  Well of course I had, that’s why I was trying to check-in….stupid question!!  I was told that the Aberdeen flight had been cancelled due to technical difficulties, but not to worry, they will fly me to Edinburgh and then on to Aberdeen.  And what time does the Aberdeen flight touchdown I asked….. about 21:00 I was informed.  That’s handy then as my flight to Wick left at 19:55…. There were no other suitable options available from Birmingham, but after a brief conversation with Eastern Airways, I found that there was a flight to Aberdeen…..but that was leaving Nottingham East Midlands at 17:15.  Bearing in mind it was now 15:30 and I had to check in at East Midlands by 16:15, which was 37 miles away was a little daunting.

Had a quick debate with myself and due to the time, I decided to go for the East Midlands flight.  So I ran through Terminal 1, picked up a car park exit ticket on the way and dove into my car and hit the roads.  For those of you who know the M42 and A42 around B’ham, you know that it’s not the easiest off drives during the early part of the rush hour (at any time to be honest).  Lot’s of traffic, and especially on the A42 dual carriageway where you have the lorries overtaking each other, it didn’t look like I was going to make it.  However, in the relatively clear bits of motorway I managed to make up some time (sorry officers), and pulled into the airport car park just after 16:15.  Ran to the desk only for the young lady to say that there was plenty of time  - very relaxed, well done Eastern Airways.  However, return fare was over £300 which I will need to try and reclaim of bmi….. I know, a tad optimistic!!

Off to Aberdeen we go, taking avail of the free bar on board (did I thank you Easter Airways!), and then onto the Wick flight.  The flight was good as the skies were clear, being able to view the countryside for miles around.  Landed at Wick and picked up bags, and jumped into taxi that arrived shortly after I did.  The drive from Wick to Thurso was quite pleasant with magnificent views all round.  Last time I was here it was November and everything was in darkness, so it was good to see some of the country.

Arrived in Thurso just after 21:00, and tried to book into the hotel.  Problem number 2…. aaaggghhh!!!   Hotel didn’t have any record of my booking, despite leaving my card details with the person I spoke to…no debit on account mind.  However, they were very sympathetic and rang around a few other hotels to see if there was any space.  Managed to find one close by, and the hotel owner drove me around in her car.  I could stay one night at this new venue, back to the original hotel for the next night, but then back again to the new one for the remaining two nights.  Packing….forget it, I’m an expert now. 

Had breakfast and packed but left case at hotel reception, then departed to venue for Foundation course.  I have been at this venue before, and all very friendly, until I reminded them that their colleagues had a 100% pass rate, so the pressure was on them to keep up to the mark!  Finished day one and returned to the hotel, to find that they had had a cancellation so I was back in the same room I had vacated that morning - mind I was now in this room/hotel for the remainder of my trip, so that relieved some pressure.

For dinner, I decided to have an Indian meal, as the previous one I had here was good - see the Belly Busters section for the culinary expose.  Walking back to the hotel, at approximately 22:30 I noticed how light it was, and following a chat with the locals the next day, I was reminded that with being so far north that in the summer, the sun hardly sets for long.  In fact, I was informed that for mid-summers day (and surrounding days) that the sun sets about 02:00 and rises again at around 03:30, with a weird twilight for the “hours of darkness”… mind, when I was here in November, there wasn’t much daylight at all, so there is a balance here.

The course went well, and I suspect that all will pass with flying colours, but the results will tell us if my thoughts are correct.   Flew from Wick at 7:00 on Friday morning which meant a 05:00 wakeup call and taxi to the airport.  Arrived back in East Midlands around 11:00, paid the £30 car park fee (in addition to the similar amount I had already paid for at Birmingham!!), arriving home at around 12:00 - it’s a long day when getting up so early and travelling so far.  Especially on the ’small’ aircraft that tend to throw you around a little more (but don’t get cancelled as often..!).

So it’s back across the Irish Sea for another Foundation in Dublin.  This time stayed in a hotel on Lower Stephens Street, so only a few minutes walk from the venue, but also a few minutes from the city centre.  Arrived, late on Sunday 1st April, and got taxi to hotel, where I dumped my stuff and headed for the nearest pub.  Found a small bar that served the ‘good stuff’ ….and realised that they were doing toasted cheese & ham sandwiches…. very nice little snack it was too (helped the Guinness go down).

Started the delivery of the Foundation course, to a smaller group than expected.  There should have been about 10-12, but in the end it was a cosy 7….but it was in a room that must have held about 50-60 people…!!  Still, I grouped them all together in one part which wasn’t too bad in the end.  Most of the delegates had a reasonable level of knowledge of IT, so there weren’t too many issues (other than the normal discussion points around “we don’t do it like that”).   

End of day one, and it’s back to the hotel to relax and catch up on the news etc, log on to my email to find out what’s being chased by the office etc.  Out for the evening meal, and I made my way up to Grafton Street where I had found a very nice Italian last time I was in Dublin.  See the Belly Busters blog for more information on the food…

Day two continued as normal, again with no major issues or concerns.  The usual drop in performance from the delegates towards the end of the day due to all the information they are being given - brain overload….!  Set the sample questions for homework and back to the hotel.  Tonight’s meal was going to be an Indian (anyone would think that I liked Indian food….!!!), but the Champions League was on tonight, with Liverpool playing PSV Eindhoven in the 1st leg of the tie.  Food first, or drink first.  The problem would be that if I drank first, I may not get to the restaurant later on if I drink right through the match, so decided that discretion was advisable, so ate first.

See Belly Busters for food comments, but suffice to say that by the time I had eaten and made my way around the corner to the nearest pub….Liverpool were 2-0 up….darn!  Still it was good to see them playing well within themselves - although the way PSV were playing on the night, a reasponable Sunday Pub Team would probably give them a good run for their money.  Final score was 3-0 of course, so all looks good for the semi-finals with either Chelski, or them Germans(?).

Wednesday, and it’s the final few processes and mock exam for the delegates, before I wend my way back to the airport.  results of the mock were reasonable, with only one person not scoring a ‘pass’, but only by one point.  This is the infamous Paper 4, so I don’t think there will be any issues with the live paper (fingers crossed of course).  Unfortunately, due to the timing of my flight, I had to bid my farewells to the delegates and hand them over to the invigilator to take them through the exam.

Flight home reasonably uneventful…until landing at Birmingham.  Not sure if the pilot missed something, but he certainly planted it on the ground….with such a thump that it made everyone jump..  Might need to check the suspension and tyres after that one….

So that’s another trip to the emerald isle over once again.  Will be going back in another month or so hopefully.

Visited this establishment on 23rd January, during my trip to Woking to deliver a Foundation course.

You could miss this restaurant if you aren’t careful, as there isn’t the usual bright lights and colours that are normally associated with a lot of Indian restaurants.  I’m glad I didn’t as it must rate as one of the best curry houses I’ve been to. The frontage does not give away the size of the main dining area, as it was quite a size with room for a large number of diners.  Being a Tuesday evening, it wasn’t that busy, but the modern decor, good lighting and colourways were a pleasant change to the normal dim environments.

I chomped on a couple of popadoms whilst browsing the extensive menu…. no lime pickle which is a shame from my perspective, although there was a coconut based ‘paste’ alongside the normal chopped onions, raita and mango chutney.  There were a number of dishes on the menu that I had never seen before, so after a brief chat with the waiter, I settled for the Chicken Dumpukt, Bhindi and pilau rice.  The Chicken (and the Lamb version) was described as “The Real Curry”, and when I spoke to the head waiter afterwards, he told me that it was a regional dish from the central to northern parts of India.  I don’t care where it came from because it was gorgeous!  Now I like a curry that is medium hot, but tasty with it.  A Madras is normally the level I can go to without losing my taste buds, but this was somewhere between a Rogan Josh and Madras, with wonderful flavours and just a hint of chilli to give that little kick.  The bhindi was well cooked also, with it being cut up into small slices about 1/4 inch thick, so they looked like small stars.  Portion sizes were just about right, not too much and not too little.

Washed down with a bottle of Cobra, this was a great meal for a hungry trainer.

All in all I score this as : 

 4.5 chilli’s out of 5

As threatened, I’ve finally got around to setting up this part of the site, as I experienced one of the best currries I have ever had this week.  As a result, this prompted me to set this category up, so feel free to pass comments on your experiences in these places - even if it does differ from ours! 

And no, I don’t mean that from a personal perspective.  Following on from the winds coming back from Bristol, this time it was extremely high winds on the way back from Malvern.  Just after joining the M5, a lorry blew over behind me resulting in the north bound carriageway being blocked.  This was followed by a radio announcement that the M42 was closed near Birmingham airport.  No problem methinks, I’ll go down the M40, and leave at the A46 near Warwick and then onto the A45 and M69.  Well all was going well until the signs saying that all trafiic for London should leave the M40 at the A46 and follow the diversion signs along the A45 and eventually on to the M1.  So as you can imagine the traffic was rather heavy and I eventually fought my way through Coventry, only to find that the M69 had been closed due to a farm building blowing over…..  just over two hours to do 70 miles of mainly motorways…not good!

Anyway, the Foundation at Malvern was another great bunch of guys, for a client that used to be part of the MoD.  I don’t envisage any issues, so I expect another high pass rate, if not 100% again. 

I stayed at a hotel called “Cottage in the Woods” which is basically an old country house that has been converted into a hotel, along with a cottage and another building in the grounds that have all been converted into accomodation.  Very reasonable prices, but with excellent rooms - very soft and comfortable Queen size bed which you could get lost in.  Shame I was on my own.  I was told that the meals there are excellent, although everything was above my measly budget!  The sort of place that you would take someone for a special occasion.

I ate out at two different restaurants whilst I was down there - The Swan Inn just outside Malvern, and the Bengal Brasserie (an Indian restaurant if you hadn’t guessed!). Definitely going to do a Good Pub/Restaurant guide… watch this space.

It’s Woking next week, so time to plan another route for Sunday evening.

After the holiday season (although I only had the Bank Holidays off…honest!), and it’s the first Foundation of the year.  It’s back to the West country, and the Marriot Hotel in the city centre.  Not to be confused with the other Marriot, also in the city centre, but a different one…a little confusing to some, as we had two delegates on a previous course who booked into the Marriot, came downstairs to find the conference room, only to find that they were in the wrong hotel.  Cue exit stage left and a taxi ride across the city centre… (and the joining instructions were correct before you ask).

I had the pleasure of Robb this week, who is in the middle of completing his ‘training’ before being allowed to fly solo as a Level 1 trainer.  Means I have someone to eat with for an evening meal!  The hotel is full of pyschologists attending a seminar, so our party is drowned by over 400 pyschologists…  Trying to think of a collective noun for these guys…. a ’sofa’ of pyschologists perhaps… answers on a postcard please!?

Course was uneventful, with all appearing to enjoy the ‘cut and thrust’ (or is that taking it a bit too far?!).  Robb is going well, so shouldn’t see any issues in getting him promoted - it’s nice to have someone taking over for a while, especially as my throat is giving me some cause for concern.

Everything wrapped up on time, with the invigilator arriving early which allowed us to debrief and wend our way home.  The trip up the M5 is going to be fun as there are very high winds around, will need to keep an eye open for falling trees and juggernauts!

Let’s see what the weekend brings.  The wife has warned me that the dog is poorly - she’s a twelve year old, Olde English Sheepdog, who is suffering a bit with arthritis.  The vet has supplied some more pills - only £65 for 2-3 weeks, must find myself another job….!!  To make matters worse, the freezer has also given up the ghost so need to get a new one.  Must have a word with Steve about a bonus!!