David Currie

Most of my friends and colleagues will by now be heartily sick of hearing the phrase “it depends… we may be in Norway by then” (but probably not as sick as I am of saying it!). For those who don’t know, I have, for the past year or so, been trying to arrange an assignment with IBM to the Nordics. Having settled on Norway about five months ago we (myself and the local management teams on either side) have been battling against the numerous internal processes involved. I’m therefore relieved to say that, as of yesterday, we finally have approval to proceed. Lest they change their mind, the current plan is that I head out to Oslo next week, with Christine and Emma following along once accommodation is sorted. We’ll then be out there until sometime around August, returning to the UK in time for Christine to restart lecturing for the new University year. Now there’s just the small matter of getting packed. Oh, and I should probably dust off those “Teach yourself Norwegian” books we bought months ago!!

Work took me back to Madrid this week. The trip didn’t get off to all that an auspicious start. I had hired a car as the customer is based some 20km out of the city centre however I had agreed to pick up one of the local team at the IBM office in town first. Unfortunately, at the airport Hertz were unable to provide me with any form of map, instead giving me the simple directions to “follow the signs for Madrid and then take the Avenida de America”.
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I had a meeting in Oslo yesterday and flew out on Sunday evening so I could be there in time for the mid-morning start. Unfortunately we were about two hours late boarding our BA flight from Heathrow and then sat on the tarmac for another half an hour waiting for a slot to take off. Apparently the strong winds meant bigger gaps between aircraft landing and taking off and hence delays. As a consequence, we arrived at Oslo airport at around 1:30am. The train in to the city centre stops at midnight and the taxi desk (where you can normally get a fixed price trip) was deserted. This left me little choice but to get in to the only taxi at the rank outside for the 50km ride in to town. He generously stopped the meter just short of NKr 1200 (around £100)! The return journey on the train was faster and around a tenth of that price.

452I’ve spent most of the past week working in Madrid hence the general lack of postings. It’s the first time I’ve been there on either business or pleasure. The weather was very pleasant – blue skies and temperatures around 20 degrees during the day – although I’m told it was unseasonal. Sadly, the forty minute walk between the office and hotel that I took each day didn’t take in much in the way of tourist attractions (unless you count the Bernabéu stadium – home to Real Madrid). It was only on the last evening that I had a chance to pick up a street map and head south for a long run around the old town in the dark. I will have to find a chance to go back when I have more time as there was plenty to see. I also had the rather surreal experience of watching the Sony Ericsson WTA tour on TV. The EuroSport commentary was English but was layered over what was obviously a German recording (German commentary in the background and German ads). Why was this so bizarre? The tournament was taking place there in Madrid!

I’ve spent the last few days at a customer workshop in Münster. I wish more of my trips went as smoothly as the journey out. Christine gave me a lift to Southampton Airport and within 20 minutes of leaving home I had cleared security. The flybe flight in to Düsseldorf arrived so early that Hertz were looking in the wrong pile of car keys. (They gave me a Peugeot again but at least it was a 207 this time!) The directions for the drive to Münster worked like a treat (Map24 is my favourite route planner at the moment when it comes to printing European directions). The only minor niggle was that, on arrival at the hotel, they couldn’t give me a door key that worked and someone had to let me in until they fixed it the following morning. Even then, I was still tucked up in my bed just four hours after leaving the house.
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Unlike many others, I was disappointed to hear that the London Underground strike was suspended late last night. The trains in to London have been fantastically empty the past two days. So much so that a young couple boarding my carriage last night enquired whether they had mistakenly entered first class!