Archive for the ‘Summer 2012’ Category

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It’s a long time since we’d been to the Costa Brava

August 19, 2012

Having ventured to Bulgaria for the last two years for our Summer hols. This year we decided to go with some friends (Charlie, Rosie and Izzy) to a lovely villa on the Costa Brava for our annual adventure off the beaten track. It was a long time since I’d been there – almost 30 years and Rita/ Alex (Tsar of Wales) had never been! 

Having flown back from Moscow to check out the chalet for a couple of days. We then drove (less than 8 hours) to Empuriabrava just over the Spanish Pyrenees border, a beautiful village on a coastal plain which essentially is one of Europe’s largest Marinas. Located between arguably the more famous resorts of Roses and Escala it has 34 sq kms of canals which means most of the properties have their own moorings.

We had a great time chilling, visiting some of the other resorts and Catalunian towns and generally letting life pass by slowly. Here are some pictures of the fun we had………………………

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Who would have believed after all these years!

June 23, 2012

Yes. After 35 years I finally caught up with my all time hero this week. Tom Petty, with his band the Heartbreakers played one of their rare UK concerts to a packed Albert Hall. There’s no doubt the boys are aging well and they definately can still play. Unsurprising, since at least three of them (Mike Campbell – guitars, Benmont Tench – keyboards and Ron Blair – bass) have been with him since the early days in the 70s. The aging but ‘young at heart’ crowd just lapped it up as they played all their well known songs (well, certainly for those of us who see the boys as icons) in a two hour plus set. Evidence and highlights are below:

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Never turn down an opportunity!

April 29, 2012

In late April I was invited to attend a Global conference in San Francisco. Ski season hadn’t finished but I just had to go. SFC is a great city, completely unlike New York – much more laid back and almost, European like. Infact when we were on the boat trip (see below) it reminded me of Istanbul; built on many hills connected by dramatic suspension bridges. One thing most people don’t know is an eerie fog rolls in off the Pacific each day to shroud the city in mist – also causes the temperature to drop 10 degrees so it becomes very un-mediterranean like. Bear this in mind if you’ve not been and you get a chance to go there. We visited Google (office is like a university campus – eveything feels like a laid back, place of learning), Facebook and Yahoo amongst others.

We also went on a boat trip around the Bay area one evening, luckily no fog that day. Here’s a snapshot of the best pics: