It has been a while since I last updated my blog, and for good reason. I have just started working with a new client which is taking up most of my time. But I do have time for a brief recap of the past week or two before I head off for my Christmas holidays.

The weekend after my Christmas party was absolutely beautiful – it remains unseasonably warm over here, apparently the warmest year in the recorded history of the UK. I took the chance to take the Corvette out for a good wash and a quick drive to the coast – a plan somewhat flawed by the fact that I didn’t account for the short days. We were halfway to the coast and found ourselves driving in total darkness.

Sunday night I drove back to London to get ready for a series of client workshops on Monday and Tuesday with my new client. We’d had no notice of them (contract signed late on the Friday night) so it was a case of “turn up and wing it”. Luckily that seems to be one of our core strengths. The rest of the week was primarily made up of me forgetting the names of the 40-or-so delegates.

I hosted a dinner for a number of new graduate recruits on Wednesday night at our offices – the highlights of which were a stunning meal in an amazing setting (our 9th floor boardroom overlooking the river, with one of the best views in London) and seeing the genuine excitement and enthusiasm on their faces as they enter the job world for the first time. The graduate market is becoming more competitive, and my company puts on a pretty impressive show to try to win the best talent. It’s fun to be part of the process, even if it meant dragging myself in from Heathrow.

Having dragged myself in from Heathrow, it seemed only right that I accepted Mike’s invitation to go out for a few Christmas drinks with several of my old colleagues – cue 2am taxi back to Heathrow and working the next day on about 4 hours sleep!

Friday night was Aude’s Christmas party at the University of Canterbury, where pleasantly we witnessed no assaults at all. Saturday we went to Whitstable for a friend’s birthday party – and despite being in a harbour with some of the freshest fish in the UK, I managed to order a fish that had been flown in from Australia.

Woke up on Monday morning to discover that winter had finally arrived – for the first time this year, I had to scrape the frost off my car before driving up to London.

Six more days until Christmas. I suppose I’d better pull my finger out and get some shopping done.