Happy Christmas!

Wow.. It has been a while since I wrote last!! Here is the catch up...

25/08 I headed to Spain! I made a side trip to Buno near Valencia for La Tomatina (the tomato festival). Mostly this consists of a huge tomato fight in the streets with dump trucks full of tomatoes they bring in. It was disgusting!!! Once was enough. I also made a side trip to Pals and drove up Costa Brava with some friends. Valencia was beautiful! We spent a fair amount of time on the beach and drinking Sangria… I somehow also made it to Seville on this trip… It turned into almost a week before we were done.

02/09 Tony and Cheree (some of my friends from Dallas) came to London to visit! While they were here we went to Cambridge and "punted" on the backs. It was good fun and nobody fell in! We also got to go to "Wicked" the musical while they were here… it was very good! Unfortunately Tony and Cheree lost their luggage on their way from London to Paris. They finally got it back close to 30 days after it was lost… and it was damp and mouldy inside! Thanks BA!

16/09 and 22/09 I spent in Greece before and after my annual 3 day group meeting in Athens. I rented a car the first weekend and drove around Greece seeing lots of ruins. More than enough really…by the time I was done I was referring to them as "piles of rocks." (what an ingrate!) Athens is a dump… I didn't care for it much… Driving there was horrible!! Scarier than driving on the wrong side of the road in the UK and scarier than Manhattan! The weekend after training some friends and I went to the island of Santorini and then to Crete. In Santorini we rented a villa with a and spent most of the time there or at the beach. The sand was black! (volcanic sand!)

30/09 I went to a town outside Amsterdam for training… can't say I did anything so I shouldn't even mention it! I walked out of the hotel and stood on the beach for about 10 minutes (does that count?).

Sometime in October/ November was "bonfire day" in London. It is the equivalent of the fourth of July as far as celebrations go (not the meaning though!). Lot's of fireworks every weekend for pretty much the whole month! I had a good time going to a few displays with friends from work.
I saw Kevin Spacey on stage in "A Moon for the Misbegotten" at the old vic recently. That was pretty neat.

I haven't been taking any trips for a while… hoping to do some snowboarding trips when I get back from the US for the holidays.

I have been working in Basingstoke UK recently. Not that interesting but being out of the city let's me rent a car. Driving a manual on the wrong side of the road is exciting! (for my passengers especially!)

I am headed to Boca Raton for training for a week here in a bit…(rough life I know) then going to Houston and Utah to see the family. Looking forward to seeing family and getting in some snowboarding!

Anyway… here is wishing you and yours a very happy holidays and a spectacular new year. I hope to hear from you all!

Cheers,
Scott

Accounting terminology differences
"Accounts Receivable" = "Debtors"
"Accounts Payables" = "Creditors"
"Revenue" = "Turnover"
"Inventory" = "Stock"
"send Confirmations" = "Circularize"

Food differences
Omelettes are for lunch.
Waffles are for desert.
Beans with breakfast!
Beans go on baked potatoes.
The purple Skittles are currant flavour rather than grape.

Phrases
"Bits and bobs" = A little of this and that
"Brilliant" = a most overused phrase… like saying perfect.
"Bollocks" = "Nuts" (Typically used as a negative phrase)
"the dogs bollocks" = Strangely this is used to describe something good!
"Happy Christmas" This is used just as much as "Merry Christmas."
"gone off" = Gone bad. Not quite right.
"sorted" = figured out ("is it sorted?" "You sorted?" "sorted!") Used quite a bit!
"potter around" = mess around..do a little of this and that