One of the good things about my two iPhones – three if you count the work one – has been the way the time gets updated whenever I turn them on in a new country I visit. Â Indeed, when I was in Vienna last week, I was saying just that to a colleague.
And then I got back to the UK and they wouldn’t change back to UK. They were both set to automatically adjust the time zone and the Apple Support pages were suggesting contacting my cellular comms. provider, 3, in case of issues. I tried lots of things, turning them off, going back to “Airplane Mode”, turning off WiFi, etc., before I stumbled across the fix:
From Settings, choose Location Services, then scroll down until you see System Services:
Then you may well see that Setting Time Zone is off, for some reason: in mine, I had turned it off to keep the battery life up, yet it still changed when I was in Vienna; just not changed back.
Well that was a busy week! The Friday before last, I was heading back in the rain from a meeting with a Client when my phone rang and a colleague asked if I’d be available to go to Vienna for a day the following week to do some training for another Client. Â The answer, as always, was yes. When I got back to the office, it all started going pear-shaped…
It transpired it was two days’ training: join mid-morning with a German lawyer’s last session and then repeat on the Friday before an evening flight home; my colleague would be staying at the comfy Hotel de France. But there were problems: firstly, I couldn’t guarantee arriving on time if I travelled on Thursday morning, so I had to make arrangements to fly out on the Wednesday evening (which meant cancelling another meeting) and I couldn’t fly back on the Friday because all the flights back were fully booked, so I now needed to stay another night and fly home on Saturday which meant cancelling all my plans up in Norfolk.
By Tuesday, more changes were afoot: half the delegates were calling in sick, so the venue (which had been a lovely hotel in central Vienna) had been cancelled and we would be doing it at the Client’s offices 15km outside the city. This meant cancelling the hotels I had managed to find and instead I was put up in what was thankfully a four star guest house 5km from the offices, the Landhaus Tschipan. They had also asked us to condense two days’ of training into one, the Thursday and I still couldn’t get a flight back!
Wednesday was horribly wet in London but landing in Vienna that evening, I was greeted by a lovely warm evening and I went for some beers with the German lawyer to run through the slides and edit them down.
Thursday went very well indeed and when we had finished we realised all the HR staff had gone home and there was no-one to take us back or even arrange a taxi … so we walked the 5km back in full suits and carrying laptops in high 20s temperatures! We then changed and grabbed a taxi into central Vienna to meet up with my other two colleagues for beers and a meal before heading back. Â Vienna is a beautiful city by night!
Friday morning I checked out of the Tschipan and headed to my hotel for Friday: the five star Steigenberger Hotel Herrenhof in the historic part of Vienna. A bit more work until lunchtime and then I headed out for a sightseeing wander around the shopping areas and the Naschtmarkt: some 10km in the sun and high 20s temperatures: no wonder I got sunburnt!
Today was Kawasaki Day at the Ace Cafe London. It was also the Virgin London Marathon and where I live the roads close at 8.00am. Despite GT taking part in the marathon – she managed a 4:00:44 finish time! – I headed off before the road closures to the Ace Cafe for Kawasaki Day, celebrating 40 years.
Of course, 11 and 23 mile markers en route were too good to pass unnoticed so I hoisted celebratory wheelies as I drove through!
Getting to the Ace at 8.00am I grabbed a cuppa and breakfast and then decided to have the ZRX dyno’d again now I’ve put some miles on it and the results were very impressive: 163.2bhp and 98ft/lb which even beat some poor bloke with a shiny ZZR1400 and Akra pipes!
With my 50th Birthday falling on Good Friday, GT decided to take me to Ireland with her kids to stay with family. Her mother has a house in Co. Carlow and there’s another family cottage (beautifully renovated and refurbished) to stay in just down the road … and that’s what we did: GT and I in the cottage and her kids staying at her Mum’s.
Thursday 5th and we went shopping and meeting and greeting family before settling down in the front of a log fire with a book and a bottle of wine.
Friday 6th brought a big surprise present from GT: a trackday in a Ferrari to be arranged by me to suit me! Then after lunch we headed over to Altamont Gardens for a wander around. A pity we couldn’t get closer to the spooky house:
Altamont House
Saturday 7th and I decided that after a few weeks break from running, I’d give the dodgy calf muscle a workout with a short 3.2 mile run whilst GT carried on for another 11.5 miles. She’s a machine! And all this before breakfast, after which we went for another walk out and about. The Irish provide handy hints for you when planning your next serial killing too:
Handy Hints
Then on for a wonderful meal in the evening at the excellent Sha-Roe Bistro 20 mins away in Clonegal, with delicious food and wine before a drink next door then back to the cottage.
Sunday 8th saw us heading up to Fraughan Rock Glen for a walk up to the upper waterfall and a few snacks before we headed back down to the pub for steaks and proper Guinness for lunch.
Fraggle Rock. Or Something.
Monday 9th was the only day that rain was forecast for, so we spent it at an activity centre in Carlow and I finished off the last of the Stieg Larsson Dragon Tattoo/Millennium Trilogy books on the Kindle App on my iPhone. I’d also seen this wonderful farmhouse on an earlier drive, so a photo opportunity presented itself.
Desolate
Tuesday 10th and GT and I started the day with another run before we headed off to Glendalough for more walking and sightseeing around the place after a couple of Guinnesses with lunch at the Hollywood Inn.
Hollywood InnGT and BluePoulanass WaterfallMiners' Village at Glendalough
An early night and then back off to Dublin Airport on Wednesday.
A stay at the delightful but expensive Luton Hoo last weekend gave me the opportunity for a quickie boudoir photoshoot in the suite I’d hired and then some lifestyle images in the grounds the following morning.
Nipped over to GT’s after work on Friday for a lovely home-cooked meal before an early night as GT was up early on Saturday morning for another cheeky 20 mile run before breakfast! She’s almost ready for her seventh marathon in three weeks’ time; her third London Marathon.
So when she got back, I got up and we headed into Epsom: GT to get a pedicure and me for a coffee and porridge at Caffè Nero. Then we set off for our weekend destination…
GT was a tad hungry by now, so shortly after leaving hers (and returning to pick up some undies!), we stopped for lunch at the Bear in Oxshott. Lovely food too with huge sandwiches and excellent fillings plus some great choices of starters and sharing platters.
Then on to our hotel for the weekend: Luton Hoo where one of GT’s friends was celebrating her birthday that evening. I’d had a cunning plan and booked us a room in the Mansion House itself as I had (incorrectly) assumed we’d be eating in the main house rather than one of the other buildings on the estate so we wouldn’t need to walk anywhere or go out in the cold that night.
Luton Hoo
And we were greeted with a pleasant surprise: we were upgraded to a Mansion House Suite – usually a £500 night option – which was heroically impressive with its own sitting area, a massive bed, a lobby and separate bathroom, walk-in wardrobes, etc.
Manor House Suite
The bottle of champagne I’d ordered was there chilling in its ice bucket and so everything was great as we spent the afternoon with a photoshoot and sipping champagne. GT said she could easily get used to this! My favourite from the shoot is on my photography profiles/pages.
Time then to get dressed for dinner: GT in a new LBD and heels – GT had brought a selection of stilettos with her including the Jimmy Choos, of course – and me in a suit and tie.
We then realised that Lu’s birthday dinner was actually taking place in the brasserie which was a short taxi ride away – the hotel has a fleet of its own taxis to ferry guests around the estate – so off we went for more good food and wines with great company before heading back to the main house for a nightcap!
The next morning we had a late start with a leisurely breakfast in the restaurant before heading outside for a walk around the extensive gardens (and a quick play on their croquet lawn) before coming back for a pot of tea in their gardens in the warm spring sunshine.
More Tea, Vicar?
Sadly, we then had to pack and head off home after lunch. A memorable weekend!
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