Thursday, June 14, 2007

Another bit of blogging from me. I’ve made it through most of the first week by now – 4 working days out of 9.5 total working days. I’m almost half way, really. I’ve been here just long enough for my language to start changing already. It is a very odd thing to hear myself modify cadence, tone and vocabulary. I do wonder about that kind of thing when I travel – how the music of the language seeps into me so easily and why I can’t stop it without conscious effort. It is just odd.

Anyway, it has been a busy few days. I’ve done a lot of facilitation, spent many hours in actual productive meetings, and still had some time to myself. I’m usually done with the day around 5 or 6. Since it is light until 9:30 or so, I take walks around Brighton to look at the shops (before 7 for the most part, since a lot of things close at 6 or 7!) and find some dinner. I’ve found a grocery/deli that makes great hummus, so I can end up there if nothing else appeals. Once I’m out of business suits, the weather is quite comfortable. The humidity – which is SUCH a problem in business suit layers - is not a big deal in a t-shirt and capris.

That, of course, is for my “quiet nights”. For reasons that I can’t quite explain, being on business travel means that at least some nights involve formal or informal business dinners – whether I want them or not. Although I have to eat out anyway, I find that I resent being taken away from home when travelers come to town, so I worry about how this impacts the non-travelers.But last night, all of the people that traveled to our GB class, along with one “local guide”, went out to dinner. We walked down the Brighton Pier – which is a cross between a casino and a theme park. I saw an original “helter skelter” – which was a bit of a revelation. I’m still trying to decide how that amusement park “ride” gave rise to that word. I also saw a view of “the white cliffs” – not of Dover, mind you, but the cliffs are the same on the entire south coast.




Dinner was nice, but we were out too late. Fortunately, Thursday started 30 minutes later than Monday – Wednesday. In other words, work is proceeding as well as can be expected.

I am both looking forward to and dreading the weekend. I do need some time off, but I would rather be home for it! I’m sure it will be lovely. I plan to head into London for the day on Saturday, but stay on the coast on Sunday. There is a bicycle race from London to Brighton that day, as well as the normal “Sunday to the shore” crew, so the trains and roads will be full. I plan to avoid the crush.

1 comment:

Madelyn said...

Well I'm sorry now that I didn't skip this silly class and just come over to bug you on your free time. Having no phone and more free time than expected must make this doubly hard. But hey, it's that musical ear of yours that makes the languages just come. It's the whole TCK blending in thing you alluded to in some way in an earlier blog.