London 11 -14 March

I was in London for another conference early last week. I took the opportunity to head over a bit earlier on Sunday to catch up with my friend Linda. It was a beautiful few days in London with the temperature reaching 18 c (65 f), but it felt a lot warmer in the sun. We took the opportunity to head down to the park by my hotel in Kensington.

The park was full of people- children playing, families walking about- everyone was in such a good mood. There are a few man made lakes throughout the park and beautiful swans swimming about.

We walked a good 6 miles all around Kensington, Queensway and Bayswater. I was absolutely knackered by the end of the day!

The conference went as expected, although for much of it I was making phone calls back to the Belfast office. This new job is a bit mental. I've never been in a role that is so busy all of the time. I'm struggling a bit to keep my sanity and not get totally stressed out. Anyway, on the Tuesday night there was a big gala dinner and awards ceremony. There were another 3 colleagues that attended and we met up in the windows bar atop the Hilton on Park Lane- awesome panoramic views of London. I didn't want to be too much of a tourist so I didn't get any pictures of the city. I finally broke my 3 1/2 month stint off alcohol and opted for a glass of Chablis at £9 a pop- and that was the cheapest glass of wine on the menu! The dinner went well and the awards ceremony was enjoyable. I had a few glasses of champagne and look a bit tipsy in these pictures... Here's me with Catherine, one of my colleagues from Belfast.

Catherine and I with Anna, one of the conference organisers. She was from their German office and the more champange she drank, the worse her english got. It was impossible to understand what she was saying come the end of the night.