The weather in Chicago had been wonderful all week till the Friday, when it rained all day. So I was glad to leave that behind. It was a long day, with meetings in the morning, then off to the airport. We landed in Houston just after 6pm, then were taken to the hotel. We are at the Post Oak Hilton, and very nice it is to. After unpacking I went out to a ‘noodle’ house with my colleague Peter. Here is the view from the room, and the room itself.

Saturday morning after breakfast, one of our BP colleagues who lives in Houston took Peter and me out to see a couple of art musuems – mainly contemporary art, abstract and surreal. Then lunch, before we were taken to the new Catholic cathedral in Houston, which is rather magnificent. There was a wonderful stained glass window, which unfortunately didn’t come out too well in the picture below, also some pictures of downtown Houston.

Late afternoon Pete and I went up to the pool, with the temps in the high 20’s, a splash in the cold pool was great. We then went our seperate ways for the evening, Peter went to the Houston racetrack, I went to see a musical by an amdram group, it was called Shout, and set in 60’s London – it was brilliant!

This morning I went to church, a mass at St Michaels, which was about 5 minutes walk away. It was the 7 30am service, but was a sung mass. Lovely church, and some prayers for my Mum who was in hospital this past week, and for my brother who has his operation on Wednesday.

I then did some work, before going out this afternoon looking at the city shops. Then back for a swim, and then the noodle shop for a meal.

News from home…. Tricia has been in the garden and been enjoying the good weather. Nikki did a bbq for Tricia, Ellie, and herself last night. Today Ellie was at a dance competition, but didn’t have her most successful day. When I spoke earlier they were settling down to a late roast dinner.

Rob managed to cut himself with a scalpel in the art studio this week and ended up in A&E… no lasting damage thankfully. Rob finishes for Easter this coming Friday. And talking of Friday I am looking forward to coming home. The work here is good, the people are nice and welcoming, I like seeing some of the sights… but I miss the family. Better go to bed now, work in the morning. 

The trip out to Chicago wasn’t too bad. I was tired after the St Patrick’s evening, then packing and being late to bed. So once the flight had taken off and we had been fed I slept /dozed for a few hours on the plane which seemed to refresh me. It meant that once we had arrived at Chicago and got to the hotel I was ok in spite of the 5 hour difference. My work colleague Peter and I went for a walk and found a sports bar where we had an evening meal. I went to bed at 10pm Chicago time, and whilst I woke a few times as if the body clock insisted I should get up, I slept through to 7am, and so adjusted to US time almost straight away. In fact on Monday morning I went to the gym… and used a slightly different cross trainer. I used it on Tuesday morning as well, and then I almost couldn’t walk for a while as my calf muscles were so sore – the different foot position catching me out. Some shots of the view from the room, and the hotel room.

The room was very comfortable. Monday was spent in the Data Centre, which was adjacent to the hotel, a few minutes walk, and the weather has been lovely. In fact nearly reaching 30c. In the evening we went for a meal – about 8 of us, BP and HP colleagues, in the old Chicago Firehouse. Tuesday started with breakfast on a sidewalk – the weather was so nice you could sit outside, before we went out to see a company called Iron Mountain… a car was ordered to take us. We got a tank! Phoning home Tricia kept me up with the news, which included Ellie having her top brace fitted.

Wednesday was the highlight so far though. After we had finished in the office, we went to see the Chicago Hawks at the the Ice Hockey stadium… great atmosphere, from 21,000 fans, and the Hawks won 2-1 in overtime. It’s a fast exciting game when in play… but, the game started at 7, the actual playing time was 64 minutes (including the 4 minutes overtime) but the evening didn’t finish till 10pm. Lots of time outs and stops, I suppose it is what the audiences over here are used to, but I couldn’t see people in England being quite so patient. It was great fun though, with all the typical American razzamatazz.

So, I am now a ‘Hawks’ fan Thursday late in the afternoon the opportunity came to walk around downtown Chicago, which I was keen to do. The area I work when out here is away from the main city….so it was great to get to see the great buildings, new and old, and an interesting statue of Marilyn Monroe. Lots of early 20th century buildings, mingled with more modern ones. I can advise all readers that Marilyn is wearing white knickers. 

The evening was spent back in the bar we visited when we first arrived. It’s off to Houston on Friday. Thursday evening gave some bad news from my brother Mark, who called to say Mum had been taken unwell and gone into hospital. You just want to give her a hug, but its difficult to do from all these miles.

I am being picked up in about an hour and being driven to Heathrow airport as the first leg of a long trip to Chicago. So only a quick update. My car has finally been fixed…. a problem with the diesel particulate filter took two attempts, hence I worked from home on Monday and Wednesday. On Thursday I was in London at the Docklands Data Centre, so I only managed to get to Stockley Park twice, which means I only got to the gym twice. I had a governors meeting on Wednesday evening, preparing for an Ofsted, which we think may happen fairly soon.

It’s been a reasonably non eventful week at home.Tricia has a bit of a cold. She made up a number of ‘posies’ for church today which will get given out at the Mothers Day service. Nikki has started training again. Rob is in Northampton ensconced in his coursework. Ellie was waitressing at the St Patricks day event at the village hall last night and did well.

Speaking of which, Tricia and I went across to the evening, food was good, and some entertainment – a fiddler and some Irish dancing. Good company, and some Murphy’s. I spent the evening calling Tricia Kathleen . Here are some piccies… Kathleen in her green dress! One with Clive, one with me and a glass of Murphy’s.

I suppose the hot news story of the week was Nikki being on the tele. Early in the week Nikki had a call from the Bobsleigh performance director asking her to be at a track in St Albans on the Wednessday morning for an interview with Sky Sports News. They were doing a feature on her friend Serita, who fractured her back in October. So on a wet morning in St Albans she was interviewed, and was subsequently shown on Sky Sports News on Thursday.

Nice that the photo of her being on tv coincided with a headline about West Ham. Talking of which two home draws in a week isn’t promotion form

Nikki’s friend Serita came over Thursday evening and has stayed the weekend. On Friday they went into London for the day. Serita has made a remarkable recovery from her back injury, and has started doing some light training. Rob has been home for the weekend, and it has been good to catch up with him, although he seems quite consumed by a new Xbox game, ‘Mass Effect 3’. His uni work is going well, particularly the illustration he has been doing for a Grimms fairytale, Iron John. Here is the castle…and a pic of Nikki and Serita all dolled up.

Of course there was also the small matter of me turning 51 this week. Less said the better… on the slippery slope to 60, and the years are slipping away quickly! I had a quiet day, Nikki cooked some steak for tea (Rob was envious at missing out on steak!), and then I was given a cake (of which I did save some for Robbie). I was presented with some new trainers which I am very pleased with. A couple of pics…

On Monday evening I went and saw my Mum and Dad, who both seemed in fine fettle. For a change that was my only evening out this week. Friday evening was my first Friday evening at home for a good few months, and felt rather odd. We had a Saturday evening in as well… and I may as well enjoy them, as last week I learnt BP are sending me to the States for two weeks. Next Sunday, the 18th, Mothering Sunday of all days, I am flying out to Chicago for the week, on Friday the 23rd I then fly down to Houston, before arriving back in the UK on Sat 31st March. I am travelling with a colleague who I get on well with, which will help, but I won’t enjoy being away from the family for two weeks.

Today has been pretty quiet. Ellie and I went to church this morning, whilst Tricia, Nikki and Serita went off to the athletics track. We all had a roast lunch, before Tricia, Robbie and Ellie went off on a ‘lent walk’, which was a 5 / 6 mile walk – in what was beautiful spring sunshine. I sat and watched an exciting game of rugby – England beating France – with Nikki and Serita.

What a gorgeous day it has been – wonderful sunshine.

This evening a bit of relaxing… I will sit and watch Upstairs Downstairs in a while with Tricia. It’s been a bit of a disappointment so far, trying to cram too many storylines in (in my opinion). Tricia takes Robbie back to uni tomorrow morning.

Tuesday evening I left the office at 5pm, with my phone. I didn’t arrive home with my phone though. Somewhere between my desk and getting into the car I seem to have dropped it. Despite extensive searching, speaking with security etc, the phone never turned up, and wasn’t handed in. So I had to request a replacement phone, which after some sorting out turned up on Friday. So, from Tue evening till Friday evening I wasn’t contactable when away from the desk, or not at home. Marvellous…

Busy week for Ellie, playing netball three times. She was also selected as a Year 7 student to sit in on some teacher interviews. When teacher interviewing is going on, a number of pupils get selected to sit in on part of the interviews, and ask a few questions (not just any question – they are pre approved). It gives the prospective teacher a little insight into the type of students, and they can ask questions of the students. So, something of a privilege for Ellie to be asked.

Not heard too much from Robbie. He is home next weekend, so we can catch up with him then. Nikki arrived home today after a long trip. She left St Moritz on Friday morning, along with one of the male bob drivers. They had to drive to Igls in Austria to drop a bobsleigh off, before driving back to Calais, taking it in turns to do the driving. They arrived back in England in the early hours of Saturday morning. They then drove to Chichester where Will was dropped off. Nikki then drove to our friends in Thatcham, Wendy and Rob, getting there at 7:30…. she slept then. This morning she drove down to Bath where she met up with Vicky, and they put away the rest of the Bob equipment…. season over. I drove to Bath this morning and picked her up. Nikki is now home with us for a while. Which Ellie (who proclaims herself to be an only child most of the time) is rather pleased about.

It has been a pretty quiet weekend. On Friday evening Tricia and I went next door to have a curry with our friends Alan and Rachel. Saturday, Tricia was at Brunel Uni doing some athletics coaching. Ellie and me had a quiet day at home. On Saturday evening, for what seemed like the first Saturday for months and months, we stayed in. Tricia and I caught up with the first few episodes of the new Upstairs Downstairs. I am not sure that it is as good as the previous series. A bit like Downton Abbey, they seem to want to sensationalise every episode…

Today, as I left to go and pick Nikki up, Tricia took Ellie off to Aylesbury where she had a dance exam. They were supposed to be going on a ‘lent walk’ this afternoon, but the weather put paid to that. Driving to Bath I went through some snow flurries, as well as driving rain… and to think I was going to wash the car yesterday! God turned on the car washer today….

I got home to see the last 20 minutes of the West Ham game… they beat Cardiff 2-0. A good result. This evening we had a late lunch, roast chicken and the trimmings…. all very nice. I am now ‘stuffed’.

Happy birthday to my old mate Carlos, who has just turned 52. Later this year I will have known him 40 years… our friendship seems to have affected him though, he seems to be going bald.