Cannonball Europe 2006

We got off to a great start on our Cannonball Run Europe 2006, with me snoozing and M driving his Porsche, (trying to emulate his hero Tom Selleck out of Magnum P.I.), zipping across the French motorways. We were making good headway, but alas, that was in vain, as I was suddenly awoken by sirens, as we had been copped for speeding at 195km (122mph), joining the ranks of Eric Clapton, Jenson Button, and Montoya (although M looked distinctly worried when he got pulled over, as he thought he would have to spend the night in jail at that speed).

Of course we were both giggling like school kids as we thought we were in an episode of Dukes of Hazard.

After 20 minutes at the local police station, and a 1 month driving ban for M in France, I timidly took to the wheel of the beast (as I like to call it), and went on to complete the remaining 400km stretch till we reached Switzerland, handing the baby back to M, who I am sure was praying for us as I flung the car across the zig-zag country roads to get to Geneva! I think I made many a motorists day as they all got to overtake the Porsche, including a Renault Twingo ;-).

part 2...DC

On to DC... I think I spoke to soon, looks like we brought the rain with us, but unlike in England, the April showers here are what you expect them to be - a mild relief from the humidity and not the spitting kind of rain we get back in London...Enjoying hanging out with Hira in DC, good to catch up and generally drink umpteen cups of tea...and eat American food, plan is to get OBEZE (as M puts it) by the time we leave, which makes me think that the getting healthy plan for COLOMBO is going to be all the harder. M is keeping us entertained by spending most of his time chasing dell for a laptop.

Also watched INSIDE MAN, missed the start as was too busy wondering why they were playing chaiyya chaiyya during the credits, pretty impressive that Bollywood has made it into mainstream hollywood!

Sunny USA... part 1

Before the big move we decided to do a quick trip to visit my cousin and sis-in-law in the States.

The sunshine was a welcome relief after London's poor excuse for spring! This was my second visit to the mid-west, which is apparantly more than for most people... The mid-west is well, v. flat and the land of malls and bargain shopping. So I pretty much spent most of my time at the malls marvelling at the excellent bargains I got on footwear... if we have nothing else, I will at least have a shoe collection for people in Colombo to envy ;-).

Good byes...

...it's always difficult to leave the old and start with the new, however, I never believed that the same could be said of work...

...I mean, for me work was something that you do because you kind of have to, everyone has a job, and you work, and you work hard and that's normal. It's not like you're supposed to enjoy it or love it or anything, it's kind of like medicine, you know you have to take it cos it's good for you, but you don't necessarily like it...

although I think there were some days that I probably did love it...so today was my last day, after 6 years, 7 months and 13 days to be precise, I left my firm today... and much as I may have moaned to my friends about it, I think there was some part of me that was sad...probably due to the fact that one of the most important things for me at work, was the people - and I feel that I have met some tremendous people in my time at work, and that is probably what I'll miss the most! The banter and the daily conversations with those people...

It was a lovely send-off, and I feel I must share the poem that my friends and colleagues wrote for my send off:

There once was an Indian girl called Smriti
Who knew everything about spice
I'm talking about our positioning system
Although her curry is also very nice

There once was a welsh girl called smriti
Who liked a good glass of wine
Its said she has her own account at Brodies
Is that why she struggles to get in by nine

There was a cool dancer called Smriti
That's smriti, smrithi, smrits to us all
Her bollywood moves at the christmas party
Were once the cause of her great downfall

There was a lovely girl called Smriti
A colleague and a mom to every friend
She took off for a new life in Sri Lanka
Before PACE drove her round the bend

So this post is dedicated to my colleagues and friends who I've bid adieu to... in the hope that we meet again in sunnier climes!

Itinerary before Colombo...

14-Apr to 20-Apr: visiting the Singhs in Chicago
20-Apr to 24-Apr: visiting Hira in DC
25-Apr to 28-Apr: pit-stop in London (need to pack up the house and move... may involve bribing the junior jhas to help out again...)
28-Apr to 13-May: driving trip around Europe: Geneva, Italy (Lake Como), Cologne, Amsterdam
13-May to 20-May: Wales (Bittu & Paul's wedding celebrations)
21-May to 30-May: around London, (Tony's 30th, Moody & Jyoti's wedding), last good-byes...
30-May: fly to Colombo!!!

First Entry!

As most of my friends & relatives know by now, I have recently resigned from my job after 6 and a half years, and decided to leave London, and move across continents, to the beautiful tropical island of Sri Lanka.

So the purpose of this blog is two-fold - one so my friends and family can find out about the interesting (or not) things going on when I am thousands of miles away, and secondly, just to provide me with a journal, of what I expect to be one of the most interesting phases in my life.

Our schedule for the next couple of months before we reach Colombo is a bit hectic, so there may not be a second entry for a while...so if any of you want to know where we are, I will add our itinerary to this site too ;-).