if you're Irish, come into the parlour!

Not the most inventive of song titles, I know, dear reader, but with it bein' Saint Padraig's day and all, it was the first one to come into my mind.

I'm not bothering to apologise for my absence (the best part of two months), meaning only to get on with some observations.

My sojourns since I last checked in have taken me to London for a higher education conference and the heaviest snowfalls for 18 years and then back to Nottingham where the snow followed me and, yes, you guessed it, Nottingham had the heaviest snowfalls for 18 years I Have some pictures and must remember to come back and load them up for general viewing - geez I'm getting slack at this, ah well). Not having to put up with the snow and its incoveniences for long periods of time, I satisfied myself that the fresh fallen snow was a "winter wonderland" and enjoyed the experience for as long as it lasted.

A later trip to Brussels to chair a stream of a European HR summit added to the network I have been building here, and I was able to catch up with my friends from EFMD in the process. I'm back in London on Thursday for a CK Prahalad/Marshall Goldsmith extravanganza, and that might be worth reflecting on when I return.

It's hard to think that it was only a number of weeks ago that there was snow on the ground when the daffodils are now out in bloom, although today's weather has turned suitably "Irish" (ie cold and miserable) but at least it's not raining. I've got an addition to the apartment recently in the form of "Biggles", a young bear whose naming (and donations for Red Nose Day) won him for me. He has settled in nicely - photos also of him to come.

Not very exciting all this dear reader, but at least it's a contribution and so I move on to the next thing and try and reduce the times in between.