Work Trip to Derby, UK

In November, I flew to England with my boss, Paul, to give a presentation to Egg Bank on a project which we were working on for them. We spent 2 weeks in Derby, where the client was situated. It was 2 hours by train from London. I experienced zero degree temperature for the first time. This was a good dress rehearsal for our winter European holiday in December.

I had the opportunity to visit my friends, Colin and Patrick, in their new home in Cambridge. They showed me around, and I found Cambridge to be a really charming university town.

Through the power of my boss' American Express Platinum card, I was able to get a ticket to the sold out show 'Passion' at the Donmar Warehouse.

This is a musical written by Stephen Sondheim. Unlike the mega musicals showing at the West End, this one was showing at an intimate theatre of around 400 seats. The show was magnificent. I absolutely loved it. The music was beautiful and moving, the sets were simple but effective, and the actors were excellent, especially the male lead, David Thaxton. He is going to be a big star on the West End in the very near future. At one hour and 40 minutes with no intermission, the show just swept you away with its story of love, obsession, pain and tragedy. After seeing so many theatrical productions through the years, it is reassuring to know that there are still productions out there that can move me like this. I was so grateful to Paul for getting me the ticket. He actually came along with me, and he said that he enjoyed it too, which was a relief for me.

During this trip, I got to experience flying first class during the flight from Heathrow back to Sydney. Oh my, how the other half lives. The champagne was French and vintage 2000. It was a 3 course meal with white table cloth. The gave us pyjamas to change to. And when you are ready to sleep, you call on the stewardess to prepare your bed. She adjusts your seat to the horizontal position, put a white quilted bed cover over it, and add a white pillow and a white blanket. It will be very hard to fly economy ever again.