Tag Archives: oktoberfest

Oktoberfest – good preparations?

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So I realised today that it is wayyyy too long since I updated my blog, but I have been really busy. Poor excuse I know, but it is true. Some of it has been work, some of it has been play, some of it (but not nearly enough :o) has actually been training, but I know as I sit here now that I am in not nearly good enough shape, and that with just three weeks to go that it is too late to do a significant amount about it.

In the last month in fact, I have been away four times, which is nigh on crazy. I have been to Cannes (work, mostly, with a smattering of nightlife thrown in too :)); San Francisco (well Santa Rosa in fact, and most definitely not work :)); the North East of England (Great North Run weekend, but no running for me); and then Munich last week for the Oktoberfest. Now I’ve decided to blame my son Dan for last one, as it is in fact his fault, which seems as good a reason to blame someone as any!

If you have followed this blog since last year, you may know that I went to the Oktoberfest then too. On that occasion there was a (somewhat puny admittedly) excuse, in that I was also en route to climb the Zugspitze, and the Oktoberfest was a nice little prelude (and indeed postscript :)) to that little foray. It ended up in a drunken mess of course, but I did not have a trip to Island Peak facing me, and so I could, I trust, be forgiven a little letting down of the few strands of hair that I have remaining.

So when I was there last year, amongst the several drunken texts I sent was one to Dan, which went along the lines of “I promise to bring you next time”. Well two months ago I thought I had got away with that one, as I was starting to ramp up my training programme for Island Peak. He of course hadn’t forgotten at all, just like I wouldn’t when have done when I was a 20 year old who fancied going to the Oktoberfest a lot. So when he said those immortal words “Daaaaaaaaaaaddddddddd?”, I knew there was only one result. I had my arm well and truly twisted right up my back, probably.

I shall post only picture here, one of he and me. It is about the most sensible one that I have.

Do not ask me if I am wearing lederhosen!!

Anyway, we had a belting time. If anyone reading this is thinking even slightly as to whether going to the Oktoberfest is a good idea, I’d say only one thing – go. It is just about the most fun you can have with your clothes on, and I probably made the same statement last year too, and if I did, then it must definitely be true. We spent three days there, which was more than enough, believe me. Sang our heads off, drank every part of our bodies off, and just had a blast. We even went and did a cultural tour of Munich whilst there too! It makes me very happy to be able to have such a great time with Dan – I am a lucky Dad indeed.

I have now been back for three days, and spent one of those (well a few hours of one of them) back in the gym. Good idea, I thought – not, said my body. It is quite simply frightening how much inside a week you go backwards. I have to push myself now or I will regret things badly in a few weeks time (I go in just three weeks time now!!). Trouble is, in the meantime, I am away in Paris for the rest of this week (work, almost entirely, but probably a bit of socialising thrown in for good measure :)), and then back for just two days before I go to Dallas for six days (work, sometimes, some golf, and some probably very serious socialising thrown in whether I like it or not – I should tell you about ‘the carrot’ at Bob’s Steakhouse sometime!).

I am also very very close to having all of my kit for the trip. Trouble is, that ‘all of my kit’ is probably more than twice the weight that I am going to be able to take. Time for some serious sorting to be done in my spare time! More of that in my next post.

Anyway – the blog is back………the preparations, of (mixed) sorts, are ongoing too. I am now seriously excited about it – in a very mixed and balanced way this time though – more of that next time too – and soon, I promise.

Zugspitze

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So having had a few days of beer at the Oktoberfest, it was a pleasure/delight and relief all rolled into one to wake up and be heading for the mountains.

The Zugspitze is the highest mountain in Germany, at 2,962 metres above sea level. It is located on the Austrianborder beside the town of Grainau in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the federal-state of Bavaria. On the Austrian side lies the town of Ehrwald in the district of Reutte, Tyrol.

We headed off to Garmisch-Partenkirchen by train after an early start, and carried just what we needed for the next few days on our backs. I had booked us into an alpine hut, called the Reintalangerhutte, which was half way up the mountain, for the Friday night, and we would need to walk all day after arriving just to get there before nightfall.

Despite a bad weather forecast, we arrived into Garmisch-Partenkirchen with typical German efficiency exactly on schedule about an hour and twenty minutes after leaving Munich, into glorious sunshine. The winter clothing was heavy on our backs, but we were naturally glad of the beautiful conditions. Shortly after leaving the train station, and after getting stocked up with picnic supplies for the journey, we began the trek – and soon came upon the site of the 1936 Winter Olympics – the famous ski-jumping station – shown in the picture below in the background:

 

The Olympic Ski-Jumping slopes in Garmisch

 

By the time we were on our route at the base of the mountain itself it was around 11am, following a little bit of ‘ahem’ bad planning by me (in fact I had no idea which direction our route was going to take us at all, but ‘all’s well that ends well’, as they say:)). Stopping to ask someone how far away the Reintalangerhutte was, we were told six to seven hours, and so figured we’d need to move quickly to ensure getting there before darkness fell.

Shortly after beginning our trek up the Reintal Valley (there are two routes up the mountain, the Hollerental, or the Reintal – we picked the easier route in case the weeather got bad on us), we came upon the Partnachklamm. This is a deep and amazingly beautiful gorge, about half a mile long, which takes you up and through onto the base of the Zugspitze. Some information on it here below:

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partnachklamm&ei=bP2xTOL6G9GSjAfN4aytDQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB0Q7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpartnachklamm%2Bwikipedia%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den

It was stunningly beautiful, and it came as a total surprise. Here are some pictures in the gorge itself:

 

At the start of the Partnachklamm - the 'Nach' is the name of the river

 

Part of the path plunges you into total darkness, and then you are out to the incredibly loud torrents of water flowing from the mountain. It is glacial meltwater, and an incredible shade of blue. It is literally one of the most stunning things I have ever seen.

Coming out from the gorge and its noise was a revelation, all of a sudden the river became quieter, and the place was beautiful.  A few reviews that I had read beforehand had said that the Zugspitze was not an attractive mountain – they were wrong – take it from me it is stunning. Here are a few piccies from the other side of the gorge:

 

A beautiful day for a walk....

 

 

The mountain starts to come into view....

 

 

And this was where we stopped for lunch - glorious!

 

From here the walk began to get much steeper, and we walked for another four hours or so, the path following the river all the way. The weather was so hot all the way, probably 25 or so celsius, and very warm for climbing uphill. I was very glad of my Camelback, and went through almost three litres of water. We passed huge waterfalls and saw the river in almost every stage, albeit it was clearly a very quiet time of year for it – in the spring after the snows melt it must be totally incredible. I made a note at this point I think to say that I needed to come back here, I was engrossed and awestruck by the majesty of this place, it just felt really special.

At about 4pm, and earlier than we expected, we came to our mountain hut. It was bigger than I expected it to be, and quite imposing. It was at about 1,600 metres, or 5,200 feet, basically about half way up as far as ascent of the Zugspitze was concerned.

 

The Reintalangerhutte, Reintal Valley, Wetterstein Alps

 

The hut sleeps about 60 people in total I believe. The best way I could describe it was to be very, well ‘German’. The chap who runs the place, Simon, did an excellent job, and also speaks English, which was certainly a blessing, even though I can get by in my pidgin German. The accommodation is basic, but clean, and was certainly very welcome.

 

Dormitory sleeping arrangements, Zugspizte style - this room slept 20 or so

 

After a hearty dinner, and a few glasses of beer, it was off to bed. We were to be woken by the staff at 6.30am for the trek to the summit. Before we went off, the weather outside turned wet and cold all of a sudden. I spent what I can only describe as a fitful night listening to the rain, and was awake by 4. I was rather worried that at the altitude we were at, that the path might become tricky higher up. And by morning, sadly, that was to prove very much the case.

(….to be continued….)

Oktoberfest!

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So I have almost recovered now from the Oktoberfest, having been now back home for over a week. I still have bruises, am still tired, but the hangover has at last gone. Just. What will not fade ever is the memory of it all. It was utterly fantastic, and way way better than I expected it to be.

For those who don’t know, Oktoberfest is a 16- to 18-day festival held each year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, running from late September to the first weekend in October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and the world’s largest fair, with more than 6 million people attending every year. This year I think they had 6.4 million people. It is a combination of a massive fairground, and massive beer tents, holding between 6,000 and 10,000 people each. The drinking starts at breakfast time and continues until everyone cannot drink anymore, which for some is by lunchtime.

Beer is drunk by the ‘mass’ or litre, and served by frauleins wearing traditional dress – the ‘dirndl’ as it is called. It costs about €8.80 a pop, or call it a tenner by the time you have given a tip. It is glorious! So here are some piccies for your delectation and delight -I have put on here only the ones that are suitable for a family audience, as it were:

 

"A beer tent", one of about 20 or so

 

So the above was taken at about 10am in the morning, before the crowds got going. Suffice to say it was bedlam by the evening. Here also is the inside of a tent, the decorations are amazing:

 

The inside of the Hacker-Pschorr tent, breakfast-time

 

Generally at about noon, the singing gets going. For the majority of the afternoon it is a mixture of singalong stuff ranging from oompah music to almost country music (“Take me home, Country Roads” was played I do not know how many times). Every fifteen minutes or so, no matter what is going on, you have the ubiquitous German toast of “Ein Prosit”. Here is an example if you don’t know it already:

The above is a fairly tame version I found on YouTube, but you get the idea.

If you are sensible, after a couple of beers or so, you go and get some fresh air and wander around the fair. It is massive – here is a picture taken from the big wheel, although much of what you can see seems to be beer tents from here:

 

From the Ferris Wheel, lunchtime, Tuesday, probably.

 

As the day goes on, if you are still capable, you get to experience an evening. I can only describe the evenings as completely and utterly insane. Imagine about 10,000 Jim Carreys at his wildest, on acid, and you are half way there. The music takes you from Abba to AC/DC, from Robbie Williams to Frank Sinatra, from “Sweet Caroline” to “Sweet Home Alabama”. You know the words to every song, and you sing your head off. You stand on the benches or on the table, because everyone else is doing the same, and you act like a demented drunken idiot, because in fact that is exactly what you are.

Somehow amongst the hats, the chicken (best chicken I have ever tasted by the way, strange but true), the lederhosen, the singing, the endless litres of beer, the funny t-shirts, the dancing, and the most cosmopolitan atmosphere you will ever witness, everyone has the most fantastic time ever. The atmosphere is nothing short of brilliant, at every moment. Some more piccies for you:

 

Need to get this T Shirt

Ein prosit!

Sweet Caroline!

I have tried to upload Sweet Caroline on video – to give you a little idea of just how well we all can sing:), but it doesn’t seem to have worked – oh well, probably just as well!

I will leave the Oktoberfest for now, and then tell you about in my next post about the Zugspitze, which was certainly a tale of two distinct sets of weather, and a lesson in respect for mountains.

 

 

 

Paul and Darina – They Made It!!

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I am now back from my travels from the Zugspitze and also the Oktoberfest, of which more later. This is a brief dedication to Paul and Darina, who for those of you who have followed this page for some time, will know were away last week on a trip to attempt to summit the world’s highest free standing mountain, a certain Mount Kilimanjaro.

Well I was the happiest person alive (apart from them, I am sure) last Saturday morning, to get the following text:

“We made it, summited today. Tired. Catch up later. Darina”

If I told you that I was choked with happiness to receive this, then it would be a huge understatement. I told Heather at the time (we were sat in a mountain hut watching the weather in Germany) and I could hardly get the words out of my mouth. It more than made up for my disappointment of not being able to climb up the Zugspitze that very same day (of which more in a later post too, it can wait).

So please go and see their blog (http://mykilimanjarotrek.blogspot.com), donate some money to multiple sclerosis, or just enjoy the fact that they did it. It is wonderful, it really is.

I consider myself very very lucky to have come across two people as lovely as Darina and Paul. And I did so via this blog. They are simply two of the nicest, most genuine people you could ever meet.

I just knew that they would summit, and I hoped and prayed for them and their safe travels. To get that message was fantastic, and I look forward to hear more about their adventures when they return – they are right now I believe enjoying a very well earned safari, somewhere in the Serengeti.

So to Paul and Darina – well done my friends. You have been to a sacred place, where few will ever tread. It is the roof of Africa, and one of the ‘seven summits’ (representing the highest peaks on the seven continents). At just short of 20,000 feet (and 45% of sea level oxygen) a place where you rely on all of your senses and strength at once to get you to succeed in an atmosphere which tells you that you shouldn’t.

I am massively massively happy for you.

To Paul and Darina: Hakuna Matata, you are both ‘Poa K’chisi Kama N’Dizi’! (that’s the limit of my Swahili I am afraid:))

Can’t wait to see a picture of the certificates.

Happy happy days:):):):)

Oktoberfest Tomorrow!

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So tomorrow is the Oktoberfest!

I have been wanting to go to the Oktoberfest since like forever, and so tomorrow is my chance – it is going to be just great. The festival is now into its second week, and there is a webcam where you can watch the entrance to the site. It kept me amused today anyway:)

http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/webcam/live/

When all of the drinking is said and done (although that could be a while as I might enjoy it too much), then there will be the mountain, the Zugspitze. The journey will take us by train from Munich, complete with hangover, to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and then it is a walk to the mountain from there.

The mountain itself straddles the Austrian border, but is Germany’s highest mountain. I found this great set of three videos on Youtube which have great pictures, and so am posting them here and hope that it doesn’t infringe anything.

So here is the first:

And the second:

And the third:

How exciting are they? I guess we need to hire a harness and ‘stuff’ before we go up there – I cannot wait, and will post my own pictures and video in due course.

So for now – to Oktoberfest, and beyond!

Oh how I long for Kilimanjaro

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So tonight I was reading Paul and Darina’s blog, as they leave tomorrow for that most wonderful of places. A link to their blog for those of you who haven’t seen it before is here:

http://mykilimanjarotrek.blogspot.com/2010/04/darinas-introduction.html

The very fact that they go tomorrow just made me hanker to be back there so badly. They say that Kilimanjaro never leaves you, and for me that will certainly be true. I sit here now in my kitchen and can see from my seat my Kilimanjaro certificate, a bottle of Kilimanjaro lager, a box of Kilimanjaro tea bags, and my Kilimanjaro fridge magnet – how could I forget!

Darina and Paul will be doing the Rongai route, same one as I took back in March (I cannot believe it is half a year since it all happened), which makes everything even more real. I know where they will be every night, what they will be going through, and wish that I was there as well. They fly to Africa tomorrow, and will be on their way up from the Rongai gate on Monday, thus summiting on Saturday morning. I hope they have the time of their lives – good luck to both of you!

Meantime, while they summit (and they will, I know they will) I will be on a mountain too, so I can’t complain too much:) Next Saturday I will be half way up the Zugspitze, and will be staying that day at Der Reintalangerhutte, a mountain hut half way up the mountain. It looks great – there is a weblink below:

http://www.alpenverein-muenchen-oberland.de/huetten__wege/bewirtschaftete_huetten/uebersicht/reintalangerhuette

Apparently the trek to there is about half a day from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where I will get to following the Oktoberfest, which I hope I survive!

And mountains are very much in my thoughts at the moment – no more actual plans right now, but Everest base camp is still very much in my thoughts. As I think I have said on previous occasions, I will never be a climber at all, but would love to just see it. I have a copy of this month’s Trek & Mountain magazine, and there are some 50 pages dedicated to the people have been there, from Mallory and Irvine onwards. It is inspiring stuff, and makes me want to do it badly. There is a lovely quote in the magazine by Bonita Norris, the youngest British woman (hardly a woman at 22) to have climbed Everest, who says that “Everest is a collection of experiences, having a summit to your name means nothing tangible, it is the silly memories that you take home with you, and how blessed you feel to have visited such a spectacular place.”

There are so many reasons that folks give for wanting to climb mountains, and ultimately every one of them is personal. It is what you yourself take away that matters, and what you want to get from them may not be what you expect. The feeling of “blessed” however, seems so fitting.

OK, so that’s all for now, here’s a little piccie from half way up the world’s highest free-standing mountain to remind me of what it was all about back in March, and also for Darina and Paul (this one was after the Second Cave and before Mawenzi, they will walk past this very spot on Tuesday next). Have fun you two!

Majesty at its finest:)

Tapering

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So that is it. I am actually now officially tapering. For those who don’t know, and I was one of them until about 20 minutes ago, tapering is where you reduce your activities prior to a big event in order to optimise performance. The idea is that heavy activity depletes glycogen and muscle stores, and so you should refrain from it for a ‘period in time’ depending upon your event. Those nice people at the GBBR have suggested a week, and as there are nine days to go, then that sounds about good enough for me. You don’t stop altogether of course, as that would be counterproductive, and so I will be out every couple of days to do just 25 miles or so to keep the legs and muscles ticking over.

But no more endurance rides – hurrah! They are not just very hard work, but do take up so much time. Take this weekend for example. Yesterday I cycled about 75 miles, starting at 10am and finishing around 3. By the time I had prepped, recovered (slowly I might add), showered etc, the day was mostly over. There are surely better things to do on a Saturday than to pound the hills of Berkshire, Wiltshire and Hampshire than that. And what do you mean ‘there aren’t any hills in Hampshire’ – oh yes there are, I have the sore legs to prove it! Today I did 65, and I had had enough by about 6.5, and so goodness knows what it is going to be like in just nine days time when we face the hills of Cornwall.

In fact a thought came to me this morning as I was cycling along in Gloucestershire somewhere, trying to keep myself amused/awake etc., and that is the difference between how cycling is now and when I started this little adventure. That is, when I rode my bike for the very first time, some 3 months ago, I was knackered after about two miles, and wanted to turn round and go home. Today, when I went out, I was also knackered after about two miles and wanted to go home. The big difference is, that three months ago I did just that and went home. Today I carried on for another 65 miles, and whilst I would be lying if I said that I was feeling great all the way, I have certainly come a long long way. I am tired though, very very tired. Last night was a Saturday night, and I was in bed asleep by 9.40pm. Now that for me is both unheard of, and very sad. I intend to make up for it rather a bit when all this malarkey is over, I can tell you. Did I mention I was going to the Oktoberfest?:D

I have completed 172 miles this last week, and will cycle now every other day until Lands End for just 20 miles or so, and just ‘spin the legs’ as I have been advised to do. Hopefully it works, this is all unchartered territory for me. I mustn’t also lose sight of the fact that I did badly overall in my training schedule. I don’t know how well you can see this below, but here is my somewhat childlike wall chart that I have been keeping going for the last fifteen weeks or whatever it is. I think it shows, amongst other things, that I achieved my weekly target just three times out of fifteen:

A child of three did not create this I am afraid:)

Still, I have done over 1,000 miles since I started, and I cannot be too disappointed with that.

I have a feeling though that in about two weeks time a “Steve Redgrave” moment will be approaching. Not in the success stakes I hasten to add, but in a twist of his now infamous quote after he won his last Olympic medal. In my case therefore it will be something like: “If anyone sees me on a bike ever again, they have my permission to shoot me”.

So anyway, for now, let the tapering begin!

Kilimanjaro!

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I haven’t mentioned Kilimanjaro on my blog for a while, but don’t for a moment think it leaves me ever, not even for a day. My blog statistics alone serve to remind me of this every time I log in, as the post “the summit….” or whatever it was called, had way more hits than any other post I did before or since, and so it sits there on the WordPress dashboard. I read the post again tonight in fact, spotted a couple of small typos and corrected them, and I actually cried with emotion at the recollection of Stella Point and Uhuru Peak, and everything in fact.

I feel so privileged to be able to say that I did it, and that feeling I am happy to say has not diminished at all. Paul and Darina, who visited me a couple of weekends ago, will be there in about three and half weeks time. I must write about that a little more sometime, but for now I wish them the very very best of luck on their trip. My thoughts will be very much with them throughout. If you happen to be reading this Darina/Paul, then if one of you would be so good to send me a text from the roof of Africa then that would make me very happy indeed. You’re going to make it both of you, I know it.

OK, so that was just a little indulgence for now. I have another important indulgence to sort out also, and that is the forthcoming Zugspitze/Oktoberfest trip – for starters I have to book some accommodation for the mountain where we will spend two nights. Did I tell you that I like mountains?:)

Right, so back to the cycling – I have today completed my long training rides, all of them, and so now I go into tapering mode. Whatever that is………

Cycling, Oktoberfest and The Zugspitze!

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Pretty random combination of things right there don’t you think? I agree!

So first to a cycling update. I have been cycling! I went out on both Saturday and Sunday around Wallingford in Oxfordshire. My current schedule says that I should be doing 10-15 miles on each of Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and what with all this being away stuff then I have not been as diligent as I might have been. So inbetween spectatoring at a six-a side under 11s football tournament on Saturday (well done Ed!), and then marshalling at the Thames 10k run on Sunday morning (well done Mel, you were fantastic!), I got a couple of rides in.

I went on both occasions towards Nettlebed and Ewelme and RAF Benson, and did about 12 or 13 miles on both occasions. It was hot on both days, and so pretty hard work for me right now in my current state of unfitness, but rewarding nonetheless. I definitely need to get this thing into a routine, or I am not going to be anywhere near ready for this ride in September. I am already worried about it, especially the first day. 96 miles with about 7,000 ft of ascent is going to kill me, especially when I then I have to get up and do the same thing again for four days running.

So last night (Tuesday) I went out also. My legs were (I am ashamed to say) pretty tight from the weekend (told you I wasn’t match fit yet didn’t I), and I wasn’t even sure how far I would get. As it turned out all went fine, and I had a great ride. I did 16.2 miles in 56 minutes, my best average so far, and so I was quite happy. I know I have a long long way to go with this, but that is the best I can do right now, and so I will keep persevering.

Oh and also I have ordered my nice new shirt for the GBBR – there is a piccie of it below, and we get them as part of our entrance monies. Apparently all 200 riders (hope I am still one of them by them!) will wear them as we ride into Twickenham together on September 4th – should be great!

So where you might ask does the Oktoberfest and the Zugspitze fit into this? And what in fact is the Zugspitze, I hear you say also.

Well, since staying with Heather last week you may know that we are plotting to do a little (!) trek next year, possibly Aconcagua (in our dreams perhaps). Well there was a little gap in this year’s schedule, and I mentioned to her that I had always fancied going to the Oktoberfest in Germany. So Heather said “I’ll come!”, and that was that! The Oktoberfest is of course the world’s largest carnival, with about 8 million attendees. Most people (like me:)) will be there for the beer tents and the sausages, as I will be able to indulge heartily in both as it will be about two weeks post the GBBR.

Here is a little piccie of the inside of an Oktoberfest beer tent to whet my appetite, if no-one elses:

Looks like an awful place, doesn’t it:)

And then whilst planning the Oktoberfest Heather mentioned that her not being a big beer drinker might mean that she didn’t envisage spending three weeks there just drinking beer. I thought that was a bit selfish personally, as I think three weeks of beer drinking is a perfectly normal thing to do, and I may well need someone to carry me out of the beer tent each evening:). So anyway, I agreed, and suggested that we combine said little trip with a little walking too – well it would almost be rude not to, as we will be at the foothills of the Bavarian Alps, an area I absolutely love.

So after a little bit of googling I came across this:

This, ladies and gentlemen is the Zugspitze. The Zugspitze is the highest mountain in Germany, at 2,962 metres (just under 10,000 ft) above sea level. Impressive huh? Apparently you can get up it in about a day and half, and so it is going to have to be done!

So we are off there, subject to sorting out the logistics, towards the end of September. And so it looks like September, with the GBBR at the start, and the Oktoberfest and the Zugspitze at the end, is going to be a busy month, although not so at work. Hmmm, maybe I should book the time off work pretty quickly……….