You say potato, I say patahto

We have two hundred or so people here and clearly at least half of them are up to speed on my Yorkshire dialect skills - no one said “hi” - it was Eh up Anna all the way. They were ready at lunchtime to teach me more (today’s lesson “si’thi”) and there was a lot of interest in similar and different food (have I ever had a pie sandwich and do I want to join in on “chippie Friday”).

Here’s a photo of the Yorkshire pudding wrap from the other day. It was pretty good! I was keen for a snooze afterwards due to the sheer  size of the thing, but it was delicious.

There are so many parallels with Newcastle and many of the guys in the lunchroom had stories and opinions about the cessation of steel making, the change in mining operations and the different employment options nowadays. They are a lot chattier than the workshop crew at home, but I’ve spent a lot of time on the shop floor so perhaps that makes it different to my finance role at home. 

They have been so very friendly and welcoming here. The cleaner paid for my coffee when the eftpos card reader didn’t work (“you can’t go without a hot drink luv”) and I have a real name tag on the clock in wall (although the first version said Anna “Starlett” which I would have been quite ok with).  They are completely comfortable giving me a hard time about the pink laces in my shoes and it feels like I’m an accepted part of the business already. 

I’m very tired though, probably due to the mix of jet lag and sheer fatigue from the pace. I’m learning SO much all the time and my brain is a little overwhelmed. That being said, snoozers are losers so I explored Leeds a bit and found a great little restaurant which I have now eaten at twice. 

Culture club

 I’ve caved in to the clamour for proof I’m working… 

This will probably be my only “work” blog post, but since I put a photo up, I guess I had better provide some commentary. My task is to set up a branch of this business in Australia, and I have six weeks or so to learn the business, build relationships, and figure out what will be done here, what will be done in Aus and what will be done in both places. They are completely into Lean six sigma and there is a daily meeting in the Obeya room, which has been purposely fitted out for this function

I’m having to do a bit of night time research to get up to speed with all the terminology. I’m also brushing up on the local dialect. I tried out my “ey up” greeting on a number of unsuspecting colleagues today to great hilarity. Apparently my accent was too posh. 

The Tim Tams I brought with me, were a big hit and there was universal agreement that they were better than “penguins”. I was closely questioned by one of the ladies as to whether I liked Kylie Minogue, it it was very well received when I said that I had been to one of her concerts. I’m being inducted tomorrow into a local delicacy from the takeaway- Yorkshire pudding wrap. It’s chicken and gravy wrapped up in a flat Yorkshire pudding… watch this space for reviews. 

“The NORTH”

The morning was a bit hazy as I had a few too many red wines at dinner Sunday night. I went to a Moroccan restaurant with my manager, who I had never met in person- when he arrived to pick me up I made a square with my fingers and looked at him through it to make sure it was the same guy I’ve been talking to online for the past year. It was fun to have proper time to chat in person, but it was a 7am pickup today to drive up to Leeds so I’m regretting the wine that went along with the conversation. 

I learnt today that there is a big line across England and it’s divided into “the NORTH” and (not surprisingly) “The SOUTH”. Capitals required. This was written on all the road signs as we drove up to Leeds this morning. Each half seems to think pityingly about the other half. So far the only difference I can ascertain is that some of the NORTH people have an accent that is a little hard to understand.

The drive up was uneventful but it was interesting to see how many wind turbines there were on the “farmland” that we passed. I use inverted commas there because I’m not quite sure what all the land is used for. I saw no crops and very little livestock. Maybe it’s just pretty green grassland? Everything here is so green. I’m loving the buildings with plants all over them.

The blog will take a brief breather till the weekend when I do something interesting again. The workdays, while full of new things to learn and new people to meet, are a little dull to blog about. I spent the day walking around looking at people folding sheet metal and welding. Still, the car they gave me is a newish c-class Mercedes, which looks pretty flashy, in direct contrast to me in a hi vis best and safety glasses (no photo!)

 

Pottering about

This morning the cafe employee at the hotel failed to show, so I ventured out to the only breakfast venue open, McDonald’s, and tried a “cheesy bacon flatbread”. It was OK but not something I’ll be racing back to. Interestingly, there is only a limited menu available due to transport related food shortages. I’m not sure if they are related to Brexit or Covid or both, but there are quite a number of signs in shops and restaurants about unavailable menu items. 

After breakfast I packed up my things and headed to St Albans where I am staying for one night - it’s a convenient pick up point for my lift up to Leeds tomorrow. St Albans is about 40 minutes north of London. It’s a small quintessentially English little town with winding streets, rock walls, lots of green hedges and cute rows of shops and houses. On my walk to look at the Roman hypocaust (really interesting), I saw expensive cars, pure-bred dogs and a lot of poorly maintained houses, which seemed odd given the first two observations. 

I spent the middle of the day at the Harry Potter Studios. It’s only ten minutes from my hotel so it seemed like a good opportunity to see it. For the first time on this trip, face masks were essential to enter, but there were a lot of people without them because they have “exemptions”. The exhibition was pretty impressive and the audio guide had some really interesting “behind the scenes” stories. The great hall, the forbidden Forrest and the Gringotts sets were particularly amazing. 

After checking into my hotel (an “Inn” but actually very nice) I indulged in  a little afternoon pick me up (Rhubarb gin and tonic) before exploring the St Albans Cathedral. It was gorgeous and the organ player was learning some new pieces, creating mood music to add to the experience. There were a number of helpful guides and a charming elderly fellow explained the history to me. The church dates back to 1700 and is the oldest Christian site in England. Walking back through the cobbled streets, I wished I had more time to explore. The weather is glorious and people are sitting outside drinking and dining- after our months of lockdown I was envious. 

The streets of London

Another good flight with interesting views of the desert on the way out, but soooo tired of being on a plane and I was very happy to land.  

Nothing says “pandemic” more than the ability to get in and out of Heathrow airport in 17 minutes. Baggage collection, customs, out the door and into a cab in record time. I have two nights at the Holiday Inn in Kensington. It’s my firm belief that any hotel with “Inn” in the name is not one I will enjoy staying at (particularly if it also has “motor”) and this has held true. Tiny, cheaply fitted out room, dodgy lifts, and understaffed, this is not a hotel I’ll be back to in a hurry, but the location is great and I stayed awake by walking about for a few hours before having an excellent dinner at Dishoom, an amazing Indian place that’s been a favourite on previous trips. Paneer Pineapple Tikka was exceptional. 

After a good night’s sleep I had a coffee and a croissant for breakfast at the coffee shop in the hotel which was inundated with American flight crew before walking to Portabello Road to wander around the markets. Too many people, and an excess of cigarette smoke made that a challenging choice, but I did try a raspberry tart from a pastry shop that a lady I was chatting to recommended. 

I headed in to Mayfair to get a watch battery put in, and experienced the top end of town shopping for a while. Doormen, Swiss watches and some very well dressed shoppers made a notable contrast to the earlier shopping expedition. 

After a quick lunch and spent the afternoon in the British Museum. I negated the win of free entry by paying 22 pounds to see the Nero special exhibit, which was worth every penny, and rounded out my tour with some Egyptian mummies, some Greek statues and the Rosetta Stone. 

My phone tells me I did 17km of walking today. Whatever is for dinner needs to be within five minutes walk of the hotel as I’m feeling exhausted. 

Sweet suite life

The trip from Sydney to Doha was a bit of a treat. Wonderful service from the Qatar crew and my Qsuite was luxe! There is a sliding door to block off the cubicle from the aisle. It’s hard to take a photo when you are sitting in it so I’ve taken a sneaky one of the people across the aisle. 

A hot towel, a lime and mint specialty drink, visits from three flight crew with nice chats and demos of the features and very cute PJs - this is a full service flight with no compromises due to covid. Dinner was a four course affair with soup, entree, main and dessert, and a very nice drink selection.I’ve included a photo of the gorgeous tray.  There was even a choice of flavoured balsamic to dip the bread in (I went for lemon herb).

Despite the comfort, 15 hours is a long time on a plane so it was good to arrive in Doha for a three hour layover to stretch my legs. I’ve been wearing a mask solidly now for about 23 hours, only taking it off to eat my meals. It’s become very uncomfortable under my chin, behind my ears and over my nose. The airport was very crowded, which was a bit of a shock after living in a socially distanced world in Australia. All the shops are open and busy.  Everyone is masked but, as is the case at home, there are plenty of people with them sitting below their nose or under their chin. The lounge was spacious and provided a safe comfortable place to sit for a few hours. Seating in the main concourse is limited, with every second seat blocked off with a ribbon. I thought Doha might be an interesting airport culturally - Dubai has lots of people in robes, but it’s very western, other than a shop with fancy robe outfits (photo below)

The next flight is just over seven hours. I’ll post again once I get to London.

The sound of silence

The airport is eerie - quiet, dim and deserted. The almost tangible stress that usually pervades the check in area is gone, along with the crying children, the precariously balanced luggage carts and the people who always seem to stop dead in front you. Also gone are all the chairs in the food court. I’ve eaten my Thai (the only lunch option open) sitting on the floor, which happily is very clean due to the limited foot traffic

 I’m off to the UK for work, the second time this year that I’ve scaled the border walls of our locked down nation. It’s a six week trip, most of which will be spent in the North of England, near Leeds. I’m already mourning the loss of of the gorgeous spring weather we are having as I understand it’s likely to be sub 10 degrees and raining a lot of the time. 

This is a work trip, and coupled with the lack of the Starrett boys to prompt me with bloggable content this might be a bit dull, but I’ll do my best.