Hey birders. A quick birdy post. The past 2 weekends we've been birding, looking for the autumn returnees. 58 species over the 2 weeks. We started at the Wexford Slobs: a marshy reserve set aside for wintering geese: mainly the Greenland White-fronted geese. 6000 of them. We also saw the much rarer Pink-footed goose. 3 of those. And a few whooper swans thrown in for good measure, with about 500 mute swans. And PK finally saw the elusive Lapwing.
This past weekend we slopped through mud and muck to look at waders, what we used to call shorebirds. More lapwings. A great crested grebe. Dozens of oystercatchers. Hundreds of dunlin. A fair few curlew. A shelduck or two. Flocks of brent geese (pale-bellied). PK saw a raptor make off with something small and feathery. The star of the show, however, was the Curlew Sandpiper; a lifebird for both of us. It took about 30 minutes to identify, but there it was. Or there they were. The next 30 minutes were spent trying to determine if the beautiful bird sewing the mud right in front of us was bar tailed or black tailed...
A word on wellies. We recently bought wellingtons. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, we bought big, vulcanized, rubber boots. Why it took us so long to do so is unfathomable. They are the 4x4 of the shoe world. Mud, sopping grass, sand, standing water. These things are no longer barriers to us. Of course, the first time I tried them on I should really have been wearing waders. But no matter. I got out without a bootful of swamp. And at the end of a day of birding in the rain and cold, you can't ask for much more than that.
Slainte.
Monday 19 November 2007
Monday 12 November 2007
Autumn is in full swing! And I'm back online. Apologies.
We've had some of the best weather of the year: my favorite kind of weather. Cool, changeable, crisp. Life has been pretty changeable for me too. September in Italy, October in Britain and India. An unsuccessful bid for a directorship thrown in for good measure.
Italy is covered in the pollybloggy. Or at least partially so far. Highlights: seeing some Seattle friends, the Duomo, coffee, the ballet at La Scala, anchovies, Miky's in Monterosso al Mare, hiking the trails of the Cinque Terre, Pio Cesare, and the first real sandwiches since I landed in Europe. Many, many thanks to our friend the Seattle Foodie for pointing us in the right direction in many places.
In October I was off to Britain on a, mostly, business trip. First stop, Warrington, an old steel town between Liverpool and Manchester in the Northwest. Our parent company has another broadband brand called TalkTalk, and one of their call centres is in Warrington. I met my counterpart for Talk Talk and learned a little about how they do things. The main event, however, was a call centre trade show in Birmingham. 2 days meandering aisles and aisles of call centre technology, outsourcers, and consultants. Learned a lot; and the boss took me out to dinner to boot.
As the weekend approached I hopped a train to Charlbury and ended my 22 year absence from that quaint village, home to some dear relatives. Over 3 days I got caught up on 2 decades worth of gossip, met the next generation for the first time, and generally enjoyed the hell out of myself. I look forward to many more such sojourns in the near future.
A quick stop in London at TalkTalk HQ and I was back home in W'ford, just in time to go to India. We have 3 outsourced call centres in India and myself and 2 others went to all 3 in 5 days. Exhausting. And I caught the infamous stomach bug: had a fever of 104 and lost 8 pounds in 2 days. Even had to stay in India an extra day as I couldn't travel. That's not to say that I didn't have a fabulous time, though. The people we work with are really friendly and everyone tried to show us a good time. The food was incredible, as would be expected; although we did see a lot of Domino's pizza at lunch time. And we stayed in some amazing places, most notably the Leela Palace in Bangalore, recently voted the best business hotel in the world by Conde Naste. I hope to have some pics from the trip posted soon.
The trip was mainly hotel to office to dinner to hotel, so we didn't see much of the country to be honest. But I reckon I'll be back early next year and will try and schedule a little extra time to see more.
The day before I left for India, I applied for my boss' job: Director of Skills and Quality. She's a contractor, and has been here much longer than expected. She's finally moving on, leaving an opportunity to move up. I dithered mightily on applying: we have some very large changes coming down the pike and I wasn't sure I wanted to be in charge for them. I went for it. My application went to the wire, three interview rounds, including the executive director and a gal from the mother company. Alas, they decided to bring in another contractor with loads of experience in the call centre industry; and to give me another shot at it in June. Those big changes will be 2 months in the rear view mirror by that point, and I'll have another 6 months' experience in the industry. As the Louis Prima song sings: "Next time!"
In related news, PK and I held a going away party for the Boss this past Wednesday. Just our team and a few select others. I made churrasco with chimichurri sauce and my famous brain-splitting margaritas. Ma will be delighted to know that old Irish rebel songs were sung. The final revellers climbed in their cab at an evil hour, gone 2.30am. On a school night no less. The absences at work the following day were shameful. But it was a right proper send off for herself.
Oh, and we went a birding this weekend with our German friends. The White-Fronted Geese are back in their thousands, as are the Lapwings. 46 species all-in-all for the day. Pink-footed Geese were the specialty treats of the day. But I'd say seeing the lapwings were my favorite.
Autumnwatch is 2 hours away! So don't call!
Slainte!
We've had some of the best weather of the year: my favorite kind of weather. Cool, changeable, crisp. Life has been pretty changeable for me too. September in Italy, October in Britain and India. An unsuccessful bid for a directorship thrown in for good measure.
Italy is covered in the pollybloggy. Or at least partially so far. Highlights: seeing some Seattle friends, the Duomo, coffee, the ballet at La Scala, anchovies, Miky's in Monterosso al Mare, hiking the trails of the Cinque Terre, Pio Cesare, and the first real sandwiches since I landed in Europe. Many, many thanks to our friend the Seattle Foodie for pointing us in the right direction in many places.
In October I was off to Britain on a, mostly, business trip. First stop, Warrington, an old steel town between Liverpool and Manchester in the Northwest. Our parent company has another broadband brand called TalkTalk, and one of their call centres is in Warrington. I met my counterpart for Talk Talk and learned a little about how they do things. The main event, however, was a call centre trade show in Birmingham. 2 days meandering aisles and aisles of call centre technology, outsourcers, and consultants. Learned a lot; and the boss took me out to dinner to boot.
As the weekend approached I hopped a train to Charlbury and ended my 22 year absence from that quaint village, home to some dear relatives. Over 3 days I got caught up on 2 decades worth of gossip, met the next generation for the first time, and generally enjoyed the hell out of myself. I look forward to many more such sojourns in the near future.
A quick stop in London at TalkTalk HQ and I was back home in W'ford, just in time to go to India. We have 3 outsourced call centres in India and myself and 2 others went to all 3 in 5 days. Exhausting. And I caught the infamous stomach bug: had a fever of 104 and lost 8 pounds in 2 days. Even had to stay in India an extra day as I couldn't travel. That's not to say that I didn't have a fabulous time, though. The people we work with are really friendly and everyone tried to show us a good time. The food was incredible, as would be expected; although we did see a lot of Domino's pizza at lunch time. And we stayed in some amazing places, most notably the Leela Palace in Bangalore, recently voted the best business hotel in the world by Conde Naste. I hope to have some pics from the trip posted soon.
The trip was mainly hotel to office to dinner to hotel, so we didn't see much of the country to be honest. But I reckon I'll be back early next year and will try and schedule a little extra time to see more.
The day before I left for India, I applied for my boss' job: Director of Skills and Quality. She's a contractor, and has been here much longer than expected. She's finally moving on, leaving an opportunity to move up. I dithered mightily on applying: we have some very large changes coming down the pike and I wasn't sure I wanted to be in charge for them. I went for it. My application went to the wire, three interview rounds, including the executive director and a gal from the mother company. Alas, they decided to bring in another contractor with loads of experience in the call centre industry; and to give me another shot at it in June. Those big changes will be 2 months in the rear view mirror by that point, and I'll have another 6 months' experience in the industry. As the Louis Prima song sings: "Next time!"
In related news, PK and I held a going away party for the Boss this past Wednesday. Just our team and a few select others. I made churrasco with chimichurri sauce and my famous brain-splitting margaritas. Ma will be delighted to know that old Irish rebel songs were sung. The final revellers climbed in their cab at an evil hour, gone 2.30am. On a school night no less. The absences at work the following day were shameful. But it was a right proper send off for herself.
Oh, and we went a birding this weekend with our German friends. The White-Fronted Geese are back in their thousands, as are the Lapwings. 46 species all-in-all for the day. Pink-footed Geese were the specialty treats of the day. But I'd say seeing the lapwings were my favorite.
Autumnwatch is 2 hours away! So don't call!
Slainte!
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