Category Archives: work

somebody has to do it…

01 Friday Oct 2010

Posted by in sevilla, tapas, twitter, work

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Since getting back from London late Monday night it’s been a very busy week doing research for my SimonSeeks hotel page and then getting the writing and photos done – still have eight more to go, which should be quite doable by my deadline. Aside from that I had some sad news regarding a tapas tour someone had booked as a 10th anniversary surprise for his wife (along with tickets for yesterday’s U2 concert) … all of which was ruined by the stupid fecking general strike on Wednesday when this guy found out all flights had been cancelled. I actually cried when I got his email because I remembered his previous ones and how excited he was about doing something so sweet and special for his wife. Anyhow, I tried to help him sell his tickets (no luck) and will return his 50% deposit – this is usually non-refundable but considering the circumstances it’s the least I can do.  As a result of all this I was free on Wednesday evening to meet up with Australian travel writer Shaney Hudson and her Dutch boyfriend Chris (both now living in Rotterdam) and we made a night of it…

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london day two

24 Friday Sep 2010

Posted by in london, travel, trips, wine, work

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What a day! Got up feeling a bit fuzzy after having stayed up way too late with Joe sampling his lovely Spanish wine collection… so at 9.30 this morning I found myself flying out the door with wet hair and in a state of semi-panic thinking I’d be late for the reason I came here in the first place. As it turned out I caught the bus straight away and just about made it on time (10-ish), and had quite an interesting day meeting other SimonSpeaks experts and learning more about the whole thing. When things finished just after 4pm I invited Florence Expert Nicky to come out with Madrid Expert Annie and me for a drink and a chat, which was quite fun. After that I went in search of an M&S to pick up some food as I had been promising Joe an “az carbonara” since the Hackney Gang was in Seville…

And so had a lovely comfy night at home with Clare & Joe.

A few pics above of stuff I saw and did.

here I go…

22 Wednesday Sep 2010

Posted by in travel, trips, work

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So I’ve just printed my boarding pass and am pretty much packed – am way under the allowed suitcase weight, so that’s good. And of course, I am a NERVOUS WRECK. Will be leaving for the airport in a couple of hours and should arrive in London at 4pm. And then make my way to Hackney. Oh, and I might be flying in the cockpit… eep!

mr sevilla

20 Monday Sep 2010

Posted by in food & drink, sevilla, spain, tapas, wine, work

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Meet my stand-in … Mr Sevilla.

In the past few days I’ve received several requests for tapas tours with three of them asking about tours while I am in London – figures! I thought I would have to say no but then I thought to ask Nog if he would like to try doing a couple of tours. At first he wasn’t sure but we talked it over and I said I would help him organise everything and explained it wouldn’t be any different than when we’ve taken out visiting friends here. And so he’s going to do it! First we thought he would just have one tour taking a couple from London out on Saturday, but then last night I got a confirmation from six lawyers from Liverpool ( ! ) for Friday which should be fun. I’d actually love to be doing these tours myself, but at least now I don’t have to let anyone down and – also very importantly – we will make a bit of extra cash this month. Plus I think this will be good experience for Nog. He’s really turning into quite the Sevilla Expert himself, helping out with my SimonSeeks research, and of course he knows all the tapas bars (and tapas) as well as I do, having been with me since the inception of Sevilla Tapas. And he even sucks the brains out of giant prawns (see above) which is something I’ve never been able to do.

So wish Nog luck this weekend! I know that he’ll do a good job and I suspect he is also going to have a great time. I mean, what better work is there than meeting interesting people and taking them out for tapas and wine?

busy

16 Thursday Sep 2010

Posted by in home, life stuff, work

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It’s no joke. I am suddenly so busy that I find myself running out of time each day. And I love it. I mean, I still have time to get my work done – or enough of it – but no longer have time to wonder about what to do next. The days are just filling themselves up, which is such a difference compared to the past couple of years. Now I just need to make it pay! Though I should get the first part of my SimonSeeks advance mid-October, and tapas tours are slowly booking up, so now just have to find a few students – for both me and Nog – and I’ll be in business. For real. Cool, eh?