Moving right along...

Bit of a catch up thanks to things being so busy in the last month and for a very good reason - a new job. This meant that Axa were trying their best to get their “pound of flesh” before I left, making things rather busy. Nothing like being given new work up to and including your last afternoon!!

On top of that there was a lot of paperwork to sort out with the new company: QBE European Operations - Casualty Division. I’ve now been with QBE for two weeks and things are going well. I’ve been to the Lloyd’s Box twice now, which has been an interesting experience. Lloyd’s of London is a fascinating set up and the whole “inside-out” building is quite something (left). By the way, the ‘box’ is more of a cubicle on a very open floor. Each underwriter has a ‘box’ or several boxes, while all the brokers move around the floor from box to box with their business. That’s the basic rundown.

I’ve also attended the first of three QBE Christmas parties. This one was black tie, and I received my invite to it the day before. Time to get a tux. I had no time during my lunch break on the day, so with the party starting at 6.30pm, I was ducking into Marks & Spencer where they have mix n match dinner suits. £49 later and I had a full dinner suit. Shortly after this I was at the party with the entire casualty department and many of the brokers we deal with. A great night for meeting people. And the bonus is that I now have a tux for the main QBE Christmas do, which is also a black tie event.

Off the subject of work, a Halloween party was the first other event of any note, but it didn’t quite go to plan. Thanks to the mail strikes, Row, Mark’s and my costumes did not arrive in time. At least we weren’t the only one’s affected by this for the night. Marty n Karyn made quite an entrance as Morticia Adams and Hannibal Lecter (right). We still managed to have a good night despite some of us not having costumes.

Speaking of Marty n Karyn, we had a bit of an Aussie night when Karyn made chicken parmigianas. I picked up some Coopers, both pale ale and sparkling to go with it. (all pictured here) I also brought desert, which was chocolate brownies from Hummingbird - the rather famous cake shop on Portobello Road.

[In case you’re not aware, the only way to get a chicken or veal parmigiana in the UK is to make it yourself.]

Why had I bought brownies from Portobello Road? I’d spent the day there with Jules, obviously...

Jules had been over from Melbourne to visit her family in Italy before spending some time in Ireland and the UK.

We caught up on the Sunday and after a spot of brunch headed along to Portobello Road. Perusing the shops, we came upon a small bakery that Julia had told me about months ago - Hummingbird. They are famous for their cupcakes of all things, and they are very good. Their presentation is not quite as you’d expect from a humble cupcake, but the actual cakes themselves are impressive.

After indulging, we continued along Portobello road and into a smaller market that was opposite the Kombi Cafe (pictured right), which is effectively just a coffee machine in a Kombi van. We poked through some old vinyl records having a good laugh at some of the atrocious old covers, and then some of the other stalls before returning to Hummingbird for seconds (and the brownies). At the time, they were closing so takeaway it was to then enjoy the cakes in a nearby cafe that was open. It was then “see you later”s as I went for the tube to Marty n Karyn’s while Jules headed for Heathrow.

The rest of the time has been fairly busy, but not with too many notable events or happenings. Nice afternoons or evenings in pubs with Shar or with Row n Mark (on Guy Fawkes)...

A trip out to Aston in Birmingham to watch Aston Villa v Tottenham, where I spent some time keeping my head down in an Aston Villa pub. If they’d known I was Spurs, I’d have been lynched! The match was great to watch, but the getting drowned waiting for a train afterwards could have been better...