2012 in Pictures

Below I present a summary of my 2012 in 23 photographs....

Start the year as you mean to go on, with a game of Cranium on Dads birthday. 

 This would become a pretty familier site as we played at just about every occasion for the year, in this case at our Anit-Valentines party at Joni's parent house. 

March brought yet another house move, but a very successful one, into a place that would become 'home' better than any of the previous places. 

March also brought a trip to London for Joni and I, to see a David Hockney exhibition, which neither of us were particularly impressed with and the Design of the Year awards 2012, which we were very impressed with. 

We got to break in our new home with a fantastic House-warming party with all our friends, and Tris brought fireworks, making him my new favourite (and pissing off the new neighbours within the first month!) 

The conservatory quickly played host to several birthday parties, including Fears...

...and Tims on the same night. 

In June Joni & I got to spend a morning playing at being Zombies in Nottingham. It was cold, wet, miserable and it took hours to get that syrup out my hair and my underwear  It was also the most fun I have ever had at 4am in the centre of town. 

Speaking of Town, June was also the month that the Olympic torch came to Nottingham, marking the start of Olympic-fever which would take over most of my summer. 

We did manage a few BBQ's which had a strange tendency to end... 

....with this man's bottom. 

The sun did manage to come out for about a week, and Joni & I caught it perfectly with our little holiday down south. 

In July Amy came to visit, so we marked the occasion with a game of cranium and lots of beer, of course! 

During full Olypic-fever season Stephen & I took a trip to London and joined in with a crowed of thousands celebrating as Mo Farah won the 5000m.

August is also the month to celebrate Chloe's birthday, an occasion summed up by this picture perfectly. If you don't find it hilarious don't worry, no one else did either! 

Chloe also got her first flat this year and the girls went round to celebrate in the only way we know how - with Pornstar Martinis!  

Stephen also had a birthday party this year, which he celebrated the only way he knows how. In a Onese. 

In October we said goodbye to my sisters unmarried life in true style...

...and welcomed Ben to the family in (slightly classier) style too.

We even managed a couple of good poker nights, especially when we started using chocolate coins instead of chips. 

Christmas brought the purchase of hundreds of lights and the joys of figuring out where to put them all. 

And ended with mountains of food which we will all be eating at New Years. 

 And so we say good bye to a long and changeable year. These photos actually miss out some of the most important things to happen this year, but they sum-up all the most fun things.

Christmas-Limbo

Stuck in that strange limbo between Christmas and New Year I thought it was the perfect time for a little run down of what I got up to for my festive celebrations.

It all kicked off with the First Annual Tennant-Norwood Christmas Party, which was a huge success. We managed to get the whole house decorated, including a Christmas tree which was far too big for a our living room (soooo cool). It was fantastic to see everyone, particularly old and far-flung friends who I don't get to see as often as I would like. People making that extra effort is one of the best things about Christmas.

Oversized tree squished into the corner

Speaking of extra effort, this years Christmas Jumper Competition winners were so good that next year we are actually going to have to come up with a different theme because I don't think anyone could beat them. My particular favourite was Ashley's stocking complete with sweets!

Joni's effort - sadly he couldn't keep it on due to the need to be plugged in!

Some very worthy winners

A few weeks after the Christmas party came my works Christmas do which was .... shall we say a laugh? This being the second 'works Christmas do' I'v been to in my time, and me being a highly ambitious person (and a terrible drunk) I decided I wouldn't drink too much surrounded by people who are much more important than me. Sadly I was then presented with a tale full of free wine. Ooops. I'm glad to report I was extremely well behaved at the party (I think) which is more than can be said for the next day at work. It was the last Friday before shut-down and sufficed to say I think there will be some very... odd looking work waiting for my on the 2nd of January. I would like to say I wasn't the worst - one guy went home at half 9. However I was probably not far behind him!

And so we made it to the Christmas shut-down without any major incedent, and I even managed to do all the Christmas food shopping on Friday night with Joni and a majoy hang-over. I slept for 11 hours that night but it was worth pushing on through to not have to go to Tescos the weekend before Christmas. Instead I spent the weekend visiting Joni's family for my first proper Christmas dinner.



As you may all have heard (through my endless bringing it up) this year was the first time I got to have Christmas day in my own home with Joni (and Tay). Because of this I had declared I was not stepping over the threshold of my house that day, and instead everyone would have to come to me. I was very excited about it and it was everything I had hoped for. I was quite surprised to wake up to a full stocking and loads of gifts from Joni. So we had lots of opening presents with croissants for breakfast before we had to get cracking with the cooking for Christmas dinner!

Tay guards my stocking!

We had been getting ready for this for months - including a dry-run the weekend before to practise the veg recipes and making a gravy in advance with 3L of chicken stock and a bottle of wine. Still., I'v never roasted a whole turkey before and we were pretty nervous that the whole thing could go horribly wrong. Luckily (and thanks to my epic and detailed action plan) all went to plan and dinner was delicious.

Turkey goes in the oven

So, all 8 people showed up and we squashed into the conservatory for dinner. Some time later the rest of the hoard showed up to pick over the left overs and so at one point we found 11 people squashed into our conservatory. And it was fantastic. I loved every moment of it, even the cooking. It was so fantastic to have Christmas in my own house. Of course the moment they all left I totally passed out, but it was worth it.

Roll on New Years Eve.....

Everyone squashed into one room! 

My Swiss Adventure Days 4 & 5 - Wednesday & Thursday

So day 4 and 5 together I think because I was too tired to blog yesterday morning.

The course on Wednesday started with a tour of the production line upstairs which was absolutely incredible. I have never seen anything like it. Each one of the products is made by hand. Hand blown glass by professional glass blowers, the most intricate glass work and precision measuring. It was just amazing. We all left saying we would never again question the price of such intricate and delicate products!

The rest of the day proceeded as normal. Lots more analytical talk. Im not sure how much of it was sinking in by then but I tried my best. More strange lunches from the school canteen and I progress the third type of odd looking tart for an afternoon snack. I think I managed some fruit too, just to make sure I wouldn’t get scurvy.  

Wednesday was the night they we’re taking us out for a real taste of Switzerland and apparently this means only one thing (and its not chocolate) – Cheese Fondue! So we were taken off on the train into Zurich city, and a tram up a very steep hill (mountain) In the snow to a tiny little restaurant that serve only cheese fondue.

And I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. I think I would have preferred it with a little more vegetables and a little less… cheese but it was pretty good. Especially once you included the beer, the wine and the Kisch which is a Swiss drink. They ordered shots of it for you to dunk your bread in before you put it in the cheese. Needless to say at a similar %vol to schnapps, my attempt at this made me pull that face I pull and everyone else roar with laughter (they had had had lot of kisch by then!). But, with the snow falling outside and a little fire under the pot on the table it was very nice.

From there we wondered into town where the 2 guys from the office in Switzerland treated us to a few of their favourite bars before we went back to the hotel and a I sat up till they kicked us out chatting about the various differences between the UK, Germany and The Netherlands with the others from the course. Needless to say when I went to bed my head was spinning and when I woke up my stomach was spinning.

But power through we must, and (probably due to my nearer proximity to my student days) I looked a lot brighter than a few other people round the table on Thursday. Late nights aside, everyone was feeling pretty drained on Thursday, four days is a long time and it was a very heavy course so we took it easy, covering just a couple of last simple things and reviewing what we had covered. We finished at 3 so the others could get evening flights and I transferred to a very nice hotel much closer the airport for my super early flight.

During this week I had learnt that in western continental Europe they have a tradition of celebrating St Nicholas day which is when Sinterklass  brings presents to children. Apparently only the really rich kids actually get 2 Christmases, for the rest of people they just get some sweets and special lessons in school. What they do have is these special sweet-bread men they make. So once I was in my hotel I walked into the local town and found the local supermarket where I could buy some swiss chocolate and a Sinterklass man.

Sinterklass!

Beyond that I was far to tired to do anything, so I ate dinner in the hotel, listening to some incredibly American business men talking hunting and shooting and gun laws! And this morning it was up at 5am, another dull airport, another dull flight and back home again. And I am very glad to be back. 

My Swiss Adventure Day 3 - Tuesday

So day 2 was a much more peaceful day.... sort of. Lots more chemistry for the main part. Sadly the snow has all gone and its not stopped raining since Monday evening, but such is life. It couldn’t be a winter wonderland all the time

The course is still just plodding along. I’m quite enjoying it although its pretty heavy stuff. I hope I can remember at least half of it when I get back.

Kate helped me make progress in getting to know people. Its such big news that Kate & Wills were on the front page of Swiss newspapers and this gave everyone something to strike up conversation about, so I think you Kate! We eat lunch in the local school which is quite cool. Its pretty good food and apparently they have an arrangement with the company because its quicker and simpler than trying to eat in a restaurant. The school itself looks just like a school in the UK, big concrete building, lots of school work on the walls etc. It does have electronic opening doors which threw me on the first day!

It was too wet and miserable to go out adventuring last night and I think everyone felt the same, so we had dinner in the hotel restaurant which was a laugh. We spoke about work for about 2 hours but eventually (with the help of a fair amount of Bavarian beer) we drifted into talking about families, politics and eventually the smoking ban. I’m sure this is very sad, but I found it fascinating to chat about the EU from the other side. My companion from Germany pointing out that the Germans have never had a choice as the whether to join the EU or not, while a very vocal companion from Bavaria (hence the beer) points out that the Germans have made 60m Euros from the loans to Greece.  Really fascinating to hear the other side. And they found it hilarious to hear what the British (not that I am very representative) think of Europe.

Today’s challenge is to learn everyone’s names. I learnt over dinner yesterday that they are all much more important than me so good contacts to make. Also going on a tour of the factory today which should be great fun. 

My Swiss Adventure Day 2 - Monday

OOO blogging at breakfast. Its not a bad breakfast in this place, little too much meat for my stomach first thing but tis ok. I might try bacon and eggs tomorrow.

So yesterday was the first day of my training and it was quite good fun. Well, maybe fun isn’t the word, but very interesting. I have certainly learnt a lot about pH sensors. The people on the coarse all seem very nice. I nice mix of 6 middle aged men from various surrounding countries. Sadly they all speak German (or some derivation of German) as their first language so whenever they are just chatting they tend to slip into German, which makes it quite hard to chat  to them.  One of them chatted to me about England a bit, he used to live in Bedford, and one of them chatted to me about football (he remembers when Forest were good so I got to pull out the old “My dad took me once but we lost 4-0” story which went down well). Hopefully today I will get to talk to them more.

After we finished at about 5pm last night I decided to brave the snow and try and tackle the train system in the (slight) day time. And it turns out its very simple. Once you get your head around the fact they have trains, trams and busses all working on the same system it becomes quite easy. And not too expansive. I paid 12.80 CHF (about £8) to get into Zurich and back which is quite a lot for such a short distance but I wouldn’t mind paying it in England if they trains were as organised, spacious or punctual. Also no one came to check my ticket either way so I wonder how many people actually did pay.

A view of the city over the river 

Zurich is fantastic. You get off the train in this amazing city station which is just huge. I saw signs to platform 55, and I have no idea if the was for a bus, tram or train, but it was cool. Once you make it out of this epic train station / shopping center, you are right in the heart of the city. To one side you have the old town, where I whiled away a full hour and a half just walking down cobbled streets, looking in shop windows and admiring the Christmas decorations. I also found dinner in a little restaurant where I sat next to 2 Danes. Typical.

One of many Christmas trees

Decorations in the old city

On the other side you seem to have the newer part of town. I was pretty cold by this point and even the Christmas late-night shops were closing so I didn't explore so far but I did walk down a huge, wide road with all the big brand designer shops on it (Mango, Esprit etc) and 3 stories of Christmas lights strung across the whole street. It was pretty magical actually.

Christmas Lights 3 Story's high on the main street

And I made it back to the hotel easily, and soon warmed up back in my room. Now its about time I went to face the day. 

My Swiss Adventure Day 1 - Sunday

I thought I might write a daily (or possibly one at the beginning and one at the end, depending on how busy I am) update on my Swiss adventure.

So Yesterday was day one and the first thing I did was go to Birmingham far too early!! In my haste to have a relaxing day Joni and I ended up spending ages driving around the airport area in search of somewhere to waste a few hours because we had arrived at the airport 3 hours before check-in opened! Opps. Luckily we managed to find (after 2 bad pubs) a nice place to grab a good lunch/dinner. Fantastic, modern pub serving a Sunday roast with belly pork. Yum Yum. Not great apple crumble which always confuses me. Crumble is so easy, how do people get it wrong?

So eventually Joni left me at the airport. I checked in and passed through security with minimum fuss and queuing  And I whiled away a couple of hours looking round duty-free, watching bad TV on my laptop and generally trying to get over my fear of flying. 15 mins before my gate opened I remembered that plugs in Switzerland are different to plugs in England so I very hurriedly bought an adapter plug.

And then I was off. Up in the air and down again so quickly you could have missed it with a brief power-nap. I have to say it was nice to not be in a flying shop (aka ryanair). I was given a sandwich and offered a glass of wine (which I decided was a bad idea). The seat I had picked didn't actually have a window (too far back) so once everyone was seated they let me shift forward so I could be next to a window. It was all very pleasant. I can defiantly see the point of not flying budget.

Back on the ground things started to go a little badly. It was 10pm local time, and I had had a very long day. And there was lots of snow (which is awesome). I found the tram stop, but I could not figure out which tram I should get on, then i couldn't find the taxi's so I went back in and couldn't find the information desk. When I did finally find one, the woman their had no idea how to get to my hotel by tram so i decided to sod the cost and take a taxi (the information desk did know where I could get one of those). Sadly the taxi smelled seriously of piss and the driver had a terrible Indian accent (not very different from Birmingham then) but he got me to the hotel with minimum fuss and at the extortionate price of 87 CHF  (thats around £60).

But the night porter at the hotel was friendly and my room in lovely. Nice and modern and very warm. And I have an amazing feather dovet, its the warmest thing in the world and I am buying one the moment I get home.

My neat little room

 So I got the internet working, said goodnight to Joni and promptly passed out. Set the alarm for far too early (hence the blogging before work). I even had time after breakfast for tea in the worlds smallest tea cup. Im not joking, I can't even begin to describe how tiny this cup is and I'v stayed in Premier Inns. Imagine how small their tea cups would be, this one is smaller!

The worlds smallest (and thus most useless) tea cup. 

 The advent of daylight brought with it a fairly dull view of a street (with snow on it) and a car park (with snow). Also, there is snow. Lots of snow. It made for an amazing view as we landed, lots of pristine white fields (obviously there are no children in Zurich because you wouldn't get untouched fields of snow like that in the UK).

The view from my hotel 

Now its time for work...

Off on an adventure but first a TV review

This week I am off on my first Business Trip (oo doesn't that make me feel important! lol). I am being sent to Switzerland for some product training, so its time to dust off the old grey cells and try really hard not to do anything embarrassing in front of the important people. I am looking forward to the chance to stop feeling quite so lost in my job, and also to explore a new place. This also means I have to fly on my own for the first time, so I have spent the whole night convincing myself I really like flying, flying is cool....

But I promised you a TV review, and the show I am going to review in Borgen (pronounced bow-un with a bit of the weird Germanic-style fleming in the middle), a Danish political drama. Joni and I were brought to watching this after really enjoying The Killing, a crime series made by the same people, last year. We rented Borgen from Lovefilm and found it so gripping we have watched all 10 hours in one week (tripling our usual weekly viewing figures!).

To give you brief synopsis, it starts with the election of a new Prime minister in Denmark, and the series follows their first year in office from both the governments point of view, and also through the eyes of the number 1 news station in Denmark, TV1. It is a show about family life, careers, journalism (particularly topical atm) and politics. But above all of that its a story about characters and that is why I loved it so much.

I don't know how they do it, but Scandinavian writers just seem to have some ability to make realistic characters that no one else does. We saw it with The Killing, and with The Royal Affair (a film still a possible contender for best film in 2012) and Borgen is full of it too. Just the right number of characters for you to remember who they all are, every one of them with depth and dimensions enough to make you feel they could really exist.

For course that makes the show a little slow and meandering, because real life is quite slow and meandering. No one screams and shouts, throws highly breakable objects across rooms or starts sleeping with their secretary within 24 hours of hiring them, because no one does that it real life either. And that is the pure brilliance of this show. It doesn't matter if you don't care about politics or news reporting or if you don't understand the Danish political system (although I do thing all AV-haters should be forced to watch this show so they can finally understand how it is a much better system) because this is a show about people. And I can't wait for the next series!

Well, that was a bit serious for me wasn't it? Back to normal now because I bought a Christmas tree and its too big for the room! Hahahahaha!!!