Cannes can

On the ferry back from Ireland I was most relieved to see the news that Barclays had agreed to buy Standard Life Bank for £226m. I have mixed feelings about the transaction on a personal level as it does mean a large chunk of my business knowledge going "out the door" as Standard Life divests itself of a banking operation. My relief is at the news being made public so that I no longer having to work "on the inside" on the project. This is what has been keeping me very busy since the start of September with lots of due diligence questions to answer at short notice and various levels of legal-ese to untangle and understand.

One consequence of the Bank work was that my boss Derek and I had to cancel our trip to the Gartner EA Summit in London. As an alternative, we went to the Gartner IT Expo in the south of France instead. On the face of it, a good swap! We flew to Nice via Heathrow on the Sunday and taxied to our hotel, the Novotel Montfleury in Avenue Beausejour, Cannes. It was a decent mid-range hotel, dear enough but a good ten-minute stroll from the edge of the town centre and twenty minutes from the Palais des Festivals where the conference sessions were hosted.

Food prices for a meal for two in Cannes ranged from €35 to €200, the latter being in the old town area nearer the marina and the former in a back street Thai restaurant (they did a fine duck curry). Admittedly the €200 meal featured a rich bouillabaise and a bottle of wine but we stayed away from the really expensive places! On the Tuesday night we went to a gartner reception for UK attendees (and vendors) at the 3.14 Beach Club which was a pleasant place to spend the evening, with the tented interior opening out on to the sandy beach with the waves lapping in a few yards away. All told, Tuesday was a glorious day and a I enjoyed strolling around the marina and the local streets in between the rather turgid Gartner sessions. Some of the yachts and cruisers in the marina were spectacular, with one wooden-decked yacht adorned with all manner of gleaming copper chandlery and several of the cruisers having a "boot" into which one or more reasonably-sized (by Firth of Clyde standards) smaller boats could fit.

On Wednseday lunchtime I took a stroll up to the church at the top of the old town and sat looking out over Cannes. It has a very similar layout to Monaco, the curve of bay edged by the city and the old town on a headland to the west. It was good to have some peace and quiet after the busy months of September and October but it would have been good to have had Sharon with me to share it. Derek and I headed home on the Thursday. The conference wasn't that great, over all, being rather too large (2700 attendees), too diverse and with very few UK attendees so opportunities to network were limited. Still, I'm not complaining. Sitting by the pool reading on Thursday morning or watching the sun set from my balcony on the Tuesday evening sure beat being at work. And I got a good bit of exercise in too, walking up and down to the centre of Cannes from the hotel.

Au revoir for now

We're home again, safe and sound, after a splendid week in France. I did Finn a disservice at the end of the last entry. Not only did he fly down the slope on the sledge, he finished the week with a two hour lesson at ski-school alongside his big brother! I'll let Sharon do the ski piece as it was a real delight for her to get back on the piste after 7 or 8 years.

On the Tuesday the snow was melting away at Corenc round about the Harrisons house (about 350m) but there was still enough on the mountain above so we drove up to 700m or so and had another sledging session. It was a great sledging slope, probably about 80-100m long and with a drop of about 20-30m. Sean wanted to go right to the top but we persuaded him to start about halfway down. He could fairly whizz down on the plastic sledges and almost overshot the upslope and flew into the car park at one point.

Finn surprised us by giving it a go too and was equally adept at bombing down and steering between people, possibly more by luck than design. After one wipeout he had snow stuck behind his glasses and requested that they be put in the car. He fairly enjoyed himself. Even Rowan had fun getting towed about and had a few free runs himself; a blond-headed figure strapped in, one mitt in the air with a receding cry of "wheee!" as he travelled 20m on his own.

On the Wednesday we drove up to Annecy to meet Andie and Andy who are enjoying life in France with their two chalets in Chamonix. Their two boys are either side of Rowan so we walked briefly by the lake, let the boys play in a playpark then had a snack in the Vielle Ville by the pretty jumble of buildings along the rivers that drain out of the lake. It hasn't changed much since I was last there in 1989. That evening we dined at Niamh and Manu's house back in Grenoble. It was relaxing to be away from the children for a spell!

On Thursday we repeated the trip north east, passing Annecy to visit Ruth for lunch. Stef's parents arrived for dessert while I played with the boys indoors and out. Friday was our day in Annecy, the highlight being a trip up to the Bastille in the "boules", little round cable cars into which we all just squeezed. The views from the Bastille over the city and to the surrounding mountains were quite spectacular. Our restaurant lunch was decidedly average (the best food we had on the trip was all home-cooked) and, after Rowan had a sleep and the boys had another playpark play, we returned on the tram to Grand Sabon where we had parked the car. Unfortunately Sharon didn't really get a chance to show me some of her old haunts.

It wasn't the most relaxing week, with the six children all up early and very lively from the start of the day, which led to some rather tired and fractious behviour by the end of the day and tumultuous mealtimes, but the company was excellent (further visitors, Andy and Sue, arrived from the Thursday to the Saturday) and the location and views fantastic. Andrew and Alison were extremely generous hosts and the boys had a fantastic time playing with the girls. Finn and Sean were chipping in with their "merci beaucoups" and, given another couple of weeks, Rowan would have been trotting out a "bonjour". His gibberish was starting to sound French by the time we left!

A long time coming....

Yes, its been too long since I posted anything to the website. Ian has been at me to do it since we got back from France. But the to-do list always seems to be longer than the time available to complete the to-do list! But I suppose I should be used to that, it has always been that way with me. Scary to think I used to be a senior project manager, can't seem to keep on top of normal day to day stuff now!

The holiday in France seems a dim and distant memory already. That said, I still look at the photos, especially of the day we went skiing, and smile to myself. That day was just the icing on the cake for me. It had been six or seven years since I had been skiing, having either been pregnant or breastfeeding for the last few years during the ski season. This is the one thing I wish I could change Ian's opinion on - I absolutely love to ski, love the fresh air, being outdoors all day, the scenery, everything. Ian, on the other hand, has no interest in it, sadly.

But it was amazing being back on snow again, belting down the slopes (nothing overly adventurous). In the morning, I skied with Andrew, Eleanor and Catriona. The two little ladies were nothing short of spectacular on their wee skis. I was apprehensive for the first hour, wondering how Sean and Finn were getting on at Ski School with Frederique, their intructor. But my heart was bursting with pride when we skied back down to find them just finishing up their lesson, heads wet with sweat, tired but having enjoyed themselves. They just looked the best things ever in their ski gear! Cute doesnt even come close.

In the afternoon, to be able to take Sean and ski with him between my legs was just wonderful. The first run down the piste, he was shouting at all around "dont crash into us", and "watch out Mam!", not realising that I was capable of zig-zaging down the slopes without crashing into anyone! I'm no Allain Baxter on skis, but I can manage ok! Second time down, he was a bit more chilled, third time he was shouting at me to go faster! As he had an all-in-one ski suit on him, and I was holding him under his arms, he was complaining of his pants being up his bot a lot!

But he was just fantastic. I'll never forget the two of us on the chair lifts, moving above the trees, watching all going on below, having a wee chat in the still silence. A day to cherish without doubt. I am determined that next winter, we will go back out and get him and Finn more confident on skis.

Bienvenue a Grenoble

We are holidaying at the Harrisons' house in Grenoble, 1000ft above sea level, partway up one mountain with a fabulous view across the valley to the range to the south. It was snowing for a couple of days but has thawed here at the house although there is plenty snow higher up the mountain. Sean is in his element. He said he wished he could stay for three weeks. He can hardly believe Catriona lives "on a mountain" (the house is on the edge of Grenoble and the mountain behind us is higher than Ben Nevis) and he's never seen so much snow in his life. He asked Sharon whose idea it was to come for a holiday here and said it was just the best idea ever.

Finn has been a little out of sorts and saw a doctor today. She thinks he may have impetigo, which isn't great news as it can be quite infectious. He's enjoyed playing with the girls though and especially enjoyed the chocolate Easter egg feast which greeted us all on Sunday when we arrived.

The trip here was going swimmingly until we picked up the hire car, a Citroen Berlingo which was an ideal size for our family and luggage. At the first peage (toll) I was struggling to get the window down. We then spotted the button on the dashboard to do this. Unfortunately, as I pressed it to close the window it was pushed inside the dashboard to disappear into the inner depths of the car, behind the fascia. We couldn't get the window closed. Sharon found this initially hilarious but she wasn't the one driving along with the wind and snow shower blowing in her ear. We missed a turning as we kept trying to locate the button inside the hole and decided to return to the airport as we weren't going to be able to lock the car in its current state. The boys were all asleep since we had been up at 0530 and duly woke, rather confused, as we arrived back at the airport. Fortunately there was a replacement car available and we transferred and made the journey to Grenoble with a minimum of extra bother.

Ruth, Stef, Niamh and Manu and their respective children arrived later in the day and we met them all for lunch in Grenoble yesterday. Table for 18? It has felt like living in the middle of a kindergarten over the last few days, especially in the mornings when everyone has been up far too early and making an unholy racket. Still, the children are having a great time and we've got the odd moment with Andrew and Alison to ourselves without having to feed, clean, tidy up toys, bath, change or entertain.

Rowan has been eating like he's fearful that each meal is his last. Once he wakens up and Sharon gets back from his walk we're planning on finding some snow for sledging. Sean went sledging yesterday and Sharon reckons it was the happiest she'd ever seen him as he came hurtling down a long slope on a flimsy stretch of plastic. We'll do well to convince Finn to do it, but we'll see!

A bientot!