It's still the weather.....

Last night it got cold.

And this Friday morning it still is.  Grey and damp, I gave up the battle and wore my fleece into work.  The internet is now sorted, but alas the water isn't.  So it's crossed legs until lunchtime.

We try to have no client meetings on Fridays so that the focus moves to training for the apprentices.  The consultants also have a review and team meeting with the apprentices to review the past week and flag up any issues going forward.  Of course, with Rick having left, and Sharife on the plane heading for Jo'burg, it was just me.  They'd asked for some help with getting to grips with what marketing is all about, so I decided to have an interactive session to start with so that I could answer any specific questions they had and then I'd be able to plan out what I could do over the next couple of months.  It seemed to go quite well, and so I'll try to do 30 mins each Friday to build up their knowledge and expertise.

One thing I did do was develop a spreadsheet to log useful online resources for each of the core and non-core CMI training modules (plus marketing) which can be developed over time to provide a helpful directory of websites and online reference materials.  The apprentices really liked the idea.

The office closes at lunchtime on Fridays (it's something that NGOs tend to do here, but drives Peter mad because it means we aren't formally working the hours we are contracted to do - despite the work we do back at the house in the evenings!).  So apparently there's a new policy whereby the UK consultants will be working Friday afternoons in the office, but it will be focusing on developing new training modules, etc.

We needed to get some shopping in for the house, so we went to the Chichiri shopping mall (well, the shopping mall in Blantyre) to buy stuff and have a bite to eat.  We ended up in a curry house - I had a very nice chicken aloo with a naan, Then to the Shoprite supermarket for the shopping - I indulged myself with a bar of Dairy Milk and some fruit for my room.

We we due to have a Skype call with Edinburgh at 4pm but the call never came, so we emailed to say we were going home and they could contact us there later if they wanted (this is to do with a large project that might be coming up).  So then back to the house, and get online.  The Skype call eventually took place at around 7.30pm.

The plan was to go to a local bar to watch the England game.  This bar (Mustang Sally's) is an amazing place.  It's owned by a guy from Manchester who's been out here for years.  He bears more than a passing resemblance to Roy Orbison - when we got there he was sitting at the side of the bar dressed completed in black, wearing sunglasses.  The place is designed like some sort of tropical island, with bamboo lining the path from the car park, and there's an upstairs area where they have discos, but there is also a large kidney-shaped swimming pool in the middle of the floor!  I'll get pictures later on.  In the meantime the match was rubbish, but we met up with some of the expats who'd come round to the house a few days ago, and so had a good chat with them, before hitting the road around midnight.