Tag: GB

United Kingdom

Place 92 – May 10 2022 to May 13 2022: United Kingdom – A Visit Home (Part 2)

Kim & Curtis Hale

Day 8 – Wales & Plymouth, UK

We started day 8 with going to get a car rental! We picked up a small Toyota Aygo and set off for breakfast at the McDonald’s that Curtis used to work at when he was younger.

After breakfast, we set off on a drive to Wales! We aren’t sure where in Wales it was, but we were visiting a friend there!

We got to her house after a few hours of driving and we sat and chatted for a while before we went out for lunch at a nice local cafe.

Post lunch, we jumped back in the car and drove off to Plymouth! We have a few friends that live there, so we drove down to see them, have some dinner and drinks and just chat a bit.

When we arrived, though, we had to drive around Plymouth which is just hills! A bit crazy and not super fun to drive or park on. We got parked up and luckily we had a friend that was letting us stay with them overnight, which was nice.

We had a curry for dinner at an Indian restaurant with a bunch of people and by the time we ate and left it was already bed time! We headed back to the apartment and went to sleep. We had another drive the day after so a good sleep was required.

Day 9 – Bournemouth, UK

We were up early and we drove out to Bournemouth!

We had a concert to see so we thought it made sense to keep the car for the extra day and drive to Bournemouth from Plymouth.

We were staying at a Premier Inn again because it’s practical and we know it’s nice!

We got ourselves settled and then we went out to a Sigrid concert. This concert was a small intimate concert and was very short but was amazing!

We left the concert and had a bit of a walk around Bournemouth and then grabbed some KFC for dinner.

Day 10 – Andover & Basingstoke, UK

Once we headed to a nice cafe for breakfast, we had a bit of a walk at the beach in Bournemouth, which we both used to go to with our families when we were younger.

We drove back to Andover and then off to Basingstoke for a bit of shopping with Kim’s family.

We took the car back after we were done in Basingstoke and then we had to pack to go to Norway!

We went to have pizza with Curtis’ dad and it was really nice to see him, too.

We stayed overnight at Curtis’ family’s house and then off to Norway we go!

The next blog will be about some time in Norway, which was an awesome time with celebrations and lots of hanging out with friends.

Advertisement
Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 920: Vancouver, BC – Nearly Overslept!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis did indeed stay up and watch Great Britain play their final game. They ended up finishing 13/16 which was a huge achievement for them! The game last night ended 6-3 to Switzerland which was a much better result than anyone expected.

Whilst it was great to watch hockey, going to bed at 04:30 and waking at 08:30 wasn’t too great and Curtis paid the price today! He felt very tired in the morning but felt better as the day progressed, which was good, as it got busy!

It also didn’t help that we almost overslept as we forgot to set the right alarm!

Curtis had a bit of work to do in the morning and then had a call with Microsoft about a few different things.

After his call, he had a Norwegian lesson an it was really, really good! He was speaking without really thinking which was great.

After that, and for most of the rest of the day, he was in and out of meetings regarding one particular issue which he also had to write up some documentation for and make some notes.

He was able to get some tickets done in the afternoon as well as some other admin before calling it a day.

Kim’s Day

Today was a long and meeting filled day! Kim started her day having a chat about a trivia night that the company is parking up with another company for on Friday! She then gave a quick update at the finance meeting before having a quick chat with a new starter to see how their first week was.

After giving an update in the weekly meeting Kim joined a great meet the team to hang out with her new team members, it was awesome! She then had a connect with each of the new starters to give them an overview of the past few months or allocate work for the next couple of weeks.

To start the afternoon Kim joined a recruitment meeting and then went into a candidate review and mini forecast meeting. She was then able to get some admin done before showing her new teammate the folder structure and where they can find things.

In the late afternoon Kim sat down with a few executive members to discuss a new role. She then went into an interview and spent the evening working on some admin of emails and reorganising a couple of documents.

Evening

We had chicken burgers again, Kim made a bunch the other day so they’re nice and easy to have!

We had those with some leftover sweet potato fries and chilled out for the evening, along with a nice walk.

We were meant to be selling our old sofa tomorrow, but the person cancelled which is frustrating!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 914: Vancouver, BC – GB WIN! 🇬🇧

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had to walk down to the office to get a laptop setup and sent out.

Curtis got to the office and got the laptop which, luckily, most of the work had been done for so there was a little less for him to do.

Whilst he was setting the laptop up, he had the Great Britain v Belarus game on in the background. GB ended up winning that game which was awesome to see!

Curtis got a bit of work done whilst still at the office and then he headed home.

After lunch, Curtis had a quick meeting to discuss a project and then did some tickets before having a meeting which was ran by the CEO.

There were a few discussions to have after this meeting and then the day was done.

Kim’s Day

Kim had a super interesting day today. She started by getting organised, sening out meeting invites, sorting out a few recruitment things and getting general admin done.

She then had attended a meeting IT things before joining a weekly recruitment meeting. For the rest of the morning Kim did some collaborative work with her teammate to clean up, reorganise and move information in their team folder structure. They then both joined a meeting that only they turned up to, so they worked on a few more things and Kim rescheduled the meeting for next week and on.

In the afternoon Kim had a call with a new starter to discuss their home office set up and needs. She then had a check in with a colleague before joining an interview. After the interview they had a quick chat and review. Kim then hosted a forecasting meeting with a department and doubled the meeting up as Q&A with a new starter.

In the evening Kim got a lot of admin done and she set up there laptops for new starters for next week. She was super happy with all the IT stuff she was able to set up and get sorted!

Evening

We had the remainder of the leftover mac and cheese and then Kim had to do some more work.

Once Kim was done with that work, then watched a bit of TV before heading to bed. It was around 00:00 by the time Kim was done!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72- Day 911: Vancouver, BC – A Dog In A Lake

Kim & Curtis Hale

Early Hockey

Curtis managed to get a couple of hours of sleep before he woke up at 02:00 to watch Great Britain play hockey!

Curtis really enjoyed the game and Great Britain only lost 2-1 to Slovakia, which was a huge accomplishment.

Once the game was done, around 04:30, he went back to bed and got some good sleep in.

Finding A Sandwich

We woke up and had the same breakfast as yesterday and then got ourselves ready to head out for a walk.

We walked to Kitsilano beach again, but stopped a few times along the way to find a sandwich we could eat for lunch. Unfortunately, there were none we could find that we were interested in, so we didn’t bother in the end. We just got ourselves some coffees!

We walked around at the beach for a while and then it started to rain, so we walked back towards home.

We walked a long way back, to where we used to live, in our first apartment, just to give ourselves another route to walk around and a change of scenery.

A Dog In A Lake

As we were heading back home, we were distracted by a situation in which a dog had got into a lake and was chasing the ducks around. Dogs are meant to be on a leash in this area, so it was annoying a few people there. This went on for quite a while, until eventually the dog’s owner got into the lake and got the dog.

By this time, it was raining a little harder so we hurried back home, with a stop to a shop on the way back to get a few things.

Mac & Cheese

Kim made a terrific multi-cheese Mac and cheese for dinner which was great. We had that with a salad and homemade garlic bread and were thoroughly stuffed afterwards!

We went out for a bit of a walk and to get some things we forgot earlier from the shop, then when we got back home, Kim had a bath and relaxed.

We just relaxed for the rest of the night together and watched some TV before heading to bed. Curtis was noticeably tired today after his late night and early morning yesterday.

Tomorrow is a day off, in which we plan to do very little as the weather is not great.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 910: Vancouver, BC – Great Britain Hockey & Renewed Driving Licenses

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis was up at 05:45 to watch Great Britain play the first game of the world championships against Russia.

The game went about as you would expect, with GB losing 7-1, but they actually played really well.

Curtis went back to bed after hockey and then got another hour or so of sleep in before we got up.

Curtis had a homemade breakfast sandwich for breakfast and Kim had French toast.

We got ourselves ready and walked down to the driving license office to renew our licenses and health cards.

We got there early and were able to get it done, and it was nice and fast! We do need to call about our health cards, apparently, but that’s not a big deal!

Once we got that done, we got doughnuts and coffee and went for a little walk.

When we got home, we watched the F1 qualifying and then Curtis watched the next Leafs playoff game whilst Kim did some work she needed to get done.

After both of us were done, we had some leftovers for dinner and then used the rest of the evening to just relax.

Curtis is staying awake to watch Great Britain’s second game tonight, which starts at 02:15! Late one for him!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale