Last working day

Friday was my last working day at J&J. I’m glad that this chapter of my life is closed. I called it a day around lunch time and drove together with I. to the apartment at the seaside.
When I looked into my hotmail I saw 2 messages from my new boss K. The first wishing me all the best for my first working day and the second with an overview of my calendar for the next two weeks. How professional!
It feels great and did give a boost to my self esteem knowing that I will be welcome again. I have the impression that I’m coming home although I will be leaving my secure network in Belgium by moving with them to Stockholm.
As promised by K. will I be working on the project that I wanted. With a bit off luck I will have to spent some time in Warsaw. I and myself will be able to visit P and G in their home town.Joining Oriflame gives me warm home coming feeling which I have never had at J&J. I was supposed to have a full agenda (completely overbooked), but ….

A lovely day

I was about to start another year of squash in my little squash club close by Waterloo, but ..... As last year, the person in charge of the squash club changed. Now that JJA will not be around anymore, I decided not to renew my membership for these few months.When E. invited me yesterday for a game of badminton with colleagues I didn’t hesitate. At the end there was only E. and M.. They 2 of them played against me and made me run. I was really happy with some of my shots (and obviously not with others). It was crowded and therefore we were not able to play for 2 hours.

Today I’m enjoying a day off. This morning I went for an half an hour run (which was not that easy when your throat is aching, but I was really happy at the end of the run). I even did the food shopping. What a superb experience, nobody was driving their trolley into my ankles. Why can’t it be like this during weekends? Now that I’m writing about it, it became apparent that I haven’t seen one group of people: retired people. Would it be true that they only shop on Saturdays?????

Bedrijfjes die wegdrijven

Een overzicht van bedrijven die uit Belgie wegtrekken.
En nog blijven die politici verder sjabberen over een staatshervorming. Zouden ze niet beter een regering vormen die zorgt dat Belgie een goed ondernemersklimaat behoudt?

Bedrijven die het afbollen of hun activiteiten verminderen:
1. Oriflame (Waterloo): Volledige vestiging verdwijnt in het begin van volgende jaar.
Aantal mensen: +- 160

2. Uniliver (Vorst): een heel deel van de supply chain activiteiten verhuizen naar Rotterdam
Aantal mensen:

3. Janssen Pharmaceutical: Bij Janssen Pharmaceutica in Beerse en Geel sneuvelen 688 banen. Dat hebben de vakbonden vernomen tijdens een speciale ondernemingsraad. Het zou gaan om 521 vaste en 167 tijdelijke contracten.

4. Nokia Siemens (Herentals): Bij telecombedrijf Nokia Siemens Networks in Herentals wordt bijna de hele onderzoeksafdeling uitbesteed aan een Frans bedrijf. Het gaat om 163 banen.

5. Bij het farmaceutisch bedrijf Pfizer in Puurs vragen de vakbonden en de directie een sociaal bemiddelaar. De onderhandelingen over een nieuwe cao voor het bedrijf zitten muurvast. De bonden vragen de directie ook garanties voor de werkgelegenheid. Bij Pfizer in Puurs werken zo'n 700 mensen.

6. Nedcar (Nederland): Bij Nedcar werken enkele honderden. Die kunnen waarschijnlijk hun werk behouden nu beslist is dat ze de Outlander mogen produceren. Op dit ogenblik wordt er enkel de Colt geassembleerd en de verkoopsresultaten vallen tegen.

als de dag van toen

Maandag heb ik mijn voet omgeslagen tijdens het recreatieve uurtje badminton. Het was mijn eigen fout, gespeeld zonder brace. Vermits we morgen naar Rome vertrekken heb ik dan maar besloten om niet te gaan lopen (alhoewel ik het voorzien had). De hele avond heb ik passief gesport. Ik ben naar de frigo gelopen om een frisse pint op het moment dat het balletje even stillag in de match Real tegen Werder. Had wel verwacht dat Real wat beter zou spelen.

Vandaag ga ik een frisse neus halen en wat in het bos gaan lopen. (dat hoop ik alleszins).

In ons Belgenlandje hebben we nog steeds geen regering. Ik snap eigenlijk de grote problemen niet meer. Hoe kan een stomme staatshervorming nu belangrijker zijn dan de verschillende berichten van bedrijven die sluiten (en degene waar we het van gehoord hebben, bevinden zich in Vlaanderen). Alle olle, ik wou er een weddenschap op sluiten, maar dat mag nu ook al niet meer.

Nu nog wat verder werken (niet te hard!) en al wat dromen van onze 4 dagen in Rome met A en T. Ik zie er al naar uit. Het enige dat wat demotiverend werkt is het vroege uur van de vlucht. Ik ga sloten koffie nodig hebben morgenvroeg.

Belgium first 100 days

We still don't have a government in Belgium. We had the elections 100 days ago and there are no signs off an opening. I have difficulties understanding what the true showstoppers are. Why would people want to divide Belgium into 2 or 3 small countries while most of the laws are determined by Europe. An article in Humo was very reveling. The wealthiest regions in Belgium are Brussels, Vlaams Brabant and Waals Brabant. Even regions in West Flanders are getting subsedies.
They still have another 48 days to beat the record. In 1988 it took 148 days to have a government. Hope our politicians succeed sooner.
I'm still wondering if I will have to vote from Sweden next year. As of January, February I will be a Belgian living abroad and will have to go to the embassy to vote. When will I have to do it????

Regular Thursday Squash do

Since P was flying back from the US, I decided to have a game of squash with B. The court was already paid for and couldn't be cancelled. Both of us arrived early and did the warm-up at court 1. The floor was very slippery but we decided to continue.
At 19h30 started playing at court 2. You couldn't call it playing squash. The floor was slippery (again!). It feld like playing squash on a ice skating ring. We had a good laugh when the other one was loosing his balance and in stead of going for a nice shot, fell on the floor. In stead of playing for 1h30 we stopped after an hour.
I really felt sorry for the girl at the reception. Everybody complained that day on the state of the surface.

Sunday lunch

We went to Ronse yesterday to celebrate the 87th birthday of I's grandmother. She is still fit and look after herself. Amazing! We were 18. A too big group for the restaurant. They didn't succeed in giving us the food on time. Apart from the food it was nice to see Inges family again. After the restaurant we went to W and C new house. They still need to finish the decoration. I'm always amazed how well they can furnish an apartment or a house. They done a superb job.

Squash

The squash season started again.

I'm out of shape! I have continued to play over the summer months, but it didn't help at all.

The variety that I used to play in my shots is gone. It looks like my harddisk was erased and needs to be filled again.

Played my new ex-collleagues yesterday and managed to improve my game. It felt great to tease them from time to time.

E. will help me in finding a new squash club in Stockholm as of next year. I'm going to a country where squash is an elite sport according to E. Look forward to play games against people that can boost my carreer. I promise I will loose (even if I'm soo much better!!!!)

On Thursday I'll be playing squash and badminton. I'll have to get better in both table tennis and tennis and I will be able to participate in racketlon competitions (and improve my condition!!)

Another day at work

My motivation level was quite high this morning. I had a good night sleep and went to bed quite early. Unfortunately, it didn't last the whole day.

Tomorrow evening I'll have to give a badminton lesson. Weird, I'm not even a pro myself. I can hit the shuttle over the net most of the time and it end there.