Where is the year going?

I can't believe that I haven't blogged since the Olympics. Already the days are getting short and there have been the first snows, closing the passes in the Alps. For one reason or another (that I'm not going to get into here) the last couple of months has been quite tough going. Finally we have a weekend where we have some "us" time and are taking the advantage of a lazy Sunday morning while we wait for the fog to lift prior to another stunning Autumn day. Yesterday we decided not to do the usual Saturday chores and went for a wonderful hike in the Jura. With the autumn colours and the bright and warm sunshine we had great time. I picked up a couple of caches along the way and I don't want to think about how many photo's Fiona took (she has a new toy). Fortunately, there was no rush!

With the Olympic spirit I broke several of my Geocaching records in August, smashing my monthly p.b. to record 50 caches in the month. By combining rides on the cyclo-cross bike with geocaching, I managed to combine two hobbies. The downside was the number of ticks that I picked up along the way.... not painful but potentially dangerous around here as they carry a nasty brain-wasting disease a bit like CJD. Now I'm part way through a course of inoculations against the virus so should be protected for next summer.

I see that Lance Armstrong is going to make a comeback next year. In my opinion he should have stayed away as the sport doesn't need any more controversy at the moment. Sadly, the UCI are bending over backwards to accomodate his return. Personally, I feel sorry for the new stars like Alberto Contador who will, I'm sure, end up having to work for him. The other question in these times of low budgets and dwindling sponsor numbers is "can anyone afford Lance". I'm sure his wages alone would fund a complete team of up and coming riders.

The shocks to the financial markets recently are causing some gloom about the place. At the moment, we don't see a major impact other than fear over the bank that we have our mortgage with. Oil prices are coming down just before we need to fill our tanks for the winter, which is a bit of luck, and we don't have any share related investments. For me, the only risk is if the company wants to tighten its belt again which would mean more HQ job losses as more jobs end up in Asia.

My promotion finally came through and now I find myself responsible for a team of people disributed between Switzerland, Spain and the US. Certainly the new job is a challenge and has been reflected in my waist-line as my exercise regime has gone to the dogs. I've got to get that back under control before I have another "yellow card". It's a good thing we can't do any chores on a Sunday. The cars could definately do with a clean (mine hasn't been cleaned since April) but they will just have to wait. It's Sunday, I'm being lazy and I'm going to put my feet up!