Work begins

I was woken at 5-30 this morning (Monday) courtesy of some text messages from my son. Couldn’t get back to sleep so, after reading for an hour, I decided to have a morning gym sessions. I actually was there before it opened, so returned later after reading the paper. Another 30 minutes on the cross trainer and 8 on the treadmill.

I was ready for work by about 9, without any idea of when the driver may come so decided that I would call the Car desk. They arranged to send a driver straight away but the traffic Was so bad that it was after 10 before I got there, and it wasn’t a very great distance.

The office is in a new section of Delhi and there are lots of huge apartment buildings with more being built.

I met with 3 of their engineers and after 2 hours, they have a better idea of what the software can do at the moment and I had a better idea of what modifications need to be made.

They have their own canteen, another serve yourself buffet with mostly Indian dishes. After lunch things got quiet. It took a long time before someone from IT arrived to connect me to the net and a second monitor. Even though the browser was working I couldn’t check my email. Hopefully the server was down and I’ll be OK tomorrow. Most people who see my office at home are impressed by the twin 19" LCD monitors on my main system. Here nearly everybody seems to have them. I borrowed one to use as the scond monitor for my laptop.

I also wanted to change some money since I had no local currency. I asked about it, expecting to be told where the nearest bank was located. Instead they arrange for a currency dealer to come to the office and do the conversion there. All for $100.

In the end I started on some modifications and left the office after 6-30, so I felt I had achieved at least something today. The driver first took me to a chemist since my headache yesterday was the precursor to a cold. Then he stopped at a mall where I bough some linen pants. It’s been over 35 most days and my jeans are too hot.

I called in at the bar to use up my complimentary drink vouchers and finished up having a meal with a couple of guys from Airbus who are training the maintence crews for a new airline. They were on handover, with one leaving tonight. The other may share a driver with me to visit the Taj Mahal. Also arranged to go shopping the next day a with a Swedish lady who is here giving training to the same airline, this time on software to manage scheduling and crew.