Monday 28 June 2004

Thursday 24th - leaving on a jet plane.

Early morning to get to the airport for Budapest. Flight was smooth, immigration quick, and we were at the conference centre by 3.00 pm. Driving in Budapest is the craziest I’ve seen anywhere – cars weave from lane to lane, road markings are obscure and hard to follow and the roads are narrow (even by UK standards) and in poor condition. I’ve happily driven in Paris, but I’d hesitate for the first time ever here.

We got the stand set up quickly, then sweltered in the heat, not only from the weather, but from the lights on the stand.

Back to the hotel, we showered, changed, then went out to see the city (pics on fotopic) and find a little late lunch. Never have we (I’m with the MD) visited a city with so many extremely attractive looking women wearing such provocative clothing. It’s frequently necessary for me to look away, and I simply can’t relax and enjoy the ‘sights’. We eventually find a cafĂ© and have a couple of beers and goulash soup (rich, beefy and spicy). Back to the conference, we renew relationships with existing customers from the US and UK, which is the real reason we’re here.

The mobile doesn’t work, no net connection in the hotel room. Nuts!

After the welcome meal we head back to the hotel, only to find the bar full of professorial types declaring how they have no interest in football, but yet mysteriously riveted to the TV with England Vs. Portugal. There seemed to e a lot of anti-English sentiment, with every attack by the Portuguese being eagerly cheered. Eventually England throw in the towel, courtesy of Beckham, and we go to bed. TV is odd, with CNN and the BBC world service, plus a lot of German channels, and if you go too far on the hand set, the porn channel in all it’s graphic display of anatomy.

Sleep.

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