Valenciennes

Went to school with Cath & Megs, then it was off to the station for 9:29am train to Paddington, at Paddington took tube to St Pancras for Eurostar to Brussels, sat behind a group of very noisy 15-16 year olds for over 2 hours which was a bit annoying, on getting to France I found that the train stopped at Lille before Brussels, which meant I would have to double back the next day.

On getting to Brussels station I thought it was a simple thing to get to my hotel, just a short taxi ride, as it happened it wasn’t quite so simple, firstly I arrived in the rush hour and according to the Albanian driver we had to go around the traffic, of course me “Mr Gullible” took his word for it and 30 minutes later and 87Euros worse off I arrived at what I can only describe as a 1 star backpacker type very basic hotel, communal toilets and showers which for 52Euros a night seemed a bit expensive, the room had bunk beds and when I got there was very cold, so I though to warm up a bit I’d pop over to the bar, which turned out to be just as cold.

Had a couple of expensive beers and a cheese & ham toasted sandwich watched most of the Denmark-England friendly and went back to room which was much warmer as I’d turned on the heater before I’d left.

After a bad night of very little sleep I was up at 06:00am as I was being picked up at 07:30am, went to breakfast, very basic continental, and then waited in reception for phone call from Steven De Bruyne. Phone rang right on time and Steven said he was outside, when I got outside could not see any car, so waited for about 5 minutes and the rang Steven to ask if he was at the right hotel, only to hear the phone of the guy stood next to me ring, it was Steven, he’d parked up and went to reception. We left and took the same route back I’d taken the day before towards Lille to get to Valenciennes, about 120Km.

Arrived at office around 08:30am was introduced to various people some ERA and some Microsoft, Steven and I spent the morning going over what I would be doing, and as it turned out nothing like the role I was expecting. Facilities in the building were again very basic canteen room with coffee machine and kitchen area, food was available from sandwich bar across the road, Panini’s and French Sticks only, had a warm ham and cheese “again” which I only half ate, and then it was back to the office.

Steven asked which hotel I’d booked into and booked the same, later we met up with the Microsoft team in a town centre bar the Beer Palace, for nibbles and a lot of very expensive Belgian beer; beer here is about 3.50 Euros for 33cl, which works out at around £6 a pint in real money, later we went to dinner a local restaurant, had a very ordinary steak au poive and chips, and more strong Belgian beer - (Kwak)

Booked in at the Hotel Baudouin, but didn’t have a very good night sleep again as fridge in room was very noisy, and I must have woken up at least 6 times overnight. Went to breakfast and met up with Steven, the continental breakfast here is much better, more varied, fresh baked French bread, cheeses, hams and lots of cakes, cereals and fruits, the coffee is good too.

At the office went through some of the tasks I’m supposed to be doing after handover but they were thing I’ve never done before and it was a bit of a struggle, and by lunch was very tired and had a headache, didn’t bother with sandwich just had coffee and texted Cath for half an hour, went back to office before everyone else as wanted to look at train times, was thinking as the hotels, food and drink were so expensive I might go home for the weekend, but soon found out that last minute booking on Eurostar was very expensive to, around £250 return, so decided to book back into the same hotel for the weekend as that was only about £175 with breakfast.

Steven was not going to be in the office until Tuesday but he kindly drove me to the hotel, one of the Microsoft guys from Birmingham, Brian Dixon, who has been in Valenciennes for nearly nine months, said we could go out around town that evening to get acquainted, which was nice as I was completely on my own now, he called around 19:00pm and I walked down into town.

We went to very nice restaurant, the “Auberge du Bon Fermier”, really good food and wine, had lemon sorbet and a huge slab of chimney fired pig and French beer this time, much better and cheaper than the strong Belgian beers I’d been drinking, when the bill came Brian said he’d get it and I could get the bill in the bar later, think the bill came to 85Euros…blimey.

At the bar, the "Bar a Vin", which turned out to be the Champagne wine bar Brian lived above, he ordered a bottle of rose, and more French beer for me, it was a really nice place, lots of the “In” crowd there with their very attractive trophy wives and girlfriends, stayed till around midnight then said my goodbyes, paid the bill, only 30Euros, Brian said he would still be there for another couple of hours as he was buying a group of friend a round of champagne, which probably cost 40-50Euros, think I’m on the wrong salary range!. Got back to hotel about 00:30am and watched golf until I was too tired.

Had a better nights sleep and got up at 07:30am had shower and went for breakfast, same as day before, got back to room to start writing this blog, soon got bored with that after about an hour so went to back to lounge bar had coffee and read SharePoint 2010 Administration for another three hours, GEEK or what?.

Lunch time went down into town, first time I’d seen it in daylight, very nice but it was very cold and raining so went back to hotel to watched tele, watched England v Italy in the six nations and Arsenal v Wolves both in French as not much to see in English only BBC News and CNBC.

Another bad night for sleeping, must have woke up three or four times, was awake for a couple of hours when the alarm went off at 07:30am. Had a long bath and went down for breakfast.

Decided about 10:00am to take a wander down town to see how far the station was, took about 25 minutes, but it was against a very cold wind. Took some snaps along the way but my camera phone isn't the best.

Back at hotel did my "GEEK" thing again for an hour or two, then had a coffee while watching the golf.

Had to book hotel for another night as didn't want to have take suitcase to work on Monday, going to have to find new hotel for Tuesday onwards though as this one is fully booked.

Tried to find another hotel on-line but the only ones in my price range didn't have a booking page, so had to go out again to find them, found one hotel which had no-one in reception, I found an old guy behind the bar, but he didn't speak English, so went to the other hotel "Hotel Bristol" which looked proper ropey so had to give up there as well.

Both times I've walked into town - over 2km each way, I hardly saw a shop or restaurant open, and only passed a few people. so thinking Valenciennes is mostly closed on Sunday's, I thought while I was in town this time I'd pop into "Carrefour City" the local supermarket to get some beer and nibbles, the wine & beer in there was something else, so much choice and at least half the price of alcohol at home.

It took so long to get all the way down to town, as I was walking back through centre again about 19:00pm guess what it was lit up like a Christmas Tree, this town doesn't get going till after 7. My feet were now in "Throb" mode and I was sure I had a blister from walking on all the cobbles, oh yeah forgot to say this whole town is cobbled, not good for arthritic feet, so rather than sit in a Brasserie with my shopping I'd go back to the hotel, that was a mistake, as when I left the hotel earlier I could hear lots of chanting from the football stadium about 1/2km away, as I was walking back they were all coming out, so I had to walk against a tidal wave of a few thousand Valenciennes football supporters, all cheering and shouting, you wouldn't believe the number of times I had to jump into the road to get out of the way!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY - OR NOT!

After all that walking yesterday I woke up with a swollen ankle, I managed to get myself down to breakfast quite early about 6:45am as I had to walk to work today. I never thought I'd say this but Fresh French bread, cheese and ham etc. can get pretty boring after a few days, so only had a nibble and coffee.

By the time I'd finished getting my things together to get of to work it had started raining, which was great, anyway armed with my map I limped off. I had to take a route I've never gone before so as it was still dark, took a bit of guess work and luck, the pavements, or lack of them were really a pain in my foot, it was like walking through a building site for 2km. The office should have been about 20 minutes away but with my ankle took 30, I arrived a bit wet.

Just to add to my lovely day now seem to have chest infection - coughing, wheezing and sore throat.

Was in meeting this morning with the big boys of Microsoft, blimey nearly understood what they were talking about then - not!

I have only one night left at the hotel I'm staying, so spent all of my lunchtime looking for an affordable hotel within easy reach of the office, no luck, don't know what to do now, got two choices - 1. book into an expensive one, about 100 Euro s a night or 2. catch train home.

Spoke to the Microsoft team leader and emailed his boss to say I was having trouble getting a hotel, also spoke with Bernadette from the agency, nothing came from any of it though.

Limped back to hotel, foot not so bad now.

Think my foot was OK because I had been walking after sitting around in the hotel for a bit, it really started to hurt again, sat in bath for 30 mins - seems ok again.

Steven picked me up from hotel, we got to office at 08:00am, help-----still have to find hotel.

OK it's 11:30am and it now seems even the expensive hotels are fully booked, problem or what!

Getting really fed up now not a lot of help from anyone here, and checked for trains home, but one way is £186 on the day.

Right guess what I've had to do now, I've had to book 2 nights in a hotel in Belgium, in a little place called Saint-Ghislain, right out in the middle of nowhere with no internet, going to have to read my book then, which also means no updates or messenger until Thursday now. Steven has asked on of the other Microsoft guys that lives in Mons to pick me up, he said OK but it will be early about 07:00am, I also booked back into my original hotel until Monday.

The HR woman here told me she thinks the Grand Hotel down the road does "Residences" - rented property.

Went to the Grand Hotel and asked about it and the woman on reception thought there was a room available @ 885 Euro s a month and showed me how to get there on the map, the building was right across town, I went there but it was closed, if I intend to stick this out, I'm going to have to sort it out soon.

Is it me or is all this a pain in the *rse

ok when I though it couldn't get worse, yep it did, this so called hotel (with bar & restaurant) isn't exactly what it says on the can. It turns out it's actually a pizza house in th middle of a shopping precinct, a shopping precinct that closes about 18:00pm and as I got here at 19:00pm was almost in darkness, we had to drive around a couple of times as we couldn't read the shop names in the dark, when we found it I got out and got my bags from the car and waved Steven goodbye.

Big mistake, I got to the door and found the place in total darkness, I banged on doors and windows and wandered around the back and looked through the windows there too, after about 10 minutes in the freezing cold wind, I noticed a note on the door, and although it was in French managed to work out that it said if closed ring this number, which I did and got someone who didn't speak Engish then someone that almost did got on the phone he said have you a reservation I said yes and he said he would be there in 10 minutes.

20 minutes later when he did turn up he said that the restaurant and bar didn't open until March, and if I wanted food there was a pasta bar down the road, he asked if I wanted breakfast I yes at 06:30am he said OK and showed me the stairs to my room and left, turning the lights of on his way leaving me in almost total darknes, I had to turn my phone on to get enough light to find the switch again, I got to my room and the last incumbant must have been a smoker because it really smelled, well it was nearly 19:30pm and I was tired, cold and fed up, but thought I'd better go and find the pasta place, it took about 20 minutes of walking around and when I got there it was open but there was no one around all the lights were on but the room was freezing so there was no way anyone was doing any cooking, so I gave up and went back.

The television in the room had about 5 channels, but luckily enough one of them was the football, so spent the rest of the night watching the Spurs match.