A Europe A2K Gathering in May 2005

As you know more about London than I do, CI, I'm not much use venue-wise! Will keep an eye on the thread though for updates.

It's an effort to get those guys in London to come up with suggestions on venues and times, so we'll have to play by air...

I put the Lippstadt dates into my calendar. Wouldn't want to miss the chance to meet Dys, Diane, C.I. and Walter! So it is most likely that I will come - probably without BigDice, though... :-(

Walter, I'll contact you about a hotel room when I know for sure.

Okay - PM'ed you.

Thanks! :-)

Avec plaisir!

urs is coming to Walter's too! GREAT!

I wouldn't want to miss the chance to meet you, C.I.! So actually I am 99 % sure I will be there. Oh good - I am so looking forward to that!

lurking and listening!

If I get there it will probably be about September (otrher things going OK)

All these people going to England, and no-one's talking about the cricket. Surely you wouldn't pass up seeing the world champion team clobber some upstart wannabes???

Tak, I appreciate your desire to have a firm plan to look forward to but we are still talking about something about 20 weeks away!

Just to check - Sunday 1 May seems to be preferred. The Cheshire Cheese should be open 12pm-3pm (according to the website) but the Cellar bar is closed at weekends, except for private bookings. I don't think we'll have enough people to book it out and it could get expensive.

There's no reason we shouldn't meet there, however, although a Sunday in London should really include a roast for lunch!

Is daytime better for most people? Gautam and I can look into options apart from the Cheese and circulate. Having the time firmly in our diaries is the first step - place can come later!

Very much looking forward to seeing you all.

KP

kitchenpete, It's still 20 weeks away, but I like to make plans more than 20 weeks ahead of time, because I hate the unknowns of my life... Actually, just needed to hear somebody in London was gonna take on the responsibility for finding us a place and time - not that we needed to know right now. Now that you have appeared on the 'scene' to look into options, my mind is now at ease. Thank you! c.i.

What ? You did not trust me to arrange a good time, however short the notice was ?

You're not known as Good Time Gautam for nothing!

Just booked my flights:

I'm in London on that weekend - full days are Saturday and Sunday, returning Monday evening (and arriving Friday night).

[Noticed again the great advantage of living in the UK: when a public holiday is on a Sunday, you get it back - while here, you have just bad luck . (But that's obvioulsy the reason that my plane nearly is full even by now!)]

Steve (and most probably Mrs. Steve) will join the meeting of course, too.

I'll go by the TGV 'Eurostar'!

Walter

"May Day" is always celebrated on the first Monday in May, here in the UK, rather than on 1 May...just the way it is: a guaranteed holiday.

Different countries have different attitudes to holidays - I know that there a a French expression "faire le pont" which means to take off Friday, when Thursday is a holiday. So common, it has its own term! Does the same happen in Germany? I think Belgium & Switzerland have the same principle.

KP

Oh yes, kp, we do that, too - build bridges. We call it Brückentage. I just read that we have 12 holidays per year in Baden-Württemberg where I live. But of course that only works if none of these days is a Sunday like May 1...

urs, The big difference between Germany and the US is the fact that Germans enjoy 3-4 weeks of vacation every year, while the typical American gets 2 weeks. As for holidays, it's probably close to 12 for most Americans.

I hardly dare to write this, C.I. We have 30 vacation days per year which equals six weeks! I work in an international company so we have very big differences within the company. In Sweden, it is the employees' right to take four weeks off in a row which a lot of people do. So in July it seems like all of Sweden is on vacation. Then in August, Germany and France are closed down.

By law, we get a guaranteed minimum of 24 working days for vacation - most tariffs give however more, up to 32 days.

Public holidays vary from state to state (urs has got one today, we don't ), about 12 to 15, if I'm not too wrong.