Let me explain...

Seattle is 8 hours behind the UK, so its just 7am and I write this, although I have been up since 6, today is going to be fun, fun in that way that repeatidly slamming your genitiles in a fridge door gets you really set up for the day. So what was somebodyu I work with doing calling me at 6am? Even though I was up and had turned on my phone, that is NOT THE BLOODY POINT!

When the schedule for this trip was finalised, one of my co-workers turned to me and said, "David? Are you, by chance, a Catholic?" How on Earth did she guess?

I have a conference call at 7.30am, then a breakfast meeting at 8.30 and meetings through to this evening; if my boss gets his way we'll have a client facing meal this evening. Then we fly tomorrow morning at 9.30 for Taiwan for 3 days of pretty serious meetings too.

*sigh* This is not fun.

Tonight, however, after everything is finished, I will be drunk.

Coffee, look guys its not THAT hard

Coffee. I am reminded of the old joke today sipping my coffee, "this coffee is a bit like making love in a canoe. It's fucking close to water..."

I used to wonder how American's could drink so much black coffee - I used to work in Paris and if you could drink that coffee black you'd need to tie a rope around your leg to keep you off the ceiling for the rest of the day.

I now know that the black stuff served in huge vats and the little satchetts in hotel room coffee machines is actually slightly brown water with a hint of flavour. I can't even begin to wonder what the de-cafe version is for, I can't see what caffine could be in the "real" stuff.

For a country that prides itself on the quality of its food, I cannot understand this problem with a simple beverage. Not when you can now get some really nice beers.