Friday 24th January 2014. A trip on the Orient Express. To celebrate the birthday of our good friend Dr. Pat Crimmin, my wife Mary and I took her on a journey of unashamed luxury. Excellent food, we spent four hours travelling through the Surrey countryside … we even whistled through Egham, our home town.

Spent afternoon of 23rd January 2014 with ADMIS alumnus Pavlo Tanasyuk at the L39 technology accelerator in Canary Wharf. Then in the evening a brass quintet concert at the Barbican. Pavlo has some fascinating business ideas relating to e-money, so my lectures didn’t completely fall on deaf ears.

My good friend Mrs Radha Bhatia, Chairperson of the Bird Group, had given me an open invitation to look around the Bird Hospitality hotel in London: the Royal Park, at 3 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 3UL. On Friday 17th January 2014 I finally had the opportunity to visit this fabulous boutique hotel. I had the pleasure of being given a guided tour by Lina Stahl, a Director of Bird Hospitality. This delightful and charming young lady took two hours out of her very busy schedule to show me around. I was most impressed by the efficiency of the staff, the quality of the fixtures and fittings, and the Regency decor of the rooms was exactly right, tastefully designed to match the classical architecture of the building. Every aspect the hotel emanated class. Take a virtual tour at www.theroyalpark.com and see for yourself. I will be directing all my friends there.

And speaking of Mrs Bhatia, here is a picture of her and I prior to us having tea with the British High Commissioner to India, Sir James Bevan.

A great night out at the Barbican. On the 10th of January 2014 I invited two of my successful PhD students to join me at a violin concert given by Maxim Vengerov. Here we see Spiros Samonas and Daniel Osei Joehene in a photograph taken by Sasha Koloskov, an ADMIS student from 2010 who also attended the concert.