A planning day!

Monday is a none conference day for us as we need to sort out our workshop for tomorrow afternoon!! There are 4 of us (2 nurses & 2 physios) who run the lower bowel dysfunction workshop (apologies to those with a sensitive disposition, but problems are a fact of life for many people worldwide).

We have redesigned the programme this year because we expect many delegates to have English as a second language and may struggle to understand us, so back to basics and proceed from there. I've got the assessment and investigations slot (which I have already prepared) and T & J follow on from me so we need to make sure that it is seamless and no gaps in the information.

Having got everything done we set off for the conference centre to load our presentations and check that they run. P & T went on a shopping trip whilst J & I headed back to the apartment to get ready for the Chairman's dinner this evening. As J chairs our workshop she gets an invite and I attend as her guest, as thank for all the organising I do for our trips (and my ability to herd cats!!). We were galloping down the road at 4.30pm when we realised that the last food intake was breakfast at 9am, so called in to McDonald's for a chicken burger, to eat on the move. It's years since I've been in McD's and it tasted soooo good!!

The dinner was somewhere in Beijing (obviously) and a very posh venue, as shown through the window. The food was interesting, but not very filling!! The posh chopsticks had a metal end which made them very unbalanced (my excuse for being rubbish at handling them). I think I expended more energy trying to get food into my mouth, than the calorie content of the food. A most enjoyable evening catching up with friends and meeting new people.

Back to the apartment with some difficulty as the taxi drivers don't speak English and cannot recognise where our apartment block is on the map!!

Whilst we all enjoy a J&T and catch up on the news, I get some agreement on what we plan to do on Saturday and Sunday, so go on line to book trips. The wall on Saturday and the Zoo on Sunday!!! We hope........