Dear Janie,
What’s it like to be back in Europe? I’m presuming you’ve made it back at least that far by now, especially if you’re going to visit ten European cities before starting back at work next month. If you haven’t yet then it must be soon, because when I had lunch with Sam last week he said he was going to meet you in Prague next weekend. He must like you a lot to go out there just for the weekend!

Things have been hectic here. We had our department team-building trip last week. Twenty-six of us arrived at the Mantringham Executive Conference Centre hoping that the bar would be open, to be greeted by warm orange squash, custard cream biscuits, and the news that we just had time to take our bags up the three flights of stairs to our dormitories before we set off on our first exercise. I’d had enough exercise by the time I’d carried my rucksack upstairs.

Ten minutes later we were standing in the lobby being assigned teams. I was in the blue team with Emma from IT, Pete and Xander from sales, Jenny from reception and Mr MacAndrew. Amy begged me to swap because she was a red and her sash didn’t go with her burnt umber hair colouring. She was out of luck, though, as Harry the team leader wouldn’t let us. I was quite glad really as I liked my group. Uber Boss was also a red and was desperate for to be a blue because he’s a big fan of Mrs Thatcher. He made such a fuss about not being a red that in the end Harry gave in and let the blues become reds and the reds blues. He had to give in because Amy was holding her breath and going purple in the face. That would have gone with red or blue, but it clashed awfully with her hair!

Each team was given a map, a compass, a task and a packet of clues. The theme was magic and mystery and our task was to locate "Merlin’s lost wand" and return it to its rightful owner. There was a packet of clues as well but they were really hard. We sat round for what felt like ages trying to work it all out when all the other teams had dashed off looking like they knew what they were doing. It was really funny watching Pete and Xander who are so competitive with one another trying to work together especially when neither of them had a clue about any of it and wouldn’t let on to the other one. I had my single flash of inspiration when I realised that the clue talking about a spice meant mace, which also meant a wand. After that something clicked and we were hot on the trail!

Eventually we found ourselves forming a human chain into the river to rescue a piece of broom handle with a plastic ball on the end (yes, you've guessed it - "Merlin’s wand"). We were so excited that we’d managed it that we dashed back inside without thinking how wet we were. We made an awful mess of the parquet floor. We felt a bit silly when we realised. But not as silly as when we discovered that although we'd won we hadn’t actually been meant to wade out into the river… there was a boat we were supposed to use. Still, it was nice to win something. We got little plastic medals to take home with us.

The new blue team didn’t come back until hours after everyone else. I haven’t told anyone else this but that’s because Perry had spotted their treasure and hidden it under Uber Boss’s Jaguar in the car park. Uber Boss was determined to win and had kept the rest of the team out until after dark trying to find a plaster of paris dragon’s egg. He did find it eventually - when he reversed his car out of its space just before he set off for home!

After dinner we sat around playing board games and drinking hot chocolate. There wasn’t a bar but Perry had brought whiskey with him and kept us topped up. I wasn’t allowed to go to bed until we had finished our game of trivial pursuits (I’m still trying to explain how I could name all the members of Boyzone) so it was after midnight when I staggered up to our dormitory. I wasn’t exactly wild about the idea of sleeping in dormitories in case I snored and kept people awake, but it turned out to be fine as I slept like a baby. It could have been the exercise and fresh air but I think it was probably the whiskey.

Going away and doing lots of things I wouldn’t normally do set me thinking about doing other things out of the ordainary for me. I found myself in the travel agents yet again last week and suddenly travelling didn’t seem like something that other people did. I haven’t been as brave as you but I have taken the plunge! I've booked myself an open-ended return to America! Can you imagine, me going coast to coast on my own? I can’t quite believe I’ve done it. Mr MacAndrew said I could have unpaid leave for a year which was incredibly nice of him, and I leave next month. I’m so excited!

I’m just sorry that I won’t get to see you when you come back, but you’ll have to come out to the States for a holiday while I’m there. And we can still stay in touch by e-mail. You’ll have to write and tell me how things are going with the job - just like I've been doing for the last six months! Funny how things work out, eh! But, Janie - don’t get too comfy, I’ll want that seat back soon enough!

Wish me luck! I’m going on an adventure, just like you.

Lots of love,

Kerry

xxx

EB