Hello, hello, I'm back again

It's been rather a long time since my last posting to this blog. Apologies, all my faithful readers.

Part of the reason for the gap is that I've started doing some English teaching for the Chamber of Commerce here in Castres. My work is individual coaching for business managers who need to improve their English. All my students work for the CCI's biggest client, and Castres' biggest company, the Laboratoires Pierre Fabre. It's rather extraordinary that a modest-sized town like Castres is the headquarters of an international pharmaceutical company which employs over 9,000 people worldwide. It was founded by Pierre Fabre, who ran a pharmacist's shop in central Castres, in 1961. Nearly 50 years later, he's still going strong as the major shareholder and absolute boss. He's invested heavily in the town too, including the Castres Olympique rugby club and a local paper, Le Journal d'Ici.

Since I am supposed to 'simulate business situations' with my students, I am rapidly finding out about all sides of the company: IT projects, recruitment of graduate trainees, accounting, environmental regulation, product marketing, patents, logistics. I now know about the REACH regime for handling of chemicals, the CMMI software engineering standards, and the differences between filing patent applications in Europe and the US.

It makes a change from practising music, which is also keeping me busy. My next concert is in Vénès, near Castres, playing music for cello and guitar/theorbo with Lowri on 24 July. Then Sambuca and the Chuckerbutty Ocarina Quartet in Zagreb on 29 and 31 July, followed by the COQ in Bled (Slovenia) on 1 August. That's three different programmes, of which two are from memory. Always good to have a challenge.

p.s. follow the title link...