Gibraltar

So finally after 13 years of being a trainer and doing onsite courses in boring places (office buildings around the country) and the odd quirky one (a pretend castle, and a building which was once a telephone exchange, then a film set for "The Bill", finally a business centre with a catering company upstairs where their kitchens burst into flame each week - which they did) I was given an exciting one. Gibraltar.

I've never been to Gibraltar before - or Spain, for that matter - so it was all new and strange and I was a little bit scared. Anyway, the day came and I caught the 7.20 from Manchester to Gibraltar, which was also the first time I'd travelled overseas on my own. I'm a big boy now. After about two and a half hours we landed, and there, over to my left, was The Rock.

It's very big and covered with cloud due to a weather system everybody in Gib seems keen to tell you about. It is called the Levant and (warning: this is going to get a bit geographical / meteorological) essentially the wind blows moist air over the Mediterranean towards Gibraltar and as it hits the Rock it rises, cools, and condenses as cloud, so the Rock often has a cap of the stuff sitting over the top. Anyway, the cloud was only there on the first day, which made it slightly murky at times and rather chilly in the evening.

I was staying in The Rock Hotel which gets varied reviews on Trip Advisor but was actually quite nice. It is, however, up a very steep hill and a good 25-30 minutes walk from where I was working, so by the time I arrived in the morning I was slightly weary, but it was downhill so that was fine. Going back at night though, in a suit, carrying a laptop... Well, as soon as I got home I washed my suit.

The course was typical for an onsite course in that it wasn't set up correctly, the room was a mess - trailing cables everywhere, and a big red trolley I had to keep climbing over - and the students didn't really want to be there, but I soldiered on regardless like the trooper I am.

Gibraltar itself is a strange place. I was going out for meals at about 8PM and it was deserted. I'd pick a nice restaurant and find there was me and maybe four other people in there. Coming back at 10ish I'd see nobody at all. Restaurants close at 10PM. The shops are a mixture of local businesses plus the likes of M&S, Mothercare, Next, Accessorize, Peacocks, Monsoon... The thing I liked best was the language as locals use a weird mixture of Spanish and English, switching between the two mid-sentence, so it goes something like:

"hbkhb hbkjhbkgh bnbkhkhg bkbk kjbkb kjbk slapped him in the face jbkbk kbhkjh bkjhbkjhbk jkhbkbh about quarter past five jkhbkhb kbk bygb jkbk ijhljkbll banjo."

Note the authentic Spanish there.

On the Saturday we went up the Rock, walking all the way as the cable car was closed due to high winds. It's quite a hike, very steep once you branch off the main road, but once you get to the top there's not a soul there and the views are ace:

And the place is FULL of barbary apes, which don't bother you unless you bother them.

All in all it was a rather different venue for an onsite course, and although I'm not sure if I'd go back to Gibraltar again I'm glad I've seen it.

Next week's course: Manchester.