[Cyclefrance]

Yep, first training trip of 2008, and it's a no-holds-barred whopper of a journey to Almaty in Kazakhstan where I will be training around 50 or so oil industry people from the new and old Soviet block in the wonders of tanker shipping and operations plus (a new one for me) oil storage and pipelines (hey, you at the back, did I see you nodding off already? - well hold on a bit, when I travel things have a habit of going more than slightly askew!)

Leave lunchtime armed, as usual, with laptop and digital camera. So be ready for a blow-by-blow account of all things wonderful and otherwise about my journey and short-ish stay there (fly back on Friday - that's Good Friday as well - such dedication to the cause!)

I think it's going to be interesting......