Two

It is a tale of two cities, really, my professional life over the last couple years. About two years ago, one of the principals on the project I had been assigned to came up to me and asked what my opinion of long-term international travel was. And oh, by the way, did I have a valid passport? She would not be pressed for details however and so I toddled on down to AAA to get a passport photo taken, then off to the post office to apply for the travel documents and the rest, as they say, is history.

On the one side of the Atlantic, (the side to which I had never been prior to November 2004) I have an office (albeit a temporary office) in an old converted factory overlooking the Thames. The Ferry Works, gets its name from the fact that back in the 19th century, the building was the home of a manufacturing plant that built ferry boats to operate on the Thames. My office is on what was the factory floor near where the completed boats were pushed out and floated in the river. The Ferry Works is in a beautiful little village, a suburb of London called Thames Ditton and is just about everything that the first-time visitor to the UK could expect.

The streets are way too narrow for parking upon, which does not actually stop the locals from parking on them, all but obstructing completely the flow of traffic. The buildings are quaint and old. The church (which, incidentally is older than my entire country) is the center of the village. There are more pubs than you could throw a scone at; and of course, not too far away is a chip shop.

On the other side of the Atlantic (well beyond the other side of the Atlantic... Closer to the Pacific, in fact!) I have an office in a modern steel and glass high-rise in downtown Denver.

Bby contrast, Denver is young and vibrant. Younger, in fact, than some of the cars I have seen on the roads around here! (Okay, not really... But younger than some of the trains I have been on! Really!) It is bustling, noisy, crowded, and a great place to work. There is every conceivable form of fast food you might want to try, and a Weight Watchers meeting every day of the week around lunchtime to help you recover from the plentiful abundance of said fast food.

My offices in both cities have the added benefit of having eastern exposures. Again, of course, on the one side it is looking out at an island filled with million-pound homes that is accessible only via boat and footbridge. On the other side of the Atlantic, over a run-down area of urban Denver and beyond into eastern Colorado. I joke that I have a view of Kansas, but that is just a joke. Kansas is beyond the horizon, even from the forty-first floor.

Apart from being two completely different worlds with two completely different feels, it is pretty much the same; I show-up before sunrise most days, work long hours, head home later and then have fun with my friends. It is comfortable whichever city I am in.

Wherever you are, I hope that you find yourself in comfortable circumstances.

Don Bergquist - 14-April-2006 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, United Kingdom