Watching...

Today it felt like I spend the day watching as I saw the terrible news of the Airbus crash in France unfold. My thoughts tonight are preoccupied with the loved ones of everyone aboard the fateful Germanwings flight.

This screensaver photograph is of Waffles, an Asian Brown Owl, one of the newest birds at the castle. It felt like Waffles was watching me while I had a flurry of conference calls this morning, which was comforting as my mind kept going back to the tragic news and who might be affected.

My heart sank when I saw the news break on Reuters. I used to fly with the airline frequently when I worked 8.5 years for Mazda, whose European HQ is located in Cologne.

I'm praying all my former colleagues and friends in Cologne and other offices around Europe are unaffected. Hope to hear back from the friends I messaged tomorrow....

A former motor industry colleague of mine was a passenger onboard the fateful Air France flight 447 from Brazil in 2009 so it brought back all the memories of fielding media and industry colleague calls and the emotions associated with that, most of all seeing the dramatic rippling affect of how many people were affected by the loss of that one individual.

As a private pilot and daughter of an aircraft engineer I have some understanding of the technical, meteorological and stress factors that contribute to aviation accidents and like many aviators I'm sure I will be among many running through various options and scenarios in my head trying to make some sense of it.

I escaped my desk to make a cup of tea once in 8.5 hours today as I worked on news bulletins, media lists and PR planning.
I had hoped for some fresh air to escape the desk for a while but there was no chance today.

Another busy few days ahead with lots of report writing, meetings and calls planned. Some exciting new client meetings coming up and hopefully a brief visit to Brands Hatch to catch up with motorsport contacts too - if I can squeeze it into the agenda!

Update 25/03 - News just in from my friends in Cologne. All my former colleagues and friends are safe. The offices were very quiet and in shock yesterday I'm told.

Note: Fell asleep halfway through writing today's Blip and woke up to find I'd managed to delete the whole thing so apologies if today's blip jumps about a bit.