Today is ‘Altweiber’, which means the start of the german karneval – traditionally allowing ladies to cut off ties of any male person or colleague. Indeed the morning in the TA Europe office in Essen was spent cutting the tie of our Technical Director and listening to the ‘Tusch Maschine’ of the bosses daughter. The team is ending the day in one of the local bars with a few drinks to get into the spirit of the season and is fortunate to have an extra day off on Rosenmontag, to spend time with family and friends to enjoy the Rosenmontag parades in the Düsseldorf and Essen area – any calls are answered and dealt with by our colleagues in the Berlin office.