Summer Holidays

IMG_0854 I told SWMBO that you would have to be soft in the head to go away in Australia between Christmas and New Year because it is the peak of the peak season.

So we went away on Boxing Day to a little retreat some three hours north of Sydney. Can you guess what we did whilst we were there?

A nice time was had by all, we are all a lot closer to the after sun bottle and a little bit tired, but the venue was nice, the pool warm and the dolphins in the bay plentiful. We even managed to watch the first season of Saxondale on my laptop on the balcony of our room in the evenings. Which was nice. If you haven’t seen it is definitely worth a view.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you one and all. Here’s hoping that your day is as festive as you could possibly want and that your present pile doesn’t contain too many socks. For the first time in many years mine today contained absolutely none, although I did receive a couple of ties and some cuff links from SWMBO.

Recently

Things that I have done recently, in no particular order;

  • Pre-ordered the new Marillion album
  • Acquired a Blackberry
  • Introduced JFGP to the concept of months
  • Started using my new laptop almost exclusively at work
  • Bought some Christmas presents for my immediate family
  • Addressed and sent Christmas cards to the UK – if yours hasn’t turned up I can only blame the postal services of our respective countries
  • Given up my Blackberry
  • Addressed and sent Christmas cards locally – if yours hasn’t turned up don’t hold your breath
  • Completed the first 13 puzzles of the Python Challenge (again)
  • Avoided attending a Wiggles concert. Luckily the ankle biters didn’t miss me and had a whale of a time.

Tis the Season

The decorations have been up in the shops for weeks and the temperature is rising day by day but it hasn’t really much felt like Christmas. Until today, when I cooked up a batch of my homemade mincemeat. All I need to do now is persuade SWMBO to whip up some pastry and we will be knee deep in festive mince pies.

Ding, dong the bells are ringing.

P.S. We appear to have skipped November in this diary, sorry about that.

What Bandwagon?

What Bandwagon?There have been a couple of good games of rugger recently. JFGP and MIGO decided that they need to show their true colours. Altogether now – “Swing low, sweet chariot”

Updated Schedule

Due to a few conflicts I’ve updated the schedule for our upcoming trip. You can find the details on the where are we? page of this here web site.

News item the first. I’ll be in Exmouth for my birthday. Anybody fancy a pub crawl for old time’s sake – I’m looking in your direction Mr 70’s throwback, no pressure.

News item the second. I’ve negotiated a pass out to go drinking in London on the evening of Thursday the 18th of October. Anyone like to join me, and if you do can you suggest a decent venue? I was thinking of swigging some fruit based drinks at Cubana for old time’s sake but I am prepared to have my head turned by alternate venues. Let me know in the comments.

Fences and other creatures

FencesWe’ve had some visitors to Sydney recently. Whilst I’m sure they had a lovely time it is nice to see the back of them, and their fence. I just wonder if the extraordinary police powers are going to disappear quite so quickly.

In other news, I’ve lost my job. Fear not, gentle reader, for that simply means that I get to go to the UK for slightly longer next month. If you would like to catch up with us whilst we are shivering in the northern Autumn you can find our movements on this page.

If you live in London I’ve negotiated a pass out to the pub on the evening of Thursday the 18th of October. Can anyone suggest a suitable venue?

Nicknames

CRW_7210.jpgIt’s taken over two years but finally we have a nickname for the youngest member of the team. Unlike JFGP and his Mum this one took a little bit of bedding down.

May I introduce you to MIGO Todd. This one isn’t an acronym so if you hover your cursor over the word there is no magic explanation. It’s just what he says. Usually when you are holding something he wants. Sometimes it even relates to food as you can see in the accompanying photograph.