Paris in the moonlight

This week I was in Paris for work. I was able to grab a couple of personal moments this trip, enabling me to see a little more than just the hotel or office. On Wednesday evening, the team went for dinner by Fontaine de Mars, literally in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. After dinner we went for a walk to the Tower itself. As you can see it was brilliantly lit, literally glowing in the night sky.


At the base of the tower were hundreds of Barcelona Football Club fans celebrating their club's win in this year's European League Football Cup. The final had been played in Paris earlier that evening. This was a game to remember. Barcelona had scored its winning goal against Arsenal in the final ten minutes after trailing for the entire game. Controversially, the referee had also sent Arsenal's goalkeeper off 18 mintues into the first half. Debate will rage over this particular decision for years to come. However, for the crowd at the tower this was all history as they lit brilliant red flares, danced and sung their club's anthem.

It was really was one of those moments when you know you're in Europe. There I was, an Australian, standing under the Effiel Tower with a French man and German woman beside me watching Spainsh football fans celebrate their win over an English football club.

The Arc de Triumphe from the back of a taxi.

I was also able to experience the passion of Arsenal's fans. My Eurostar train from London had been packed with Arsenal supporters on their way to the game. Upon arrival at Gare de Nord in Paris, we were given a wonderful taste of the impending stadium atmosphere. As the fans disembarked they began singing their club song at full volume, each verse echoing through the station. The English love their football.

During my final evening in Paris I caught the train into the La Defense for dinner. Afterwards I took a moment to to wander around the Grande Arche plaza, soaking up the atmosphere and savouring the moment. It's not often that I get time to enjoy the signts when travelling for business so this latest trip to Paris was rather special. I particularly loved the statue located directly underneath the main arch. You can see it below. It's a guy with binoculars looking skyward.

Clean as a whistle

We've found an excellent cleaner for the house. Patsy is a Jamaican-born woman who cleaned our serviced apartment when we were staying in Little Venice. Finding her has been a real coup.

Garry and I had a terrific cleaner in Australia, one of those people you never want to lose once you find them. Finding an equal in London was always going to be a challenge. Garry successfully convinced Patsy to come and clean for us a few days a week after watching her work at Little Venice. She's delightful. Last week as I was preparing to fly to Munich she stopped for a moment to proudly share some photos of her pre-school son.

Patsy's only been working for two weeks but already you can see the difference. The pile of ironed shirts alone is a huge a relief. Finally, my choice of shirts isn't dictated by what's ironed and what's not.

Talking of cleaning. We took the car to get washed today. It's been sitting under a flowering tree for several days that's shed sticky pollen and flowers by the truckload. The stems and petals were up to five centimetres deep in places. After washing the car we discovered that we've been victims of a classic petty crime. Someone has keyed several panels, damaging the paintwork. Welcome to the big city.

Our first five months

Wellington Arch (not Marble Arch)

Today marks the start of our sixth month in London. It's hard to believe that its been five months since landing at Heathrow, seven months since leaving Sydney. It's been an incredible experience so far. I'm not sure how to encapsulate so many memories (this blog aside of course).

Simple things hold memories as much as our global trek. For example, we've watched the weather morph through two seasons, with a third clearly on the way. We arrived in the dead of winter, a time when it grew dark at 4pm and snow fell, then watched spring flowers appear. Over the last ten days the temperates have soared into the 20s. Tube rides have started to become hot and sweaty, while at home we're leaving windows open throughout the day.

Barge tunnel - Regent's Canal

Last night was also a magic moment. I flew back from Munich after a long day in the office. The final approach into Heathrow took me low and slow over central London affording a stunning view of almost every city landmark. The flight path took us past Greenwich, the Millenium Dome, Tower Bridge, London Eye, the neon lights of Piccadilly Circus, Regent's Canal, Parliament, Buckingham Palace and Kew Gardens. Each sight had its own personal memory, making everything really feel like home for the first time. I was also reminded of how lucky I am and how amazing my life is.

Sculpture outside the Dali Museum.

Since October I've been in the USA, Canada, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Jordan, Austria, Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Spain - sometimes for work but still incredible when you stop to reflect! Garry and I have also seen and done plenty in London. Plenty of live theatre, Windsor Castle, Kew Gardens, Greenwich and Soho to name a few highlights. It's truly been an amazing time.

Today we're planning a few regular activities; washing the car, buying groceries, collecting dry-cleaning and maybe catching a movie. It's not all glamour and travel at Swiss Cottage.

An afternoon with the Queen

The Queen was in residence at Windsor Castle today. At least that what her royal standard flag indicated when we dropped by this afternoon - along with several thousand other tourists. Sadly she wasn't receiving guests so Garry, Rachael and I spent several hours touring the castle grounds and State Apartments alone.

We started our day with a coffee at Paddington station. As we sat sipping cappuccinos was I finally able to locate the famous Paddington Bear statue. It's located just outside Krispy Creme Donuts. Where else would you find a chubby little bear?

The train to Windsor took about 45 minutes via Slough, a town made famous in the television show, "The Office". Windsor station itself is a delightful Victorian precinct, faithfully restored in 1999. We stopped here for a traditional lunch of fish and chips and then made our way to the castle. A short walk up gentle hill takes you to one of the most wonderful castle vistas you're ever likely to experience. The roadway itself is guarded by a rather imposing statue of Queen Victoria, sternly watching over the town below.

Windsor Castle is said to be the largest inhabited castle in the world and the oldest in continuous occupation. It was originally built by William the Conqueror who reigned from 1066 until his death in 1087. His original wooden castle stood on the site of the present Round Tower (shown below).

Our entrance ticket included a free audio tour which gave a crisp and nifty commentary on every sight we saw. Queen Mary’s four-story high doll house was a real highlight, along with the recently restored St George’s Hall (it was destroyed by fire in 1992, but rebuilt and opened again in 1996). We also enjoyed the suit of armour worn by Henry the Eighth in his later years. As he aged, Henry became a rather rotund man, very much evidenced by his noticably bulging belly amour.


Unfortunately St George’s Chapel was closed today. However, our entry ticket provides unlimited access to the castle and grounds for 12-months. We’ll use it to tour the chapel some other time. While we were unable to see inside, the grounds surrounding the chapel were simply radiant in the late afternoon sun.

Rachael and Andrew's Big Adventure

Rachael, my company's global HR director, is currently staying with Garry and I. Today Rachael and I decided to walk the Regent's Canal from Primrose Hill to Little Venice, a total distance of three miles. We set out from home, making our way to the canal via Primrose Hill. The view from the hilltop was as stunning as ever. If you look carefully, to the right of the BT tower you can see London Eye, yesterday's tourist highlight.



From here we wandered along Regent's Canal passing through the grounds of London Zoo, past the gardens of aging mansions and moored house boats. Late blossoms were still on display. Tour barges were also on active duty scattering ducks as they went. We eventually reached Little Venice where we discovered a wonderful cafe perched over one of the canal's many transit tunnels. We stopped here for coffee and a light lunch just as rain began to fall.

Regent’s Canal was opened in 1820. It was originally conceived as a transport backbone across North London. After an early burst of profitability the canal fell into disuse as railway reached the area. John Nash, the landscape designer responsible for Regent’s Park, built the canal. He’d originally intended to have it pass through the middle of the park. However public outcry forced him to alter its route. Locals were concerned that the colourful language of barge handler would offend residents enjoying the park’s surrounds. No such noises were noted today.

Once the weather cleared, we left our lunch venue and made our way past Little Venice to Paddington. At this point we’d planned to catch the tube to Waterloo. The previous night we’d placed Rachael’s laptop in storage at the station before visiting London Eye. As made our way underground Rachael suddenly realised she'd left her baggage receipt at home.

After a quick detour we were soon back on the tube. On approach to Waterloo, we made a spur of the moment decision to continue on to London Bridge station. Upon arrival we made our way to the riverside Thames Walk, following the river towards Tower Bridge. We made a 1.5 mile circuit across Tower Bridge, past the Tower of London, on to Monument and finally back across the Thames to the tube.

Monument, designed by Christopher Wren, was erected between 1671 and 1677 to commemorate the 1666 Great Fire of London. The original fire started in a bakery near by, burned for three days, eventually wiping out 436 acres of central London. You can climb 311 spiraling stairs inside to an observation balcony 200 feet above the street. I've made a mental note to give this a go at some future date, but not today.

Perhaps the most memorable sight today was City Hall, seat of London's new local government, the Greater London Authority. This lop-sided oval building, completed in 2001, sits next to Tower Bridge. It was designed by famous English architect, Norman Foster, the same man that created Hong Kong's stunning airport terminal. Locals call it the egg - and you can even find a six-foot namesake sitting on the nearby Thames riverbank.

We've had a wonderful day, walking more than five miles passing many of London's famous sights.

An eye over London

I've been promising myself a ride on the London Eye for more than five years. Each time I've visited London I make plans to give it a go but have never seen them through. The Eye is a 135 metre high ferris wheel situated on the bank of Thames River. You climb aboard one of 32 large, glass capsules that slowly ascend into the air affording the most stunning views of inner London. Each capsule holds up to 25 people in air-conditioned comfort, taking approximately 30 minutes to complete a full rotation.

This evening Garry and I took Rachael, my company's global HR director, for 'flight' on the London Eye. Rachael is staying with us for a few days while she is working in the UK. We caught our 'flight' at 8pm - just in time to watch the sun set over the city (well, Wembley stadium actually).

Our 'flight' almost didn't happen thanks to a tube delay caused by the heatwave we've been experiencing this week. The temperature reached 27C at Heathrow yesterday. This "intense heat" buckles the rails forcing trains to travel slower than usual to avoid derailing. There was a huge debate in the paper today about this issue as the unions claim that the problem is caused by poor maintenance rather than heat.

Given that we experience temperatures in the 30s for months on end in Sydney I tend to agree with the unions. However I digress. Thanks to the tube delays we found ourselves racing for the ticket office to collect our tickets moments before the Eye closed for the night.

The last minute dash was worth it as the view from the Eye was truly spectacular. The Houses of Parliament were literally glowing in the evening sun, as was the dome of St Pauls cathedral. We even spotted where our house is located once Garry had identified a few neighbourhood landmarks.

An brief argument ensued at this point as I was convinced that we couldn't actually see the Eye from our house. Garry assured me that we could (and subsequently went on to prove his claim when we got home). For the record; we can see the wheel from our bedroom window. It's particularly noticable when lit up after dark.

From the Eye we wandered into town across the Westminster Bridge, past Big Ben and along the river embankment to Covent Garden. We stopped for dinner at Navajo Joe's, a mexican style gastro pub. Our first dish was particularly divine; lobster and mango nachos served on three niffy mini platters. The Vodka Caprioskas were also rather tasty. All in all, a most enjoyable evening.

Digital history in the making
This posting marks another digital first for me. The photos you see here were all taken with the camera on my mobile phone. I've finally worked out how to download these images. I guess I have access to a camera now wherever I go.

Room with a view

I've just returned from a three-day business meeting in New York. The venue was incredible. The conference room was located on the top floor of our hotel, the Kitano. The room came complete with its own rooftop balcony. The balcony offered stunning views of the Empire State Building, marking it a popular place for meal breaks and a quiet coffee. It's moments like this that remind me how lucky I am. While my job is hard work it also offers some amazing life experiences.


I also took some time out on Sunday to wander around around town, eventually ending up in Central Park. Every man, woman and their dogs were out in force. The Sheep Meadow was a sea of people such that the lawn had all but vanished. The final effect resembled a Woodstock revival with sun-seeking bodies lounging every where. The horse carriages were in action, as were the rollerbladers, cyclists and frisbee throwing gangs.

Covent Garden to Hyde Park

Garry and I took advance of today's sunny weather and went for a walk through Central London. We started our afternoon walk at Piccadilly Station and finished several hours later in Hyde Park. Our first stop was Soho, where I grabbed a quick haircut, then on to Covent Garden via Seven Dials.



We spent a delightful hour wandering the markets halls and watching street performers. On any given day you're guaranteed to see a gaggle of living statues (today's performers offered the full spectrum of statue colours including black, bronze and silver), jugglers and acrobats.


We stopped at Wagamama's for lunch, then dropped into the SANZA shop for a few quick snacks from home. A short walk soon had us fighting our way through the "Love Music Hate Racism" concert crowd in Trafalger Square. Nelson's Column is currently behind scaffolding as it under goes its latest cleaning and restoration. The noise of the band was deafening at the Square so we ducked down The Mall only to be confronted by rows of riot police waiting in nearby vans.

St James park was filled with families and couples enjoying the spring weather. It's clearly not summer yet. At least half of the rental deck chairs were empty (£2.00 for two hours resting in uncomfortable green stripe canvas). Buckingham Palace was attracting its usual horde of tourists and the surrounding parklands were filled with late blooming daffodils.

From here we crossed to Hyde Park Corner and Wellington Arch. The Australian War Memorial, dedicated in 2003, is located here. The flagstones are still covered in ANZAC day wreaths and floral tributes. It's odd to sense a piece of home so far from Sydney.

From here we caught the tube home in time to wash the SAAB. You can see it here, parked outside Swiss Cottage. You can see how quickly the trees are starting to green. The top two floors of windows on the left-hand side are our new home in London. The uppermost set of windows is home to the sunny nook in our main bedroom.

Leaving on a jet plane...

It's bank Holiday weekend in London. Our first truly British public holiday (as opposed to all of those popular Christian holidays at Christmas and Easter). Sadly, I'll be working. I fly to New York on Sunday for another executive team meeting, returning on Thursday morning. The following week I'll be in Munich for two days, then in Paris for two days the week after that. South Africa is also on the agenda, possibly at the end of May. As always, Garry will be holding the fort while I'm off destroying miles of ozone.

Garry and I also have some personal travel scheduled. We've booked flights back to Australia in early-August, thereby completing last year's RTW ticket. This will be our first trip back Down Under since departuring early-October. Our homeward journey will take place immediately after a long weekend in Prague celebrating a friend's 40th birthday. We literally fly back to Heathrow in time to catch our flights to Australia.

To break up the long flight we've scheduled three and a half days in Japan as a brief stopover. It's a whirlwind tour, but enough time for me to share some of my favourite highlights with Garry. We'll fly into Osaka (via Hong Kong) and catch the bullet train (Shinkensan) straight to Hiroshima (about two hours from the airport).

We'll then spend a full day in Hiroshima visiting:

• Peace Park and the epicentre of the WWII atom bomb explosion,
• the famous Shinto shrines of Miyajima, complete with scarlet torii gate and
• the classical Japanese arch bridge at Iwakuni, before returning to Hiroshima for a tasty Okonominyaki dinner.

Our second full day will take us via bullet train to:

• the white hilltop Shogun castle at Himeji,
• the buddist temples, Zen shrines and Shinto shrines of Kyoto. Then, after dinner at a local teppanyaki restuarant, we'll catch the evening bullet train to Tokyo, passing Fuji, the iconic mountain symbol of Japan.

Our final day in Japan will be spent in Tokyo:

• catching stunning city views from the Metropolitan Government Centre in Shinjuku (hoem to the world's busiest rail station),
• traversing the city's mind blogging department stores,
• exploring the wonders of Tsukiji fish market and,
• the people watching mecca of Shibuya before catching the train to Narita airport for our mid-evening flight home.

I think we'll be ready for some home comforts and pampering by the time we reach Australia. I'll head over to New Zealand for a few days before catching a flight to London via Sydney and Johannesburg. The stop in South Africa enables me to work, while breaking up the journey home. With luck we've have done enough travel for me to retain Gold status with Qantas Frequent Flyer, but sadly not enough travel to retain my Platinum level. I'll miss the First Class lounge!

Swiss Cottage - A Photo Essay

My new digital camera finally arrived today. As a quick test run I've taken some picture of Swiss Cottage's more famous locations including:

• the shelf from hell
• the sunny nook and
• the sofas that locked our neighbour out on his landing.

So, welcome to Swiss Cottage. The first photo you see here is taken from our living room fireplace looking towards the dining area. Here you can see the famous sofas (complete with cushions from Peru), the cozy reading corner and the dining areas with its sunny bay window.

The second photo is taken from our kitchen looking towards the dining area. Here you can see some of the wonderful IKEA storage that kept Garry busy for days when I was last in New York. You can also see the "bargain" coffee table on the far right side.

The third photo gives you a better feel for the reading corner complete with CD racks. It's one of my favourite areas for kicking back and reading a good book. With a heater along the wall it's a very cosy place in winter.

Photo number four shows you the kitchen with a fridge and stove on the left and the sink with dishwasher on the right. Plenty of cooking space here by London standards.

Swiss Cottage has several stunning feature points. The first is a bank of windows two-floors high offering a green, leafy view across neighbouring yards. The second is a wonderful display fireplace. The third, and perhaps most novel feature, is the minstrels’ balcony overlooking the main living area. It opens out from the top floor next to our main bedroom and utility room. The next photo show an aerial view of the fireplace from this quirky location.

Below is a photo of the new sunny nook we've created in our main bedroom. You can see why we went to such lengths to create this wonderful feature corner. The new tub chair is unbelieveably comfortable.

Next we have a quick snap of the home office, complete with the new shelf that refused to fit. To the left you can see a large wall map of central London that I recently had laminated. The idea is to progressively familarise ourselves with the layout of the city. The window you can see look South, giving this room plenty of sunlight during the day.

Below is the handy utility room with linen storage and the laundry. The louvre doors in the background house the hot water and supplementary water pressure pump. It's here that the Great Flood of 2006 started.

And finally, a look at the spare bedroom with its homely wall of books and aging teddy bear collection.

More photos coming soon!

I can also report that we've found an excellent cleaner. She starts next week, just in the nick of time. I'm not sure we have an ironed shirt left in the house! These shirts have been carefully hidden from view in each photo!

Mana from heaven

I finally made it to the SANZA store in Convent Garden last week. SANZA stands for South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. This is a little slice of antipodean heaven in London, selling all manner of foodstuff and memorabilia from home.

I managed to secure an enormous jar of Marmite. My toast tastes so much better. I also grabbed a few treats for Garry including Double-coated Tim Tams and Arnotts Pizza-flavour Shapes. I saw L&P from New Zealand, along with plenty of stuffed kiwis and All Black jumpers. With such a large expat population in London this store struck me as a licence to print money. My jar of Marmite set me back £5.



Beyond SANZA, there are some home pleasures freely available. Every supermarket is stocked to the rafters with a broad range of great Australian wine, and there's plenty of New Zealand wine also going begging. There is one simple pleasure from Down Under that Garry and I really miss. We've yet to find anyone selling Turkish pide bread in London.

A tube honeymoon

When we first arrived in London one of the first questions everyone seemed to ask was, "so, what do you think of the tube?" At first I assumed this was simply a demonstration of London pride. It wasn't. In fact the opposite is true.

The oldest line on the London Underground system (part of the circle line from Paddington to Liverpool Street) is more than 100 years old. Upon opening it was the world's first metropolitan underground rail system. A century later, the system is showing it age. Signal failures are a daily occurrence. As a result at least one of the tube's lines is part suspended or experiences delays every day. You come to expect delays and inevitably start to factor in extra travel time to accommodate them.

This week I worked three days (Easter made this a short week). I experienced a delay on all three days. One was caused by a signal failure, another because people were trespassing on the tracks and sadly, a suspension caused by "a person under a train." Since arriving I've heard at least three "under a train" announcements. Apparently more than 50 people commit suicide on the underground every year. The most common time for such event is 11.00am.

With all of this going on, it’s no wonder people anticipate a complaint when they ask your opinion of the tube. However, despite these delays, I'm still in awe of the tube system. It makes travel around London incredibly easy. I've been told that my positive impression will wear off within twelve months. It seems that every new arrival has a similar honeymoon period with tube. I guess the day I start complaining will mark another milestone of our time in London.

Project Sunny Nook completed

Another furnishing milestone was reached today. Our sunny nook in the main bedroom was completed by the arrival of a new low-profile, brown leather, tub chair. We ordered the chair more than two months ago in a moment of winter sale madness. I discovered the reason for its delayed arrival this morning, thanks to a small tag on its base. It seems that the chair was imported from Italy, making it a close cousin of our living room sofas.

With new chair in place, the window alcove looks simply stunning. Everything we've cobbled together is working perfectly. The new curtains and matching cushion compliment the new chair, while Garry's old brown side table comfortably completes the picture. Finally, as if on cue, the sun emerged this morning, filling the space with dazzling sunlight. I'm sure Vogue Living will be over shortly to plan it centre-page spread.

"Thank you Easter Bunny!"

The Easter Bunny successfully found us in London this year. When I came down from the bedroom on Sunday morning, a large wicker basket of chocolate eggs was waiting for me. Today, two days later, the basket is looking rather spartan. Easter Bunny also visited Garry, delivering a large Lindor egg and a truly enormous foot-high egg covered in colourful swirls that sits on its own chocolate stand. Time for the CSIRO diet I think.

The Great Outdoors

It's wonderful to be outdoors again. Today, Garry and I spent an afternoon in the sun (well, partly cloudy sun) hanging out with two mates, Mike and Chris. Mike recently returned from two months studying in Paris so this was our first chance to catch-up again. We started with coffee at Earling, accompanied by Bondi, Mike's 70kg Alaskan Malamute dog.

Bondi attracts a crowd wherever he goes, resulting in a common set of questions. Mike and Chris have an established Q&A response that goes something like this; Malamute, Malamute, seven, no, Malamute. Typically the first question is, "What is he?" Followed by, "Say that again? "How old is he?" "Will he grow any larger?" Finally, the enquirer asks, "What is he again?"

After coffee we dropped Bondi at home and took a pleasant walk across the Thames to Kew Gardens. The grounds are ablaze with Spring flowers; daffodils, tulips, magnolias, crocus and other assorted blooms. Other highlights included a photo stop at the posing plinth (otherwise masquerading as a Victorian drinking fountain), a 20-minute queue for ice-cream at the rather dysfunctional cafe and a rather hearty plumber's crack on full display at the Easter petting zoo (not nearly as tempting as the lambs and ducklings). Oh, there were the regular sights as well, the Temperate House (the world's largest surviving Victorian glasshouse), the Palm House and Kew Palace.

We're getting outdoors more and more now. Good Friday was spent wandering around the local Stables Markets in nearby Camden, before taking a leisurely stroll home along the Regent's Canal and through Primrose Hill park. The hill gives you a great skyline view of London, including St Pauls and the London Eye. It was here that the first Martians landed in H.G. Wells' classic novel, War of the Worlds. These days camera-toting tourists are the only noticeable invaders.

Globetrotting in Greenwich

We crossed the globe today, stopping in the Eastern and Western Hemisphere, before briefly leaving the planet. All it cost us was a ticket on the tube and a 15 minute walk through Greenwich to the Royal Observatory. Here we stood astride the Greenwich Meridian marking the border between East and West. Garry, underwhelmed by the experience, when on to comment that a short jump would also see him briefly depart the planet.

Our Greenwich tour today also included a late-lunch of traditional English fish and chips (sheltering from a sudden rain shower), a walk under the Thames river (courtesy of the Greenwich foot tunnel) and a wander through the local markets. Learn more about the foot tunnel here.

Aside from globe-trotting, we took time out to install some shelves this morning. One in our ensuite and one in the home office. However, it seems that our shelf curse is back with vengence. You'll recall last month my failed attempt to cut the shelf board. Today I managed to drill two holes in the wrong location while Garry found his wall tile tough going, requiring several drill bit changes before the job was finally done.

Wanted: One Domestic Cleaner

Some wonderful news to share! Garry was offered his first UK contract today. He's secured the three-month business analyst contract he interviewed for on Tuesday. The job is at West Hampstead, only three stops north on the tube. Garry will probably have London's shortest commute when he starts on Wednesday. It takes me at least 45-50 minutes door-to-door. He'll be home in 15 minutes or so.

I know Garry's glad to finally have work. Until now he's been managing the household, cleaning, washing and ironing. He's definitely ready for a change of scenery. It's time for a new domestic cleaner!

HAPPY EASTER..!

The sound of music

On Tuesday, Garry was finally able to attend the interview he cancelled after the Great Flood of 2006. This is a three-month contract as a business analyst at a digital music distribution company that's literally ten minutes up the road. Garry felt that the interview went well. Fingers crossed that he might have his first UK job in the bag. I'll looking forward to all those free concert tickets, private parties with the stars and, of course, limos that take us home to Swiss Cottage afterwards.

BBQ, snow and ice

I've just returned from a two-day business trip to Munich. I took the opportunity to catch up with my brother Hamish in Austria for a day on Sunday. I flew out early on Sunday morning, arriving in time to catch the 11:03 train from Munchen Flughufen to Kitzbühel. Hamish, Nicole and Steffie were waiting for me at Worgl station 90 minutes later. Steffie greeted me with an enormous hug, while Nicole was more reserved (she made up for it later with an endless stream of hugs throughout the day).

The weather was rainy in Munich, but the alps were enjoying blue skies and fabulous sunshine. The sun was warm enough for Hamish, Karin and I to spend much of the afternoon sitting in the sun. We even went as far as lighting the BBQ for the first grill of the season. Karin also managed to spread out the last vestiges of melting snow on the lawn. By dinner time the last of the winter snow had melted. So much for the metre of snow that Garry and I saw on the ground over Christmas. Winter was officially banished.

I caught the train just before 8am the following morning, arriving at the office in Munich soon after 10.00am. After a successful day of meetings, I was talked into dinner at a local Bavarian pub with plenty of home brewed beer, seated at long bench tables and a live Bavarian brass band. The band soon caught wind of my Australian accent and promptly broke into a lively rendition of 'Waltzing Matilda'. This wasn't the only surprise in store for me in Munich.

After such a sunny weekend, it was surprising to wake this morning to two inches of snow covering the city. Snow continued to fall steadily for most of the day. In least than 12 hours, a snow-free city was back in the grip of winter with snow covering everything and ice forming on the pavements. I was happy to fly home to far warmer conditions. I heard that half a metre of snow fell in the alps today. Karin will be out on the lawn soon removing the last of the winter snow for a second time.

We're signed up members of the NHS

Under the UK's national health service (NHS) you have to register with a local doctor before you can access most forms of health care. The system is rather rigid. You can only register with a GP that's assigned to your "catchment area". Ours is a new catchment, established last month when a shiny, new council leisure centre opened at the end of our street. The doctor's surgery is located in the centre and supports a catchment area about ten city blocks wide. We're located about 20 metres from the eastern boundary. This week Garry and I signed up, after successfully proving we really were long-term residents. It's seems that passing tourists aren't so welcome.

The new leisure centre is incredible. It has a glass fronted atrium filled with climbing walls that glow at night, a heated swimming pool, squash courts, all-weather football pitch and workout gym. It backs onto a new park with landscaped hillocks, an enormous water feature and trees covered in spring blossom. The local library, attractive apartments and a first-run live theatre complete the surrounding development. All in all the entire scheme is a wonderful addition to our neighbourhood. Learn more here.

Good news. We'll soon have plenty of photos to share. I've purchased a new digital camera to replace the one almost destroyed on the shores of the Mediterranean last year. (See February's post titled 'In the footsteps of Moses'.) It's another Panasonic with lots of clever functions. Click here for details.

The Great Flood of 2006

When you're living on the top floor of a Victorian house, water pressure isn't the best. To ensure that our fourth floor ensuite has a suitably luxurious shower, the landlord installed a supplementary water pump in the utility room. It's the size of a compact vaccuum cleaner and, when in operation, makes a similar loud, high-pitched whine . To be honest, the poor machine sounds like its going to blow a valve at any moment. Today, our pump actually did destroy itself in spectacular style.

While Garry was in the shower this morning, one of the pump's water outlets shattered. Within mintues our utility room was flooded. Water continued to flow across the floor, pouring through gaps in the walls and cascading into the kitchen below. By the time Garry discovered the disaster unfolding, the kitchen was awash, along with the contents of every cupboards. The pump subsequently shorted out as the flood finally penetrated the electrical system.

Poor Garry was forced to spent the rest of the day organising plumbers and electricians, while struggling to release our kitchen from its watery grave. Worse still, he had to cancel a job interview, his first with an actual employer since arriving in London. The interview was with a digital music company, 15 minutes walk from Swiss Cottage. They were looking for a business analyst on three months contract.

Because the company was so close to home Garry found himself canceling his interview a mere 45 minutes before the scheduled time. Travel time in London is typically an hour or more so I'm sure the company thought Garry was blowing them off. In a final twist of irony, Garry received a call late today for another job interview - one that's seems better suited to his skills and experience. Perhaps fate isn't so cruel after all?

I'm working in Munich again next week. I've decided to fly in early on Sunday morning so that I can spend a day with Hamish and the family in Austria. I've catch a train to work on Monday, arriving about the same time I do when flying directly from London. There's more travel coming, with a trip to Paris and a three-day meeting in New York all scheduled before the end of the month.

In search of a flat white paradise

I miss ordering a simple ‘long black’ coffee. I'm no connoisseur, but I have to say that the English have some odd caffeine habits. Take your standard Americano, a weak imitation of the long black coffee you’d typically order in Sydney. Every café here asks me if I want milk in it. It seems that there’s no such thing as a flat white in England, and a latte isn’t considered an appropriate substitute. I just cant’ get use to the extra question, “do you want milk with that” every time I order my Americano. They’d never ask me in Europe, the US or Australia.

Of course, my order is further complicated by the assistant’s accent. I’ve noticed that the question is usually delivered in a cacophony of East European syllables, or asked so rapidly in a local dialect, that the words simply make no sense to me. An uncomfortable silence ensures while the assistant waits for my response. The question is eventually repeated. I inevitably fail to understand the accent and suggest they try the question again. Of course it never occurs to me that I’m being asked for milk. I was asked three times today before I suddenly remembered that an Americano order automatically attracts a 'milk' question. I’m now on a mission to evangelize the term 'flat white'.

Spring has finally arrived in London. We've been enjoying temperatures in double-digits for more than a week now, with regular periods of sunshine almost every day. It's also getting dark later and later. When we first arrived it was getting dark around 4pm, now it's light until after 7pm. The garden at the front of Swiss Cottage has also transformed itself into a sea of yellow daffodils, while fruit trees in the back garden are awash with blossom. I even saw someone in a pair of shorts this week. Rather brave I thought, as we're not experiencing temperatures in the lower teens yet. My hayfever has also struck with vengence. Garry's taken to complaining about my heavy breathing as I struggle to overcome congestion in my sleep.

With Easter only weeks away we've started planning a few day trips. At the moment we're thinking of visiting Windsor, Greenwich and possibly a trip to the coast to see the famous sand-free beaches of Brighton.

Finally, we had three friends over for dinner on Saturday night. We went the whole hog, with a real table cloth, the ubiquitous oak barrel cheeseboard and plenty of our recently imported Australian wine. Garry cooked a roast provided by our mate Chris. His family owns a farm up north. He picked up a side of beef last time he was home and has been looking for the right opportunity to use ever since.

We had a great evening, including several interuptions from the neighbours. They weren't knocking to complain, instead one was seeking tools to assemble her IKEA furniture while another was after a strapping lad to help move furniture - we sent Garry down to help. It seems Garry's efforts were much appreciated. While leaving for work this morning I tripped over a "thank you" bottle wine left for him on the top step. That will go a little way to plugging the new holes in our wine rack.