Five months on...

Wow! Has it been that long since my last post? I guess it has. No excuse really, I can't exactly say I've been busy with work or anything. My work in Australia dried up in November and I am now actively looking for work here. Cathy remains gainfully employed - someone has to keep us in the lifestyle to which we have become accustomed!

Well as far as recent news is concerned; after our August trip to Greece we were inundated with a plethora of visitors.

First up was Michael Vaughan who visited for a couple of days in late August.

We had a one day break after Michael left and then it was Cathy's parents for a week. My parents then arrived on the same day that Cathy's parents were leaving. They had a two hour cross over so at least they got to catch up with each other while they were all here. Mum and Dad arrived after their two week long European river cruise adventure, stayed here for 8 days and then packed up and headed to Rome for a couple of days before making the journey back to their own hemisphere. Not bad for a couple of old folks!

We went to Verona, Italy, with Cathy's parents to see the opera, Carmen, in an original Roman outdoor amphitheatre, what a spectacle that was! A cast of 100's, horses and carts on stage and all with that amazing 2,000 year old backdrop! If ever you find yourself in the north of Italy in summer that's one thing you have to do.

We also spent a day exploring Lake Guarda which is only a short drive from Verona.

We showed my parents the local area including Cannes, the Island of St Maguerrite, Nice and another medieval town (there seems to be lots of those in these parts!) called Eze. They also managed to get up to Monaco for a day on their own - we've seen that multiple times now so we tend to show people the train and send them off on their own now!

I went to the UK in late September for a three day fact finding mission related to a project I am working on in Australia. It was supposed to be a simple in-and-out affair to visit a facility in Milton Keynes, just outside of London, then pop up to see another facility in Manchester, fly out from Liverpool and meet a guy in Paris on the way home. It all fell asunder when my flight from Liverpool to Nice was cancelled due to strike action by the French air traffic controllers. To make a long story short I ended up traipsing all over the English country side by train trying to find a way back home. In the process I got to see a little bit of Liverpool, then to Brighton to try for another flight which was subsequently also cancelled so I then headed back to London and got to experience the Eurostar train from London to Paris and then the TGV from Paris to Nice. Quite amusing in hindsight but very frustrating at the time - a tip for young players; avoid Easyjet if at all possible!

And then we had David Bakkers for a week in October before he donned his rucksack and headed to Corsica, Sardinia and beyond.

Cathy and I went to visit Cathy's sister, Laura for a weekend in late October. For the last few months of 2010 Laura and her boyfriend Rory were running a little cafe in a town called Albi which is near Toulouse and they we living in another little medieval town called Cordes sur Ciel. We figured we should at least see where they were before they finished their tenure there. They are now trying to find accommodation and work in Nice so they are staying with us for a couple of weeks.

November we had Cathy's sister in law and long time bestest buddy, Ruth, for a couple of days. That was a surprise visit for Cathy that Ruth and I plotted without Cathy's knowledge. We think Cathy has forgiven us now. We tool Ruth on a road trip and managed to visit three countries in two and a half hours - France, Italy and Monaco.

December saw the start of ski season. We decided at the end of last season that we would buy ski boots for this season. We got a little carried away and ended up buying skis as well. So now we're all kitted out including a magnetic roof rack to carry the skis - at least we look the part!

I had a weekend of parachute-sky-jumping in Empuribrava, Spain on the first weekend in December. I do like that dropzone, it's just a shame it's not closer to us!

Christmas was spent at the Meade house in Fiddown, Ireland again. And once again they made it everything Christmas should be, they even included snow this year! It was looking a little touch and go on Christmas eve, when we were due to fly out from Nice. Dublin airport had been hit with a string of closures in the week leading up to Christmas due to unforeseen snow falls. Hats off to Aerlingus and Dublin airport because they managed to get us in with only a short 3 hour delay. When we landed in Dublin we had to taxi across snow to get from the runway to the terminal building. And the drive from Dublin to Fiddown was just snow as far as the eye could see - well done to Owen and Eamon fro braving the weather to come and collect us. And thanks again to the Meades for making me feel welcome for the Christmas festivities.

We have just returned from a week long ski holiday in Méribel. Méribel is part of the "3 Vallées" ski area in France and includes Courchevel and Val Thorens. It has over 600km of ski runs over 400 plus square kilometres! We didn't get to see it all but we gave it a damn good try. We returned home with all the aches, pains and bruises to prove that we gave it 100%!

This is the website for Méribel if you want to see where we went http://french-alps.meribel.net/ski-france-2010.html

Now it's back to life as "normal" - well with a little job hunting thrown in. Once that's sorted it'll be time to start planning the next big adventure - suggestions welcome...

Oh I have already purchased my tickets for the Monte Carlo Grand Prix in May; grand stand seats with views over the pits...na nee na nee na nah!