jas:phlog

Back to the Amalfi coast

2007-07-31T00:48:00.000+01:00

So, given that the weather over here has been so lousy Lou and I decided to head over to Italy for a week. Gorgeous weather(high 30's), great food, great scenery and lots of relaxation. We stayed in a town called Vico Equense which is about 10minutes by boat from Sorrento on the Amalfi coast/Neopolitan Riviera. I was in this same area a couple of years back in a similar sized village about 45 minutes from this one. Our days were mostly filled with sitting on the beach, which was right out the front of the hotel. A couple of days we did some sight seeing, one day in Sorrento and one day in Capri. And as was the case last time the American tourists provided the entertainment with their amusing commentaries. The area we stayed in seemed to have mostly Italians with a few German families.

Here are the highlights:

Avranches in April

2007-04-04T00:27:00.000+01:00

Here's the trip to France finally. For those that don't know, Mum gave Cam and I a week in a house in France for Christmas. She then decided to surprise us(well me, Cam knew) by turning up and coming on the trip with us.

The house we stayed in was in Avranches which is on the north coast of Normandy, France. The area was near Mont Saint Michel which you could see in the distance.

Avranches

This was the square in the centre of town in Avranches

Main street by night:

Mont Saint Michel

The Mont by night

Cam looking sofistikaytid

The market. This is where we picked up a live crab for dinner along with some gorgeous apple cider.

And this is the cooking and eating of the crab:

Christian Dior's house... smelt nice. He wasn't home though

Some little town we saw with a church

We went out for dinner in the town one night to a pretty little pizza place:

Omaha Beach memorial, and down on the beach:

Thankfully I took my golf clubs over and got to play golf on Omaha beach. Well not actually on the beach but on a golf course near the beach. They filmed part of Saving Private Ryan here, I think it was the big golf tournament part, or perhaps that was Caddy Shack? There were some stunning views from the green on the 6th. Didn't see any Germans though, luckily. Although I am getting more accurate with my driver.

We headed back via a little town where Erik Satie lived his house was a bit of a museum complete with white grand piano and barbed wire harps.

Venice

2007-02-11T23:40:00.000Z

As some of you would know I've been itching to get back overseas somewhere since my passport was taken away from me last year. So Louise and I decided to go over to Venice to experience Carnival!

We managed to get the whole thing planned quite cheaply which was a major bonus. Unfortunately we got up early in the morning and saw this:

Not a good start. Undeterred we made our way out to Stansted and after a 4hr wait discovered our flight had been cancelled due to the snow! Major pain in the bum. After some effort and ages on hold we managed to book another flight the following day into a different airport in Italy that would at least get us near Venice. Working out that the cost of getting back home and then out again to Standsted was going to be a fair bit we discovered a car was going to be a cheaper and easier option. So we hired a car and made the most of it by driving up to Cambridge for the day.

The next morning we made the treck out to Stansted again, this time in a car. We made our flight then after a long bus ride from Forli to Bologna then a train from there to Venice!

We finally realised we were near when out the window we saw the first Gondola.

Eventually we arrived in Venice itself a day and a half late. Once we got there we made our way to the hotel dumped our bags and headed into the square to see the opening parade:

After the opening we just wandered around accompanied by a huge lump of delicious Nougat!

We saw the Bridge of Sighs, and loads of other bridges canals and squares:

That evening we had a gorgeous meal at one of the locals' seafood restaurants. It was hidden away near our hotel which was in the more venetian part of venice. Amazing food and reasonably priced too.

The next day we did a whole lot of wandering and looking:

We also went into an amazing church which had some really old stuff in it like this:

Then wandered back through the square which was by now packed with people:

Then we walked back to the hotel(Hotel Vecellio if anyone is looking for a really nice hotel in Venice), picked up our bags and headed back to the airport.

And that was our Venice trip!

Christmas in the UK

2006-12-25T00:29:00.000Z

Christmas this year involved a bit less travelling than last year. In fact it couldn't have been much less travelling for me. Cam and Matt came over to mine and for Christmas Eve they cooked Sveedish Meatballs. Inspired by their recent trip to Sweden I guess. Then there was lots of Xbox playing(a Christmas present!) and some present giving. Then we gave the folks a call on Skype with the webcam hooked up.

Christmas Day was also pretty relaxed, late start then a dish of Pork wrapped in Bacon with potatoes, mustard, and an Australian Merlot.

Lou on ice

2006-12-17T22:11:00.000Z

For a bit of Christmas fun Louise and I decided to go ice skating. It seems that most of London also wanted to do the same thing so available outdoor rinks were hard to find. We also kinda left it to the last minute. After some hunting we booked some tickets at the outdoor rink at the Tower of London.

So to make the most of the day we decided to head there early and wander along the Thames where we went to the Tate Modern and saw some mirrors. Trippy.

We eventually ended up at the Tower of London for our 9pm skate session. It was a great venue with a gorgeous backdrop.

Unfortunately they didn't like people taking photos while on the ice so we didn't get any action shots.

Oxford Street at Christmas

2006-12-03T00:05:00.000Z

Went for a bit of a stroll on a Sunday afternoon, through Queens Park, Regent's Park, other parks and ended up on Oxford Street. This is what it looks like at Christmas:

Warming of the house

2006-12-02T23:46:00.000Z

Finally we got around to having our housewarming party which was also a blend with a Christmas party. This is what it looked like. Keeping with Christmas tradition I also made a Gingerbread House. Which then got smashed.

The English Seaside

2006-11-11T23:32:00.000Z

Went down to Eastbourne. This is what I saw:

Copper

2006-11-02T00:30:00.000Z

For those of you who have checked my new company - copper industries - website you might have noticed that we have a new logo.

One day we might even build a website to go with such a brilliant logo.

Time for Bath

2006-10-23T00:34:00.000+01:00

Louise and I decide to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and head away for the weekend to Bath. We had booked into what looked like quite a nice hotel. We arrived at the front gates and our driver drove us up the long drive to a rather plush looking mansion. When we walked into the foyer we were hit with a sign that said something along the lines of 'We have no hot water'! And for those who know it's not the nicest thing having a Bath without hot water. So the conclusion is that we ended up at a less extravagant hotel up the road. It did have a cute river next to it and a water wheel though:

The next day we spent the day wandering around Bath. Checking out the old Roman bath houses, shops, the river, etc. etc..

As our hotel room didn't have a proper bath despite being IN Bath we decided to finish the holiday with a bath. So we went in to town and checked into the newly created Spa place called something Spa-like. We had a two hour pass which let us roam around the venue and use most of the facilites. Unfortunately I couldn't take my camera in because of all the water. But it was really nice inside. There were different flavoured steam rooms and indoor poor with bubble and the coolest(literally) an outdoor heated pool on the roof with a view over the town. Nice! End of Bath!

Masked Casanova

2006-10-07T01:12:00.000+01:00

Went to a Nic and Sam's combined fancy dress birthday party on the weekend with Louise. The theme was Masked Casanova which gave me an excuse to get my frilly shirts, corsets and elaborate dresses out of my closet.

I'm an Alien

2006-09-21T12:01:00.000+01:00

To quote Sting: I'm an alien, but now I'm a legal alien. My Migrant Visa was approved today finally after months of stress and paper work and uncertainty. Now on to the next chapter. I'm also leaving Domain next week to start my own business. So keep an eye on copperlondon.com to see what we're doing.

Got lots of photos of gigs, birthdays and other random things to post so will get them up soon. Oh yeah and I've moved house too, so if you want my new address let me know.

Avenue Q

2006-09-20T00:53:00.000+01:00

Went and saw Avenue Q with Cam for our birthdays thanks to a little birthday help from Mum.

Birthday brunch

2006-09-17T00:52:00.000+01:00

Caught up with a few friends for birthday brunch in Queens Park. Just a couple of pics.

Robbie!!

2006-09-15T01:02:00.000+01:00

Finally, I got to see Robbie Williams in concert. And it was well worth it. As you'll see from th pics we were nice and close to the front given that the MKBowl holds 65,000 people. Thanks to our special gold wrist bands we had our own little section around the stage. Anyway the pictures should speak for themselves...

Notting Hill Carnival

2006-08-14T00:33:00.000+01:00

Abbey Road & Brownmusic

2006-07-28T23:58:00.000+01:00

This evening became possibly one of the most amazing and memorable of my life to date. Big claim I know, but for those who know me I've had a dream of scoring a movie since I was probably at high school. And tonight was the closest I've been to that dream yet. I had the chance to sit in on the recording of the strings for a friends album at Abbey Road. Abbey Road is not only famous for being the studio where the Beatles recorded but equally amazing the scores for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, Braveheart and many many more. They had a 24 piece string section that recorded the strings for 3 tracks.

So here are some pics of the studio. Some of you might also recognise some of the guys in the studio.

After Abbey Road I went to listen to Brownmusic(Tash, Lor and Johann) perform in Camden then we headed out for some late night Thai food.

Jamie Cullum at Tower Bridge

2006-07-13T01:02:00.000+01:00

Having heard Jamie Cullum was playing at Tower Bridge I decided to head down in the hope of soaking up some of the vibe and the sound from nearby. I was standing on the side of the road near the venue just looking at the scenery and a black car pulls up next to me and out hops Jamie! So that was a good start. Then about 1hr later after listening to a bit of music and standing around a girl walked past and offered me a ticket, for FREE! The best part was the ticket was a VIP ticket which not only meant sitting right up the front but also free alcohol. Overall an amazing concert, well worth wandering past!

Brighton

2006-07-08T00:56:00.000+01:00

Before I got rid of my car I decided to take a trip down to the south coast. So I took Cam, Turbo and (insert name of their friend here) down for the day and hung around, checked out the 'beaches' and then spent some time on the pier.

James Blunt at Blenheim Palace

2006-07-07T00:51:00.000+01:00

Went with Sarah to see James Blunt perform at Blenheim Palace. We got there a it earlier to wander around the gardens and enjoy the hot English weather, and yes it was hot about 35degrees.

Sith Ifrica

2006-07-06T00:29:00.000+01:00

Well here they are, the long awaited South Africa pics. I arrived in Cape Town on the 11th of June in the wee hours of the morning. Seeing the South African sunrise from the plane was an amazing way to start the holiday. I was met at the airport by Candy and Nic. Candy is the resident South African, who lived in MK for a time while I was there. Nic is an Honorary South African(actually English) was was having a 6 week break with Candy. The rest of the day we spent just looking around part of Cape Town.

Went out to a bar with some of Candy's friends:

Here we met Candy for lunch near her work in Fish Hoek, went to a gorgeous restaurant on the water and ate some amazing food:

This is Cape Point, southern most point of Cape Town:

Penguins!

In the middle of the holiday we went for a roadtrip. The plan was to drive along the Garden Route to Plett where Candy's brother worked at a Hotel.

This is the Hotel, Nice hey!

Plett night life:

This was at an Elephant Sanctuary near Plett.

THe mouth of the river near Plett at sunset:

For a bit of fun we took a little boat up the river and had a small braii(SA for BBQ) on the side of the river:

Then there were sand aerobics:

The hotel during the day:

Safari Park, the photos say it all:

Random pics:

Sith Ifrica pt.2

2006-07-06T00:01:00.000+01:00

On our way back from Plett we stayed with some family friends of Candy's.

From Cape Town we took a day trip out to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held for however long he was there:

Gig night at te Coffee Bean

Touring the wine region near Stellenbosch:

On the way back from the wine touring we went to the most amazing restaurant where we ate in a tree house:

The day I was leaving we went up Table Mountain:

As our last evening we went to Camps Bay, a gorgeous way to end the holiday:

I pledge allegiance...

2006-07-05T23:39:00.000+01:00

Hello, yes I'm still here. For those that know I was down in South Africa for two weeks with Nic and Candy and had an awesome time. As a result I have loads of photos to upload. However I'm slightly occupied trying to continue my stay in this lovely country with all the paper work that is required to get a Visa. In amongst sorting out my endless numbers of letters, papers proving I exist and all the facts I know about Queen whats-her-name I've also been planning my leaving party just incase!

So there might be a party soon, either celebratory or otherwise.

jas

Freeday in Windsor

2006-05-29T23:34:00.000+01:00

We had a bank holiday here in Britain today so to make the most of it I went for a drive with Jean and Paul. The original plan was to watch the cheese rolling in Gloucestershire, but unfortunately due to the rain it was a bit of a quagmire and they were recommending people postpone their trip until next year. So as an alternative we drove out to Windsor, home of the Royals, and wandered around for the day. We wandered through part of their house, sat in some nice restaurants, drank some wine, saw lots of old stuff then drove home. A good day.

Mr A-Z the pictures

2006-05-26T23:19:00.000+01:00

And finally the pics of Jason Mraz. The concert, as I've mentioned before, was asolutely awesome. Brilliant, brilliant guy. He had two support acts, can't remember the first guys, but the second were the gorgeous Webb Sisters.

Some Brownmusic

2006-05-26T23:15:00.000+01:00

Got some piccies from a Brownmusic gig up in MK.

Sarah's plus 1 and a walk

2006-05-26T22:58:00.000+01:00

This is a catchup blog from the end of June as I get my photos sorted. These are some from a wedding I went to in London as Sarah's 'plus one'. It was a fun day and being Indian had all sorts of interesting ceremonial rituals and things. Anyway here are the pics:

The day after the wedding we caught up with Paul, Jean, Danny and Baiba for a wander. The original plan was to go to the aquarium, but when we saw the queue we soon changed our minds, it was huge. So we went to Green park then just walked - through that park then the next one and the next one and eventually ended up in Notting Hill.

Kensington Park Gardens, perhaps the most expensive residential street in London. The third picture is of the most expensive house in the world. It's currently owned by Lakshmi Mittal who paid $128m for it.

The wrong Jason

2006-05-25T01:10:00.000+01:00

I just realised(thanks to my Mum) that I put the wrong date on the previous post. Jason Mraz's concert was last night, 23rd May not June. It's me who's performing in June, actually the 22nd though. I'll post some more details soon and also some pics of the other Jason doin' his thang.

In short, his concert was absolutely brilliant. Exceeded my expectations by far, which were already quite high. The only slight distraction was the number of people yelling out that they loved me each time there was a lull in volume. At least I assume it was me they were talking about?

Mr A-Z

2006-05-16T12:03:00.000+01:00

Next Tuesday(23rd June) Jason Mraz(www.jasonmraz.com) is coming to London. That in itself is news enough for me to get excited, but while he's here he's doing a show at Hammersmith Apollo. The problem is that despite his brilliance he still seems to be little known in the UK and as excited about it as I am I havn't managed to convince anyone else that their £17 couldn't be better spent than on several hours of great music. So thought I'd blog this to see if anyone else was interested in joining me? Although at this point it sounds like I'll probably end up going on my own(because I'd hate to miss it), it'd be much more fun to go with some friends.

So let me know asap if you're up for coming.

No.1 phlog!

2006-04-24T09:43:00.000+01:00

Currently, based on Google's blog search rankings, my 'phlog' comes up Number 1 in the world!

Cool, hey!?

A cover

2006-04-23T20:18:00.000+01:00

Well here's another song that I thought I'd share with y'all. I recorded it on the weekend for a bit of fun as I thought it'd be cool to do a cover rather than one of my own, that way I'm not rewriting the song or the lyrics while I'm recording it. It also allows you to put a bit of your own spin on the song. So here it is - Distant Sun - made famous by Crowded House, rearranged by me:

Distant Sun - 2.7mb

Roadtrip!!!!

2006-04-17T20:49:00.000+01:00

For Easter I went on a roadtrip with Paul and Danny. We left Thursday night and caught the ferry from Dover over to Dunkerque in France. Remember to rollover the pics for descriptions, I've even linked a couple of the places to Google Maps so you can see exactly where we were - looked for underlined place names.

This was how the trip looked:

After staying the night in Dunkerque we headed north to Brugge. Unfortunately the weather was a bit damp so we spent most the time in a cafe eating mussels and drinking Belgian beer. Great beer by the way. Those Belgians certainly know how to brew.

Besides the weather Brugge was a really nice little town, with lots of old buildings and cobbled stone paths and also paved stone paths that were specially made for cyclists. Where you would receive a hefty dose of abuse if you were found walking on when a bike was coming. Here's Brugge:

On the road to Maasland:

We finished up Good Friday at Paul's Oma's place in Maasland(Netherlands)which is where we were staying and also where the 4 boxes we were transporting back to London resided.

Saturday we drove into Amsterdam to see the sights. Most of the time was just spent wandering around, window shopping. However when I say window shopping in a certain area almost all of the shops it seemed sold lingerie and the manequins were incredibly lifelike. So much so they that it they moved and winked and made other intriguing gestures that successfully managed to lure men into the shops. I'm guessing it must have been their wife's birthdays or something and they were buying her something special. Anyway, besides window shopping we saw some canals, and some bikes, and some more canals and some more bikes and even some canals. Thankfully the weather was quite nice so we were able to just wander around and look at things. These are some of the things we looked at:

Driving pics:

Easter Sunday in Maasland:

Paul was spending the day with his Oma and some other family so Danny and I headed off to explore. We found ourselves in a town called Delft, which is of some historical significance. Of note was the fact that the royal family are buried there, well the dead ones are anyway.

After Delft we headed to Den Haag which was one the beach, after eventually finding out way through the city we made it to what was quite a reasonable looking beach. After a little wander we stopped and had lunch at a very funky beach cafe on the beach - here - zoom out to see the beach.

Like any good holiday it always has to end so here are some shots of the trip home:

Tash'n'Lor

2006-04-08T15:00:00.000+01:00

The Brownmusic girls, Tash and Lor, had their 30th birthday bash on the weekend which was a very entertaining night, as you'd expect. The night was full of singers, musicians and dancers doin' their thang. Including some impromptu saxomophone playing by me and some rehearsed playing. Unfortunately as my camera was never where I wanted it to be I didn't get too many pics but here are some that I got:

Nicki Rogers(supported by Delirious)

2006-03-11T14:44:00.000Z

Went up to Derby on the weekend to see Nic play. It was a fun little road trip with Sarah only to arrive in Derby at the same time the football finished which meant we were stuck in traffic for somewhere close to an hour. The worst part was that we were within about 5mins walking distance of the venue. Crazy. Great gig though, the Delirious boys always put on a good show and Nic was an absolute star. Played brilliantly, sang amazingly. Here are the pics:

If you don't have her album it's well worth a buy as this review will tell you: click here

The coast

2006-03-07T20:54:00.000Z

Well I finally got to see some rugged English coast down at Devon. Along with a couple of friends we hired a 12 bed 'beach chalet' for 5 days on the north coast of Devon. Unfortunately I could only get down for the last two days, Thursday and Friday, but it was worth the 5 hour drive. Since I was down there I decided I might as well make the most of it and stay an extra night, so hired a cute little cabin with Amy and Sarah. Here are the photos:

Woody Bay
These are the photos for Dad. Woody Bay was an historic train station that some old men enthusiasts were restoring. So far they had rebuilt a small section of the original track and ran short train rides along it. Once every month or so they get the steam train out, the next ones on the 26th if you can make it over by then Dad!

Lee Abbey
The beach chalet was in the grounds of an old Abbey that was now a retreat. As you'll see from the photos someone had hideously painted the building a creamy yellow colour. Seeing the original stonework made want to call in the sandblasters to clean the paint off. The first photo is the side of the building the third is the view from the front.

Lynton
Lynton was the closest town, a small village like place with small streets coffee shops, cemetaries and pet shop with a rather odd looking minature greyhound.

Horse Riding
Given that the weather was so nice we went for a horseride in the country-side. Despite some random outburst of machismo by a couple of the male horses it was really nice, as you'll see from the pics we had great weather:

The cabin
This was the cabin we stayed at for the last night, very cute. Although my room was a little too pink which had the bizarre effect of me feeling the need to read Marie Claire cover to cover then spend far too long doing my hair.

Bath
On the Saturday we drove back via Bath, after navigating our way through the random street layout we had some lunch and wandered through town. Quite a nice little place, although I'm sure there's much more to see than we saw, or at least many baths to be taken.

I's a Londoner

2006-02-21T22:18:00.000Z

Well the other reason it's taken me to get things done is that I've moved house. Yep, I'm now a proper Londoner.

Here's what the new pad looks like:

I've moved in with Stephen, who I use to work at World Vision with, and Sabrina a Doctor. The best part of it all is that it takes about 40mins to get to work, it's made a massive difference in sleep time that's for sure.

Christmas pics

2006-02-21T21:24:00.000Z

yeah yeah I know I've been a bit slack but there's good reason for it. But first here's the pics from Christmas...

The day I arrived:

Christmas Day

At Gran's for lunch:

Boxing Day:

Out with Brent, Greg and Claire:

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! ......?

2006-01-26T10:08:00.000Z

Oi! Oi! Oi!

Happy Australia Day.

Don't forget to 'chuck another shrimp on the barbie' for me back there in Or-stral-ya.

Giggin

2006-01-13T13:18:00.000Z

The Brownmusic gig finally arrived and I got to share some of my 'saxual chocolate'. We got put up in the hotel for the night which was quite nice and I had a 10th floor room overlooking Hyde Park. Sweet. By the time we came on it was after 11pm, so by this stage most people were happily drunk. Which made a great dancefloor. So we played, and played until sometime after 1am. Overall, a fun night and a nice way to get back on stage after 18 months without performing.

Let's hope there's more of them coming up.

Movin'

2006-01-09T20:16:00.000Z

So finally I'm moving down to London. Got a place in Islington which should do the job nicely as it's about 5km from work - a nice walk if I ever had to. Move in on the 1st of Feb and can't wait. But at the same time it'll be a bit sad to leave lovely New Bradwell and Sarah but 4hrs of travel a day takes its toll. I'll send more details once I've moved in.

A different Christmas

2006-01-02T13:14:00.000Z

So... Christmas was a little different for my family this year. It started with my brother needing to get out of bed at around 4am to pick me up from Melbourne Airport. Considering he's usually not even in bed by 4am this was a little different for him. Thankfully I'd given him prior warning so he managed it. On the other hand the rest of my family had no prior warning. Dad was the first one to get a bit of a shock. On the way back to Ballarat I picked up some breakfast and for everyone and once I arrived home had put it on the kitchen table then wandered off down the hallway to find my first victim. Dad was wandering up the other way 'I've brought you some breakfast' I said, and he just stopped, for about 30-40 seconds. Hmmm have I given him a heart attack and he's rigor mortised? Thankfully after I reminded him about breakfast and that it would get cold he came back to life and worked out who I was! Then there was Mum, luckily she was still in bed so I didn't have to worry that she might fall over. I think both parents were sufficiently surprised.

So that was the parents sorted. Next was Matt and Megan who Mum then convinced to come over for lunch. So cut it short basically I opened the door when they rang and they were a little shocked. Pleasantly of course. Adrian, Mel and the boys were on their way back from Adelaide and again Mum convinced them to pop in on their way home because she said they were going to ring me. I'm glad they didn't do the maths because it would've been sometime around 4am for me in the UK. Again a huge surprise for them all.

Christmas morning was fun with the boys coming over then about midday we drove down to Chelsea(2hrs) to have lunch at Gran's with cousins and Aunties some of whom I hadn't seen for about 15 years.

We stayed down at Gran's that night then headed back to Ballarat on Boxing day. On the way back we stopped by Chelsea beach, then Rex's Hunt D'lish Fish to have some Fish'n'chips in Port Melbourne. That's gotta be done if you're going to Melbourne.

After Christmas the next few days flew by. Spent a few hours surfing(well pathetically attempting to) in Torquay then stayed a night with Caleb and Merren caught up on all their news, recent family additions and future family additions. Saw some of the WV guys had dinner with Collette then went out to a bar with Brent, Greg and Claire.

Back up in Ballarat I managed to fit in a round of golf, although it was in 42degree heat and repacked some of my things I'd left in boxes. Throwing out a heap of clothes that were 'like sooo last season'.

New Years was pretty quiet having dinner with Matt at GeeCee's then watched Sydney fireworks on his 6ft TV after Megan had finished work. Then I flew back to the UK on the 1st! Holiday over.

For those I didn't get chance to catch up with(Matt and Relle a surprise that failed!) how 'bout you pop over this way? Yeah?

pics on their way

27 years of rehearsing

2005-12-20T22:17:00.000Z

Well it's taken 27 years of rehearsing but I finally had my first TV audition today. So with any luck I might get my 15 minutes of fame(or even 16!). Unfortunately due to the nature of the business I can't reveal any more than that. Wish me luck, or as they say in the biz 'break a leg'.

The boys

2005-12-18T00:22:00.000Z

The quote of the week this week comes from Lachlan(my nephew). Nanny had given him a cherry and he asked to have the pip removed "because Mum doesn't let us eat anything that might kill us!!". So here's an updated photo from the boys' Kinder Christmas doo, Lachlan's on the left Nathan's on the right.

Cheesy pop

2005-12-11T23:50:00.000Z

I had a thought that I could start posting songs that probably won't make it onto my next album so all my fans can experience all my aural pleasures. It will also give my die hard fans something to stumble across in 15 years time when all my secret affairs, illegal activity and closet ghosts have been uncovered.

So here's some cheesy pop just for you: Hey, Little Girl

Missing.... the letter 'r'

2005-12-06T17:34:00.000Z

Have you ever wondered what happens to the characters you type and then delete? Where do they go? Are the lost forever? Are they recycled? Should we be more responsible with the [delete] and [backspace] buttons? Are there a finite number of characters in the universe?

What made me think about this was that I just deleted an 'r' but now I want it back. When I push the 'r' button it creates a new one but this new one doesn't quite have the same elegance onscreen as the first one had. Perhaps I should put out a Missing ad and see if I can get it back?

A weekend in Fontainebleau

2005-11-26T22:27:00.000Z

Well I finally got across to visit Paul and Jean in lovely Fontainebleau(south of Paris) last weekend. The visit coincided with a Rugby match between INSEAD(Paul's business school) and London Business School and an Aussie party. Each month a different nationality host a week of festivities related to their country. So for the Aussie week Paul imported two live Australians, myself and Danny, We also got to watch Jean play touch rugby against the London Business School girls. So here are the photos, enjoy:

On Sunday we went for a little frolic in the forest

Catching up - Salisbury

2005-11-26T22:15:00.000Z

When Mum was over we had a weekend in Salisbury, here are some of the pics.

A different kind of bang

2005-11-25T17:20:00.000Z

This is turning into a bit of a blog about TV ads it seems. So here's another gem I discovered today. Quite appropriate in light of recent news headlines - Click here or on the thumbnail

Bang, bang..... bang

2005-11-23T22:49:00.000Z

Another great ad, this time from Microsoft for the new Xbox 360. It's as yet unaired probably due to some censorship laws incase kids start imitating it. However it is very funny. So funny it had me laughing out loud - check it out - Click here or below

UK Debut

2005-11-13T22:41:00.000Z

Well I had my UK performance debut the weekend before last. Played sax with 'Funky Business' for a 60th birthday(actually 2 guys who turned 30) and I was definately rusty. Although that's probably to be expected having not picked up my horns for over 12 months. It was certainly fun though and now kindof associated to that I've got another gig with some of the same guys in January at a plush Hotel in London. Nice. I should hopefully have some photos of this gig/party soon so I'll make sure I get them up.

Triple distilled

2005-10-21T21:44:00.000+01:00

"Oh my goodness" - my first words after I saw the new Smirnoff 'Triple Distilled' ad. Gorgeous. The music. The editing(obviously). The cinematography. Big up to JWT London.

click here to check it out

Les feuilles mortes

2005-10-16T23:19:00.000+01:00

The country seems to come alive with colour at this time of year. The grass seems greener. The trees such brilliant colours you'd think they'd been individually painted with fresh tins of Dulux paint. The air has a crispness that you can feel as you breathe in, laying a subtle hint that winter's on it's way. The combination made it almost one of those ideal days.

It was only after recovering from my award winning night at Amy's - a late night which almost resulted in me oversleeping and missing delivering a friend to the train station - that I discovered what a nice day it would be.

The afternoon was spent re-arranging music for a couple of more TV ads. From my seat in the 'studio' the window frames a gorgeous vista alight with colour. Nice inspiration, if only I wasn't arranging Christmas carols. After a productive stint in the aural realm I decided I needed to get out and feel the day.

So I walked. Past trees. Through green green grass. Past bleating lambs, and their protective mothers. Under bridges. Seeing, smelling, thinking, and just feeling good.

In this case a picture wouldn't have painted the right 1000 words so I decided to blog it.

Blogging this phlog

2005-10-06T22:45:00.000+01:00

Well I think I'm up to date now with all my photos - until I find that there's a film still in my camera needing exposure. Quite likely.

I keep toying with the idea of blogging this 'phlog' rather than phlogging what began as a blog. It seems to be the done thing these days to have your thoughts read by anyone and everyone. Which isn't all that bad I guess, you certainly discover there are some interesting people out there. You also discover sides to some people you know but would never discover otherwise. So I'm not sure if the world is ready to hear my thoughts, heck half the time I don't even want to hear my thoughts. Like now, for example, my brain is on at least 8 coherent tangents(endless incoherent ones) which is why this has taken me about 20 minutes to get to here.

The new job change so far has been expensive and draining. I made the decision to ditch suits after 4 years and felt the expense of having to stock up my wardrobe with stylish fitted shirts and complimentary(perhaps that should be complementary) jeans and trousers. And the 3 and a half+ hours of travelling each day is starting to take its toll. Combined with the fact that everything I'm doing at work is new, people are new, places are new it's a bit draining. Yet it can all change for 83 seconds when making the treck home in a city of 9million people where I know perhaps 10 I see a pleasantly familiar face. Nice :)

Eye see me

2005-09-20T14:01:00.000+01:00

So, for my birthday I went for a 'flight' on the London Eye with Mum. Thankfully the sky cleared up while we went on it. Here are the pics:

Och eets Scotland

2005-09-18T22:30:00.000+01:00

Finally, for all those who have been waiting(Dad), here are the photos from the trip to Scotland. We left early morning of the 29th August and spent the day driving from Milton Keynes up to Glasgow. On the way we stopped off in Chester, near Wales, to visit a friend of Mum's. We arrive at about 7pm to the hotel and then just relaxed a bit.

The next day I dropped Mum off at the airport as she was off to Norway while I travelled around Scotland. After dropping her off I picked up Caleb and Merren who'd just arrived from France. We drove across to Edinburgh that day and relaxed a bit then found our beds to get some rest before the trip.

So this is where the trip starts... It was basically a backpacker tour and thankfully we only had 8 people on our tour which meant on a 16 seater bus we all had a spare seat. I won't put commentaries with the whole thing but there are descriptions if you mouse-over the pics.

For those that know about our Royal connections and family titles and stuff these pics were from Prestongrange(one of the old Suttie estates) which is now the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club. I played golf here and then met Mum and we got the royal treatment.

This was the main house at Balgone the Suttie family estate.

Stratford upon Avon

2005-09-18T22:08:00.000+01:00

Well for those that know my Mummy has been over to visit. While she was here we did lots of sightseeing all around the place. Here are the pics from our visit to Stratford upon Avon - Shakespeare land.

Happy Birthday to....

2005-09-15T23:06:00.000+01:00

ME!

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me-e
Happy birthday to me

The single

2005-09-14T23:25:00.000+01:00

Thought I'd stick the first single by my nephews on here for you to download for free. Once it's on iTunes it'll cost you 0.79p! It's a remake of the well known Australian nursery rhyme 'Kookaburra sits in the old gumtree'. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology they were able to record the vocals in their own home studio and I did the rest of the work over here. Hope you enjoy it. :)

The Kookaburra song(960kb).

12 months

2005-08-11T22:07:00.000+01:00

Can you believe I've been here for over 12 months!

Italia

2005-08-09T23:46:00.000+01:00

- Day 1 -
Skin colour:

Set off at 3am in the morning(after getting to bed at about 12:30am) to get to the Heathrow airport. My flight left at 6am heading for Milan, the capital of the fashion world. Unfortunately I was only going there to catch a plane to Naples.

Once I'd arrived at Naples I jumped on the bus to Sorrento. It was quite a nice drive around the coast, past Pompei and Vesuvius, seeing a sunbed littered coastline. It's as if every flat piece of coastline, whether beached or not, is an appropriate place to soak up the rays.

Once I arrived in Sorrento I had a little wander around then went to sample some Italian coffee, Italian style - Short, and dark(different to how I normally have my coffee - sweet and blonde). By 4pm I found another bus to take me to Masse Lubrense. Once I arrived in the town my Villa was only a short walk from the town centre down the hill toward the Marina.

My room was quite standard and what I would've expected of a villa and the view was spectacular. After I got settled I wandered down to the Marina(10mins) and walked along the shore then enjoyed some of the local cuisine.

- Day 2 -
Skin colour:

Today was my relax day. So after a late rise I sat by the pool for a bit, and even put my feet in and read a bit of a book. Later in the day I wandered down to the marina to see amazingly tanned bodies scattered on every possible rock, walkway, pier and sunbed possible. So I joined them for a little while, however after the guy next to me started complaining about the glare I put my top back on.

Had a great meal this evening in a restaurant that overlooked the hills and the ocean, amazing vistas.

- Day 3 -
Skin Colour:

After an early rise I met a boat down at the marina to take me across to Capri. The journey went around part of the island to see a huge cliff which some king-type person used to throw people off. Nice. The driver then took the boat through a stone arch in the water which was quite cool and out the other side to see boats. Now these are the type of boats I like, SuperYachts. 130ft, sleek, room for the speedboat a few jetskis, cinema, grand piano, bowling alley. Boys toys! I got of our mini boat here and took a bus into Capri centre. This place was packed with tourists and quite a contrast from my little village. It was quite interesting wandering around and seeing all these really old streets littered with Armani, Zegna, Prada etc. boutiques.

- Day 4 -
Skin Colour:

My morning today was again spent relaxing by the pool. After I'd done enough of that I ventured into Sorrento - 20 minutes on the bus. Again this was another place that obviously the tourists love. They were everywhere and mostly American. I just wandered around endless small streets with touristy shops(not the expensive types like Capri though). The cliff edge was quite nice here, overlooking the bronze body laden sunbeds and the bay, with boats. After sitting down at by the water for a bit I ventured back into town to find a restaurant for some food. The hospitality was seriously lacking in this place compared to my local restaurants in Masse. There was no love with this bunch. I was tempted to walk out an find somewhere a little friendlier but cos I was hungry I decided to just order and eat and leave.

- Day 5 -
Skin Colour:

Last day today. After checking out I went into Sorrento and sat around for a bit, then headed to Naples, sat around some more, then caught my flight back to England. End of Holiday.

There are some more photos but they're still in my camera

- Day 6 -
Skin Colour:

Back to normal life. To earn money. So I can buy these things:
1. A 130ft Superyacht, with room for a skiboat and numerous jetskiis, indoor cinema, several bedrooms:
Here's one for sale
2. Just a little kickabout to get out to the yacht:

3. This house was out on the point at the Marina della Lobra:
Perfect place to set up my studio.
One last look at Marina della Lobra and Masse Lubrense
And from the sky:

The Empire strikes

2005-08-03T23:28:00.000+01:00

Finally after months of waiting I got to hand my tickets over at the door of The Empire in Shepherds Bush to see The Cat Empire. As we were walking up to the venue we walked straight past Felix(lead singer) just standing in the alley at the side. After support from an American group called some name I can't remember the Empire came on to a mass of cheers with Australian accents. I reckon more than 3/4's of the audience were Australian and most of them were from Melbourne. For anyone who's seen them live you'll know that they are such an awesome band to watch, energy, noise, jumping, swaying, so much you don't get on their CD. Nic came along not quite knowing what to expect and I think was sufficiently impressed. So much so she tried to get tickets to the Sunday night gig aswell. All in all it was a great night. Can't wait to move to London.

Here are some dodgy pics I took on my phone:

Ahhh, to be sure to be sure

2005-08-03T22:08:00.000+01:00

Went to Dublin this weekend to visit Sarah. The trip started off really well with me running onto the plane almost just as they were closing the door. The main cause was a 40 minute wait in a queue at Luton airport with an incompetent Airline ticket checker and a very bad queue choice by me. Although most of the people in the queue were smart enough to change queues I persisted and thought no as soon as I change the other queue will speed up. Stupidly I stuck it out which made me very late. I then had to go through security where instead of the 6+ normal checkins they had 1!

So anyway, I got to Dublin finally then got on a bus, which I eventually found out was the wrong one and ended up on the wrong side of Dublin. Slightly fed up with the bus, I got off, jumped in a taxi and got it to drop me off where Sarah was meeting me at about midnight.

The next day we wandered into and around Dublin town. It's quite a nice town with nothing really standout wow-like touristy but St Stephens Green and the main shopping street were quite nice places. We sat, chatted, drank coffe etc etc. then saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. However to the disappointment of the fans of the original the Oompa Loompa song was missing.

Sunday we went to a hurling match. Quite a strange game which is layed out a little like Aussie rules but they have a small ball(baseball size) and bats(like hockey sticks with bigger hitting parts). It was quite entertaining and pretty agressive in parts. For those who care Tipperary beat Galway. Go Galway!!

After some more sitting around and chatting I got back to MK about midnight on the Sunday. It was really good to see Sarah and checkout Dublin aswell.

Check out where I'm going...

2005-07-28T16:15:00.000+01:00

I decided that I needed to see some sun. So I just booked a holiday to the Amalfi coast(near Naples in Italy) for a few days in August. Should be lovely! Staying in a little Villa in Massa Lubrense looking the water and the incredible coastline. Stay tuned for pics when I get back.

If you want to check out the weather while I'm there look at Aminta Hotel webcam in Sorrento

A spot of golf

2005-07-27T22:32:00.000+01:00

Went out for a spot of golf the other day:

My phone's got this cool function that can take consecutive shots:

Edinburgh Make Poverty History rally

2005-07-26T21:05:00.000+01:00

As I'd mentioned previously I went up to Edinburgh with work for the Make Poverty History rally before the G8 summit in Gleneagles. Here are a selection of shots from the weekend. It was quite an amazing atmosphere on the day 250,000 wearing mostly white in some fields in the middle of Edinburgh. My day was full of walking great distances taking photos, being IT support, buying coffee addicts their 'hit' so they could continue manning the stands and just general 'stuff'. It was a great event to be part of and also see all my creative work spread around the fields. It seems the idea of getting 10,000 orange whistles certainly paid off in terms of getting the 'World Vision' brand out there.

The WV event the night before the rally:

On the day:

The evening:

Happy 5th Birthday

2005-07-19T22:14:00.000+01:00

It was Lachlan and Nathan's 5th birthday on Monday and in the theme of their pirate party thought I'd post a pic I made of Lachlan as a Pirate of the Caribbean.

The change in the air

2005-07-12T20:51:00.000+01:00

Well, I thought it was time for an update now that I have some exciting news to update you all on. I've decided to leave World Vision! Yep, after over three and a half years I'm moving on to bigger and better things. As of 14 September(that's the day before my birthday for those who don't know) I'll be working in the heart of creativity in agency world in London. I'm going to be the Creative Services Manager with an agency called Domain who specialise in working with charities. It will certainly be a challenge but an incredibly exciting one and my chance to sink or swim. Hopefully those swimming lessons I had when I was younger will pay off. Did I actually have swimming lessons Mum?

As well as working in London I'll also be moving my home down to London. This will mean that I can enjoy all the sights and sounds London has to offer. So the next challenge - finding somewhere nice and affordable to live. If anyone knows of any places with a few spare rooms(for my studio and friends to stay), a nice backyard, close to a park and the underground, with great views across London and in a quiet area for a reasonable price let me know!

Besides my new job nothing much exciting has been happening really. I'm sure by now most of you will have seen the recent terrorist attacks in London and thanks to all of you that rang and texted me to see if I was still alive. Fortunately, as those who contacted me and my blog readers will already know, I was rather close to the action but thankfully not too close.

On the music front, my album which is only a few more years of completion is progressing quite well. I think I've almost got all of the average songs out of my system and am hoping the brilliant ones will come next. I do have the cover design almost worked out though, which as a creative type I know is VERY important.

I'm also looking forward to some overseas visitors in the next few months. Mum's coming at the end of August for a few weeks and while she's enjoying the sights of Norway I'll be touring Scotland with Caleb and Merren. So that should be great and I'm looking forward to seeing all of them.

Yes, I'm still fine.

2005-07-07T20:14:00.000+01:00

For those of you who heard the news about the bomb blasts in London, just thought I'd let you know I'm fine. I was, however, rather close. Perhaps a little too close, although I had no idea what was going on at the time. All I knew was that the underground wasn't working so I had to walk to a meeting. In my lack of awareness I stood on the corner of Euston and Woburn Place(see map below) calling someone while facing up the street when the bus was behind me.

The first I knew of it however was an SMS from Mum! News travels fast.

Crazy Day.

How to BBQ - the long way

2005-06-25T23:36:00.000+01:00

There was a South African, an Australian and English person in a car and.... ummm... well you really had to be there to realise how funny it was.

Basically the story was Amy had a BBQ/party in London and the plan was to head down a little earlier so I could buy some gear for my 'studio' however we managed to turn the 1.5hr trip into something closer to 3hrs and the store shut. It was, however, entertaining and we got to see half of London.

Unfortunately due to reasons which can't be disclosed I can't publish any photos of the party up but here are some of the drive back to MK through London. As we'd accidentaly seen half of London on the way down we(I) decided to see the other half on the way back.

EVERYTHING'S FINE!!!!!

2005-06-18T02:24:00.000+01:00

I feel the need to blog, mainly because I can but also to say everything's fine. Maybe I need one of those 'Everything's fine' alarms(like on the Simpsons) that goes off constantly to let you know everything's fine. When it stops, you worry.

There's not too much exciting happening at the moment other than work and churning out the odd 'average' song. I heard someone's thought once that it takes a songwriter 100 songs to write a hit. The trick is knowing which of the 100 songs is the hit? Is it the first one? The last one? Or the 52nd one? I guess I won't know until I reach 100. In the meantime I'll keep them coming, might even stick them on an album someday.

Work is driving me a little crazy at the moment although I think it's mainly the idea of work rather than the actual work I'm doing. I'm at the point where I'm thinking how do I know if what I'm doing is what I should be doing if I havn't done the things that I think I'd also like to do? So there could be a change in the air. Stay tuned.

New look 'phlog'

2005-05-21T23:33:00.000+01:00

Well I've found the time to delve into this whole blog thing a little more and redesigned my site. Let me know what you think and what I should change or add - you can be honest, I'm not precious.

My Studio

2005-05-08T20:56:00.000+01:00

Considering I spent so much time in it, thought I'd show you some pics of the third bedroom aka 'The Studio'

And here's a little movie of it: featuring my latest track as a soundtrack.

Mobile

2005-05-04T00:54:00.000+01:00

I also finally got a UK mobile! I'll be using this one more than my old one even though I've still got the Australian number, so if you want to update your phone book let me know and I'll give you my new number.

The real reason - USA

2005-04-15T14:25:00.000+01:00

The real reason I was in the State wasn't to go shopping, take photos or date models and actresses(surprisingly enough) it was to attend an International web and new media conference. But as you'd expect a room full of slightly nerdy marketing and IT types don't make great photos so here are some from around about:

The view from the hotel:

Sampling local beers:

World Vision International office

After the conference I had to head up to Seattle for some meetings at the WV US head office. Here are some shots from around seattle.

World Vision US office

Even got to see a baseball match while I was there - Seattle Mariners v Cleveland Indians

Random shots from around Seattle(mouse-over for description):

Beverly Hills 90210

2005-04-14T23:17:00.000+01:00

EXT. HOLLYWOOD HILLS
Dark Blue Maserati, moving fast through the Hollywood Hills, passes large, beautiful homes... Driver shifts, grinding gears...

The Maserati comes to a red light and pulls up next to a Dodge Colt. The GIRL in the Colt looks at the Driver and his car admiringly. Feeling confident, he revs the engine. The light turns green. He takes off leaving the Colt in the dust.

EXT. A SIDE STREET IN HOLLYWOOD
A crumbling old apartment building. Dark alley ways, deserted parking lot. The Maserati -- blink and you miss it -- motors past the building.

PANNING UP A building facade of lit windows and metal fire escape. One window in particular. A GIRL stands there in a short kimono, looking down.

EXT. REGENT BEVERLY WILSHIRE HOTEL
The stone wall of the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel sparkle as if thousands of tiny white lights are embedded in each one. Bright flags are illuminated
by the daylight sun. The Maserati SCREAMS into the
driveway and comes to a jarring stop by the front door...

Well it didn't quite happen like that - artistic license - but there was a Maserati, the Regent Beverly Wilshire and me all in the same place at the one time. And here are some photos to prove it, and a couple of others from around LA too.

Meg in Birmingham

2005-04-10T22:51:00.000+01:00

Caught up with Meg Deyell on the weekend. She's living up near Birmingham and working at the OM training camp. No pics of her but here's one of a church we went to visit!

The remainder of Nyon

2005-04-05T22:38:00.000+01:00

Just some of the remaining shots from Nyon.

My attachment....Juliet

2005-03-28T20:34:00.000+01:00

Despite the lack of interest in my love life(See Wuv... twoo wuv) I am still attached. In fact she's lying on a cushion on the floor in front of me while I write this. As for her head, which got caught in the underground train door if you remember, no major damage was done so it's all good.

So as promised here are some photos.

Nic, Marie and Enoha

2005-03-11T23:54:00.000Z

After everyone had left from Torgon I headed home via Nyon to catch up with Nic and Marie and meet Enoha, their 6 week old baby girl. It was great to catch up with them again and spend some time in Nyon, which was another gorgeous little town. They had such a great apartment in the middle of town overlooking the lake and the castle and right above a Confiserie(Bakery/Cake shop). For those who have heard Nic and Marie talk about the Confiserie it's well worth a visit. It's a pity I didn't have more time to sample all its delights.

Montreux - too early for Jazz

2005-03-09T23:39:00.000Z

While I was in Switzerland I spent a day out at Montreux, ala the famous Montreux Jazz Festival, except I was a bit early for it. About 6 months early. It was such a gorgeous little town right on Lake Geneva. I can see why so many famous artists/musicians/writers have lived there during their lives. Queen were based there, Charlie Chaplin, King of the Netherlands had a house there, Tchaikovsky stayed there for a bit and the list goes on.

For lunch I had fondue of two swiss cheeses and white wine. For those that don't know what fondue is, it's a big pot of melted cheese that you dip bread in and eat. Nice. What was just as nice though was the view, see below.

Skeee'ing in Sveeeetzerland

2005-03-04T19:58:00.000Z

Having not seen snow since Christmas I decided to go on a little ski trip to Switzerland. Torgon in fact, which is South West of Lake Geneva. After a hellish bus ride which took 11 hours too long(33 in total), due to the French, we arrived at 5am on Sunday morning. Thankfully it was all uphill from there, and then downhill(much quicker) then uphill and down and up and.... etc.

The little ski-in village was quite close to France so we often found ourselves eating lunch in France and getting ripped off big time by the locals because we didn't have any Euro's. It also didn't help that the extent of my French was 'pourqoui' - So they'd tell me something and my response would be 'why?'. They'd then explaing why and again I'd ask 'why?'. Estupido foreigners vai cant zey lern MY language?!

The worst part of skiing into another country was having to ski through those stupid x-ray machines every time we crossed the border. :p As if it's not cold enough WITH my clothes on! Anyway here are the pics...

London team day out

2005-02-25T18:25:00.000Z

Before our team is dispanded after the re-structure and the resignation of our boss we finally got around to having our team away day. The final decision was to do the tourist thing in London. So after meeting up at the London Eye(giant ferris wheel)

we took a tour on a DUK(some wierd army acronym for a bus that's a boat). This took us all around the sights of London then after an hour of driving launched itself into the Thames in a similar way Bond did in his little black water craft right next to MI-6(or is it 5?). We then hooned up the Thames at about 5knots and saw London from the water.

Then we went to a Belgian Restaurant for muscles, chips and Belgian beer. A great combination.

Then after lunch we saw some celebrities. As you do in London.

Regaining some pride

2005-02-12T23:53:00.000Z

After a humilitating defeat in football(aka Soccer) a few weeks ago we won some pride back today with a 6-2 win. I play with a bunch of guys from work weekly indoors at a local gym then every now and then we challenge random teams. This random team was from a church in Watford(outskirts of London) where one of the guys in the HR department attends.

Wuv... twoo wuv.

2005-02-05T16:36:00.000Z

Went to London today and after a Starbucks Grande Latte fuelled rendezvous came back attached. The pleasant journey back to MK was hindered only slightly by an incident with a closing underground train door and a head!

More on this later, maybe even some photos.

Warwick Castle

2005-01-29T16:31:00.000Z

Went to Warwick Castle today(or Caahstle as some people say) with a group of people from work. As they say a picture paints a thousand words rather than boring you with about 28,000 words here are the pics.

Back via Oslo

2005-01-03T19:57:00.000Z

I came back from my holiday via Oslo and had a little bit of time to wander around and see the sights, but most importantly catch up with another exchangee Daniel. He was an exchange student in Norway at the same time as me and is now living in Norway with Kathleen(an Aussie too) and working at the University.

There were some amazing lights in the sky at the airport. I tried to capture them but didn't do real well, it's gives you an idea though of what they were like.

Random shots of pieces of aircraft

Godt nytt år

2005-01-01T21:47:00.000Z

New years this year was celebrated up at Olav's place with about 10 others. The highlight was definately the fireworks which we were surrounded by on the hills around Roros. Then it was topped off with 2minutes of our very own - courtesy of Olav.

Check out the movie of Olav's fireworks(1.33mb)
As you'll see they were about 20meters away and directly above our heads.

School reunion kinda partay

2004-12-28T22:19:00.000Z

As most people now live away from Roros, Christmas is a good time to have reunions cos most people return for the Chrissy celebrations. There were about 50 from school and 30 of them from my year. It was a bit strange seeing old friends, most whom I hadn't seen for about 8 years. But it was a lot of fun with the mandatory sing-song.