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And the beat goes on

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Another year ticks by, and coffee machine talk is of eating excess, family gatherings and travel delays.  We had a great Christmas and New Year, surrounded by snow while skiing in Val d'Isere with a bunch of friends. Not only did we have the Big Two to celebrate, but two birthdays as well which meant far too much bubbly and, being France, rich food. So, time to choose some new year resolutions. The first have to be the usual two - do some exercise every week and try and lose some weight. I actually did pretty well last year, shaving 8kg off my frame and playing tennis every weekend when I was in London, so I've got no excuse to let these drop.  The third is one I ought to really enjoy - practise piano every morning (ok, four mornings a week, plus a bit more at weekends). My rapid progress of the first year or two has somewhat ground to a halt, and although my piano teacher Alexandra has the patience of a saint I need to push myself. So, some exams as a target; Gr
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Kenyan sailing

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We had a late summer holiday this year. The days were getting shorter in the UK, leaves were falling from the trees and the evening chill was tempting us to turn on the heating. What better time of year to head off somewhere hot? A friend of ours, Anne, is a sailing instructor. We'd learned to sail with her when she worked at a Neilson resort in Ortakent, Turkey. Neilson holidays are a great idea; you relax but you also get plenty of exercise. In that holiday I passed my Level 1 and 2 RYA dinghy sailing, my Level 1 windsurfing, and still found time to play tennis in the mornings, a couple of water-skiing lessons and visit Bodrum and the fantastic ancient Greek city of Ephesus. Anne has moved on from Turkey, seeking somewhere she could spend the whole year round on the beach, so when she suggested we come and visit her in the resort of Kilifi in Kenya... well, who wouldn't? Kenya has been in the news a lot recently, after a spate of kidnappings and murder of tourists on t
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Local shops for local people

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This morning I had a few local errands to run, and took some shoes to be resoled at the local locksmith/key cutter/cobbler just off the Muswell Hill Broadway. They said I could wait white the boots were repaired, so I sat reading the paper to pass the time. Working for Google, I tend to hear the name of my employer quite a lot in snatched conversation, and I could hear the guys in the shop talking about the rankings of their web site and that of a rival. In particular they were wondering if they could complain to Google. It seems there's a lot of competition in the locksmith trade. I asked what the issue was, and apparently it was a rival locksmith which isn't based in Muswell Hill but operates in the region. They've managed to get their site above that of the local shop on the local map search using a dubious tactic or two and this had raised the hackles of the "true" local shop with phrases like "this has lead to the widespread misunderstanding that shoe re
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Welcome to Jess

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Time for a complete change of tack. Maybe I'll start updating this blog with details of where we've been on holiday (last summer was Finland btw - very nice). In the meantime say hello to Jess, our new kitten.
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Singapore and Malaysia Flythrough

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On leaving Sydney, we were both excited to go to a new continent as well as a bit nervous: New Zealand and Australia had been so easy, could we still hack it as proper 'backpackers'? As expected, Singapore did not require us to answer that question. It is hyper-organised and as we took advantage of the excellent hotel deals on offer in the quiet period just after New Year, we did not really get close to backpacking and instead admired the great views of Singapore's harbour from a comfortable hotel room. We had been to Singapore six years ago, but it still continues to surprise. Much of it feels like a much larger version of Canary Wharf: shiny, everything in its place, squeaky clean and a little bit sterile at times. Yet when you go to Chinatown or little India, you enter a different world that feels quite far removed from the high-rises that dominate the cityscape. We spent our days visiting parts of Singapore we had not been to on our previous visit and got confused when
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A change of tack

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Okay, we know when we're beaten. Barring a few 24-hour sessions in an internet cafe and not seeing anything of Hong Kong, there's no way we're going to get the blog up-to-date by the time we get home (in less than a week!) if we keep going at the level of detail we've been used to. So, a compromise. We've published a few fly-throughs of what we've done, where we've been. Think of them as a trailer for what's to follow; coming soon to a website near you. A few people have thanked us for the long entries and said they enjoyed reading them, and we've enjoyed writing them so we're still going to publish "full" accounts over the next few weeks. After all, I need something to do while looking for a job so we'll put together a "proper" website with maps, facts and figures a something to help you find your way around. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the whirlwind tour. South America Flythrough Pacific and New Zealand Flythrough Australia
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Australia Flythrough

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Our tour of Oz started in Tasmania, where we hired a small campervan to explore the Tassie east coast for a week - this time with full insurance. We started off 'free camping' overlooking the Bay of Fires near St Helens and spotted lots of wildlife right outside our door: possums, echidnas, and even a wallaby. We walked to Wineglass Bay in the Freycinet national park (not sure what the wine glass is all about), looked at Tasmanian devils and visited Port Arthur - the site of one of the largest and harshest British penal colonies in the early history of Australia. Along the way we enjoyed some great food - Tasmanian salmon, more wine directly from the farm and beautiful cheeses. Our last night in Tasmania was was spent in Hobart, the capital. It was a Friday night and for the first time in a long while, we were surrounded by people in suits who had gone out for drinks after work. On to Melbourne to catch up with our friends Andy and Betty, and meet up with Jason, our travel com
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