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This is just a tiny entry to say that I'm drinking a fosters for the first time. It's a Fosters Twist (with lemon and lime). It's brewed in the EU by someone called Scottish and Newcastle in Edinburgh, so I can be comfortable about not being associated with something australian that's not australian.

As a side issue, no one in this country knows what lemon lime and bitters is. And my latest French lesson was that ordering the vindaloo in Paris does not guarantee you a dish with any hint of chilli as the Indian restaurants have adapted to the local tastes.

Otherwise, Bourge was a surprisingly lovely and interesting little city and Rhodes Island was spectacular. There were lots of gum trees too.

Here we are in 2008

Well, after 3 months mum and dad have gone home again, and I’m once more having to cook my own dinner! I was very sad to see them go, not knowing when I’d see them again. And by all accounts, the trip home was absolutely horrible.

My first xmas in Mossley was very pleasant. Manchester had fabulous xmas markets, that is if you didn’t mind moving at barely 2 inches an minute because of the crowd. At least it was warm. And of course it had a giant santa, so what more did you need?

The weekend before, Emma and Gerard came up and we all went for a hike in the “Dark Peak”, cold bleak moors with a special sort of charm. The path got considerably more interesting after this, scrambling up the side of a waterfall, perching precariously on rocks at the top of the cliff, following adventurous mountain bikers down the steep hill before suddenly finding ourselves back beside the Dovestone Reservoir with the happy families and kids on new toys.

The big day itself, Mum and Dad and I went across the road for lunch at the Red Rose, a Bangladeshi restaurant. They chose the traditionally English option, whereas I went for the curry and very nice it all was too. For those who are wondering, the traditional English Christmas lunch seems to always be roast turkey with brussel sprouts and cranberry sauce (useful for drowning the brussel sprouts). Mum gave the gentlemen serving a lecture on the use of roast pumpkin at this time of year, to which they listened very attentively!

Btw, not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but over here Indian, Pakastani, Banglasdehsi, Sri Lankan etc are all “Asians”. Asians (ie Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Malay etc) are either “Orientals” or “Far East Asians” or just not considered at all for some reason. Certainly it’s a lot easier to get an Indian curry than a Thai curry, and finding a decent Kweay Teah can be a bit of a challenge.

And then next step, London! Of course, there are lots of photos of London that I could put here, including the one of King Henry the eighth’s suit of armour (which was rather interestingly shaped, perhaps over emphasising some areas to make up for not being able to under emphasise others) or all the carnival action in Hyde Park and Leicester Square, but instead chose this one just so that I can have two English photos in one blog with bright blue skies.

We had about 5 days in London, and so managed to see a lot of the sights as well as just hanging around soaking up the holiday atmosphere, which was fairly buzzing. I learnt that I don’t need to go to France to practice my French, I could just go to Portobello Rd in Notting Hill. Mum and Dad learnt NOT to try and walk down Oxford Rd the day the post-xmas sales open. Ulrich and I didn’t learn what Mayfair looks like, due to a number of minor side adventures on two attempts to get there. We did however manage to make it to Soho for a night out with friends, all living in London. It was a fabulous night, 7 languages between us, with me both the sole native english speaker and the most competent user of the Japanese chopsticks. I’m not sure how the English feel about it all, but I really enjoy being in London and feeling part of such an international scene.

Now I’m back flat out at work. Off to Rhodes this week (Greek island) coming home via Paris for the weekend (yay!), Sweden next week and three major reports due by the end of the month with a few other things to do as well. I’m writing this on a train again coming home from Newcastle, and it could well be the last entry for a few weeks at least! My stereotypical new year’s plans of joining a yoga club and getting formal French lessons are suffering already, not to mention thoughts of continuing Dad’s great work on the house. Oh well!