Hello everyone and a very happy 2005 to you all!! New Year's Eve was spent in the main part of the city watching the firework display over the harbour - not something you can really miss out on if you're here at this time of year. We were very fortunate in being able to avoid most of the crowds, as there were over a million people down near the harbour and a major part of the downtown area was closed off to traffic. Aunia was staying in a hotel which overl...

Yesterday I forgot to elaborate as to the significance of the present pictured, which I received from Maria and Alan, although Richard was sent the blueprints to ensure it turned out ok. When I met up with Maria, she was more excited to see how many "feminine hygiene" items I had packed than she was to see me! Before I left England it was a bit of a joke that I would need an entire backpack for them as I had no intention of getting caught short prior to r...

The past few days have been a whirlwind of parties and I think we are all pretty partied out, although the poor men have had to go to work today. On Boxing Day we went to a BBQ at the house of someone Richard used to work with at Coca-Cola, which was nice, except for the screaming kids!! Rich had got the times wrong and so we turned up expecting to eat at about 1400 and had to wait until 1900 - not only were we very hungry, but we were hoping for a quiet ev...

Hi, here's hoping you all had a lovely Christmas and that all friends and family are safe and well following the awful tragedy on Boxing Day. Christmas Eve we all went to a church service at the Town Hall, which was nice as it was the first time I'd heard carols this year. From there we headed to the pub and stayed until they threw us out at just gone midnight. Christmas morning and we were up bright and early(ish), but I wasn't allowed to open any pre...

Hi everyone! I still have some Christmas bits to do, so this will be a quick update as to what I've been up to the last few days, apart from shopping, that is!! On Monday we all went to see the Christmas lights on one particular street, which is renowned for a dazzling display - slightly more classy than the ones in Tovil (a bit of a dump in Maidstone where the lights compete for tastelessness and get more gaudy every year). There's something slightly ...