What happens when you get a bunch of strong willed Aussies together in the Cotswolds with a plan to cook their own Christmas day lunch? You get more food than said Aussies could finish if they were to eat solidly for a week!! I am sure that no Christmas menu was ever as hotly debated as this one. Think of all the foods that you think 'it would not be Christmas without....' and multiply that by 10, and you will start to get the picture. You know it is getting complicated when even the veggos start giving opinions as to what [View Full Entry]

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On my last weekend before starting work, I traveled to Geneva with Ben and Kara to see my friend Sarah in a pantomime. She was the female lead in an amateur production of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. The picture shows (anticlockwise from top left corner): *Sarah's fans in the foyer *Sarah (Elly) and Ali Baba * The cast *Elly and her prince Yes - I know the 'prince' is a chick. It is a pantomime tradition that the male lead is played by a chick. Similarly, Elly's mum was played by a man - another tradition. This particular pantomime [View Full Entry]

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When I traveled in Europe in 1995/96, Prague was THE place to go. Everyone was talking about how amazing (and cheap - a common backpackers obsession) it was. Unfortunately, I did not make it there during that trip but, now, almost 10 years later, I have rectified that situation. (Yes Jonno, it was a dream of mine to go to Prague.) Prague was the chosen destination for the 'now I have a job, I'd better go on another trip to make sure I have taken advantage of my time off' trip. I was a bit worried that it would be disappointing [View Full Entry]

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(acknowledgements to Roy & HG). Headed to Edinburgh on the last weekend in November to see the Wallabies play Scotland with my brother and another couple of Aussies. We hired a car and drove to the game - stopping overnight on Friday night near York and completing the 8 hour drive home on Sunday. All of the English people we spoke to thought we were mad for driving so far - but that kind of distance is nothing for an Aussie (OK, OK - it is quite far - but do-able). It is just funny that English people would never consider [View Full Entry]

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it’s off to work I go. Yes - that is right, after nearly 4 months of freedom (actually, when I start work on December 4, it will be exactly 4 months), I once again join the land of the employed. I am working for a medium sized firm. It will be good to have some money coming in again - especially as I am already planning a number of snowboarding trips!! So, I can hear you asking yourself, ‘What did she DO with all that free time?’. This is an attempt to work that out, because I can tell you - [View Full Entry]

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that a weekend away in the country makes food taste better and sleep sounder (apologies JA). I promise that will be the only Jane Austen reference - I spent the weekend with some Austen haters so the trip was remarkably Austen free). As you may be able to guess, I spent the recent weekend in Bath. The trip was organised in honour of Hilly’s 30th birthday and 15 of us descended on ‘The Residence’ for the celebrations. We had the entire place to ourselves, which was fabulous. Although the purpose of the weekend was to hang out with the birthday boy, [View Full Entry]

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There may be only one Timmy Cahill, but unfortunately, I didn't get to see why as he was injured and unable to play in the Australia v Ghana clash on Tuesday night. But all was not lost, I did get to see many of the well known Aussies play - Aloisi, Bresciano, Chipperfield, Emerton, Grella, Moore and Schwarzer play (maybe more - but these are the only ones I have learned since I jumped on the bandwagon in the course of Australia's awesome success in the World Cup). Oh - and Viduka was watching from behind the players box. A group [View Full Entry]

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The opportunity to set off your own fireworks is an exciting one for an Aussie, as this has been banned in Australia since the 1980's. So on my first Guy Fawkes night in the UK, I made full use of the opportunity to let the pyromaniac in me free! In the UK you can buy fireworks from the supermarket around Guy Fawkes Day - a bit different from the trip to Canberra required in Oz! As you can also buy beers at the supermarket - preparing for a Guy Fawkes party only requires one stop! Actually - we did not celebrate [View Full Entry]

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So, I participated in a five a side netball tournament this Saturday. Well, when I say netball, it was a variation of netball called 'speedball'. It is kind of like indoor netball, in that it is indoor and the courts are smaller than proper netball court, except for there are no nets. However, the walls of the court are really close to the sideline (sound familiar any St Andrew's Catheral Basketballers?) so they still have the rule that the ball never goes out and so you can bounce it off the walls. However, because the game is in a gym, there [View Full Entry]

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My acting career has commenced. Yes - that is right - I got my first acting gig this week, paid and everything!!! A friend of mine is working for the musical Spamalot - which is based on the Monty Python and the Holy Grail film. Now, if you have not seen the movie, what I am saying may not mean that much to you, but that is your fault for being uncultured. Anyway - the musical had its opening night in London this week with all the bells and whistles - obviously a showing of the musical, plus a big after [View Full Entry]

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