Matt: Bonjour! One of the more annoying things about living and working in London is working in London - it really gets in the way of the living! With just six weeks of annual leave, seven public holidays and ten “sick days”, any time away work cannot be wasted! And so it was that just ten hours after finishing work, Ed and I lumbered into a cab at 5.30 in the morning bound for Heathrow and Paris… The night before, we had taken my dad (who had been staying with us for a few days on the way back to Oz [View Full Entry]

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Matt: Ah Venice! For our latest European adventure, we took my brother to Italy’s sinking city before he headed back to Oz. This was our first flight on Ryanair, the mega-mega discount airline. For those of you unfamiliar with the unlimited luxury of Ryanair’s cabin, picture 190 blue and fluorescent yellow battery hen cages and you’re halfway there! Ryanair doesn’t believe in seat pockets, you practically need to pay to speak to a flight attendant and check-in nine hours before scheduled departure time, but their flights are cheap - REAL cheap! And apparently [View Full Entry]

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Ed: Well another weekend, another trip overseas... I love living so close to the continent! This time around we headed off to Belfast in Northern Ireland. It was our first cheap-airline experience, which wasn’t too bad. They are very strict on their check in time - and apparently we were only allowed in because the plane was delayed… despite the fact that we were an hour early! And I thought we were early for a change! It was also the first time we experienced the relaxed smoking laws in London - they have a ‘section’ at each gate for smokers, which [View Full Entry]

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Matt: Just a quick note to update you on my continuing exploration of the little known hotspots of the British Isles (do you think KPMG would mind if I got a second job with Lonely Planet writing the first edition of their guide to ‘How to Explore Britain Courtesy of your Employer’?)… This week, boys and girls, Uncle Matty finds himself exploring the English Riviera (their description, not mine) - otherwise known as ‘Sunny Torquay’ (For some reason, most travel guides and hotel brochures always seem to prefix ‘Torquay’ with the word ‘Sunn [View Full Entry]

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Ed: Well, just want to start off by saying Thank You to all of you that called (even if it was the middle of the night!), emailed, smsed and sent cards. It was nice that you remembered even though I’m miles and miles away. Well - the day started with just after midnight the girls at work decided they wanted to be the first ones to wish me a happy birthday - I was in la la land so I have no idea what I said - all I remember is lots of people yelling ‘happy birthday’. Then at 5am I [View Full Entry]

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Matt: My KPMG sponsored tour of the British Isles continues… This week I find myself in sunny Glasgow, known for its river and curry houses as much as its heroin and knife crime! In fact the producers of Trainspotting apparently decided to film in Glasgow because they didn’t really need to add much to make the place look like Cabramatta on steroids (as well as heroin). I've actually arrived during the first blizzard of the season, but have really enjoyed my time here! The people have been amazingly friendly (or at least I think they are - I can’t really understand [View Full Entry]

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Ed: Figure it’s been a while since our last update - Matt’s in Exeter (about 3 hours away) this week so I have a bit of spare time.. Anywho - We seem to have finally settled in at home. We’ve furnished most of it - mainly with cheap things that we think will just manage to last the time we are here. It’s on a busy road so on the weekends it can get pretty noisy late into the night - luckily the last few weekends we’ve been out and normally get home just to pass out so the noise is [View Full Entry]

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Matt: Just a quick note to you give you all an update of our travels so far... The weekend before last was Guy Fawkes night; the one night of the year when otherwise normal, law abiding Brits get the urge to head for the nearest local park and try to systematically blow themselves up. Apparently the tradition started 400 years ago when Mr Fawkes - an Irish pyromaniac - tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament… In celebration, Ed and I headed down to Primrose Hill (which is a local park on a hill from where can see the whole [View Full Entry]

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Matt: Ed and I went to see Sheryl Crow at the Apollo in Hammersmith last night. Now I’ve been to a few concerts it my time, and rarely did the support act come close to upstaging the headliner, but last night Nerina Pallot - a local act - came pretty close. She was just a lone woman with questionable sexuality and a guitar on a stage in a plain skirt (Christopher, your ovaries would be aching), but she had the most amazing voice and such a natural way with the crowd. Not sure if you can get her album outside the [View Full Entry]

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Matt: Well as our second weekend comes to an end in London, I thought it might be a good chance to give you all an update of our adventures. Ed has passed out from exhaustion next to me, so I should be able to get to write this update without him butting in to tell me all the things that I have forgotten, embellished or just made up! My first week at work has been a little bizarre. After planning what I was going to wear for my security pass photo for weeks, I arrived at on my first day only [View Full Entry]

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