PapaStew

Jack wins again

2008-04-28T17:29:00.002+01:00

Jack had another Judo competition this weekend and this time scored a silver in the Under 35 Kg. He fought really well and even continued to fight after a nasty head knock. He cried when he got off the mat, but was very brave. He even fought again and won. Other kids in the club cry when they lose, so I was very proud of my little soldier.

Around the world 2008

2008-04-26T17:09:00.000+01:00

So for the last 3 weeks Jack and I have been traveling around the world. This is Jacks first time and my second. The main reason was Jack's mums wedding which he had to go to in Australia and Murray and Heidi's vow renewal in Seattle.

Australia was great and while Jack spent the entire 2 weeks with his mum, I wined my way up and down the coast. Notable highlights were Nicholas Miles birthday, Marco Polo and the amazing Marriot Gold Coast. It was great to catch up with family and friends though the trip was only short.
Leaving Australia we went to Fiji for 2 nights where we managed to squeeze in scuba diving and 18 holes of golf. It took Jack and I 5.5 hours to complete the course and in the Fiji sun, that was a long time.

In fact Thursday was the longest I think I have ever had. Having checked out of the hotel and played golf, we came back to the hotel for swim and food before heading to the airport around 8pm. The day is nearly over but wait.. crossing the international date line, we got even more Thursday and managed to squeeze in 14 hours to LA, 3 hours in LA airport and another 3 hour flight to Seattle. Finally capped off the day with a late dinner at Murray's place.

Seattle is beautiful. I was only there 3 days and I reckon I could live there. I am sure that once you are there the warts appear, but I found it fabulous.

Murray and Heidi's 10 year anniversary and vow renewal was a great night. It snowed most of the evening but this only caused a problem for the smokers and the Limo going home. Other than the ceremony, we managed to squeeze in a visit to the Space Needle, Fish Markets and the very first Starbucks. Big thanks to Muz and Heidi for their hospitality. Jack was totally obsessed with baby Danika and was very sad to say goodbye to Tasha.

The flight back to London was on Air India and if the plane had not been nearly empty, I doubt it would have made it. Jack managed to sleep most of the way and settled back in pretty quickly. It has now been a week back and I am still waking at 3 in the morning. Damn jet lag.

British Museum

2008-02-17T16:10:00.004Z

Today Jack and I started our local explorations again with a trip to the British Museum. There is currently an exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors on but tickets need to be booked a month in advance or we would need to queue at 7 in the morning. There is so much else to see that we will have to come back for that one.
The place is huge with the main courtyard covered by 3,500 glass triangles. We spent about 3 hours walking around, of which 1 hour was a guided tour and still didn't manage to see more than half of it. We enjoyed it though with the highlights being the Rosetta Stone and the mummy exhibits. Might even book tickets to see the First Emperor exhibition for next time.

We also managed to find a couple of Geocaches which I had pulled off the web before we left. Found count is now 10.

Also Tony came home today after nearly 3 months in Mozambique. Good to have him back.

Chasing the dream

2008-02-15T11:38:00.004Z

So after much stargazing, I turned down the job of Test Manager which I would have struggled with and would not have taken me down the path I want. Instead I enrolled in the MSP course which is a week long, intensive course aimed at programme managers.

I have started to play around with my MBA course and my first actual subject will start in mid March.

The downside of doing this course is that I will not start looking for work until March and only have a month then until I am off for 3 weeks to head back to Australia.

HSMP - The new rules, a new plan

2008-02-13T13:46:00.002Z

When I originally planned to move to the UK, it was only to be for 2 years. There being a lot of world to see and only a limited amount of years to see it, I thought that 2 years would make sense so we could move on and see more.

After being here for 6 months, I realised the folly of such a thought. There is so much to see from here that I thought we would probably need to do at least 4 years to do it justice. This fit in nicely with the visa requirements. Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) means that you no longer have to apply for a new Visa and shortly after you can apply for naturalization - a passport. It was my hope that Jack and I would be able to achieve this and so be able to return whenever we wanted.

Last year, however, the rules changed. Now you need to be here 5 years for ILR and 6 for naturalization. I don't want to be here that long, so that plan is out the window. I have made a few good friends here, but it still doesn't feel like home.

There were 2 major objectives for the move, travel and career. We have certainly traveled quite extensively since we have been here and still have more to do, but the career has been ignored for the most part. It was too easy to get simple programming jobs where the demands were less onerous. Now I have started getting more qualifications under my belt. I have applied for, and been accepted into an MBA and completed my PRINCE2 Practitioner course.

Do I chase my dream job or take the easier path and just continue coding?

Geocaching attempt 2 - Success

2008-02-10T21:34:00.000Z

This weekend Jack and I went out again. This time we were armed with a Garmin GPSMAP 60CX. Heading back to the first of our missed sites from last weekend and armed with a clue, we quickly found our first cache. It is no wonder that we missed it originally. The car GPS had put us about 200 metres from the actual spot and the cache was the size of a small nut. The cache unscrews and inside was a tiny slip of paper.

For the rest of the day we wandered around the Isle of Dogs and over to Greenwich. We didn't find all the caches we searched for, racking up 4 finds for 7 attempts. The non-finds were frustrating but the finds made up for it. It was a good day out and we only stopped as it was getting cold and dark.

Sunday we picked up Steven and Robert before heading to Kent for some geocache fun. Starting at Leeds Castle, we managed to dodge the blue rinse brigade using publiuc footpaths and made our way to the first of the days caches. It was an easy find but a much longer walk back. The next one was just down the road and again we managed to find it quite easily. The difference between finding a nano and a normal cache is amazing. The bigger boxes were much more exciting for the boys to find and all three finds of the day were off tracks in the woods.

Will go out again soon. Very addictive.

Stew & Jack 7 - Geocache 3 (still some we have not found.... yet)

Geocaching attempt 1 - Failure

2008-02-04T21:52:00.001Z

It's been around since 2000 and I have known others who have done it and reported having a blast. Finding hidden packages (treasures) using GPS coordinates. Geocaching. Having a spare weekend with no-one to visit (the Brehauts were in Dublin) , Jack and I decided to have a go. We jotted down a series of coordinates from the Geocache website that were within walking distance, checked that the GPS would accept these coordinates (a ViaMichelin 970) and headed out the door.

The first cache was only a 10 minute walk away and encouragingly, the GPS pointed to the area indicated on the website. As it was our first attempt I had deciphered the clue and read comments from other people who had recently found it. The last person to find it was only 3 days ago, so this was also encouraging.

To my dismay, when we got close, I realized that the GPS was, in fact, pointing to a spot on the nearest road, which was quite a way from the path I believe the cache was located. Trusting to my local knowledge and the hints, we spent half an hour scouring the area to no avail. The GPS was useless as it kept telling us to get on the road and even my phone GPS was no help.

Eventually we gave it up and as it was so cold, did not even attempt the second on my list. I am now looking at getting a proper hand-held GPS so that we can try again.

I was astonished at how many there are in any area. There were at least 20 within walking distance of my place which make me wonder just how many are out there.. waiting to be found. If you register with the site, you can see that it records how many finds a person has made and there are plenty that number in the hundreds. Thats a lot of time searching in strange place.

Geocache 1 - Stewart & Jack - 0

Arsenal 3 - Newcastle 0

2008-01-29T22:57:00.000Z

When people ask 'Why London?', I say 'Because there is always something happening.' Take tonight for example. Here I am, planning a quiet night at home when the phone rings and I am offered 2 free tickets to see Arsenal play Newcastle.

It was our first premiership game. In fact, I think it was our first ever soccer game and like the other 60,000 people we had a ball. Man these crazy English can make some noise. Not knowing anything about either team, we had to go for Arsenal as we were surrounded by red and white.

It did make for a late night for Jack, but if he is tired at school tomorrow, then I am sure the principal will understand. They were her season passes after all.

Chalk up another instance of 'London... never a dull moment.'

Australia Day weekend in Tuscany

2008-01-28T13:25:00.000Z

Yeah, I know. It has been a long time between posts and I am not going to try to catch up, as I have such an exciting life. This weekend, Jack and I traveled to Bologna and Pisa. We managed to grab flights to Bologna and 3 nights accommodation in 4* hotels all for the princely sum of £180. We spent each evening walking the streets and enjoying the warm Italian evenings. Ok, so not exactly warm, but compared to London, it was very enjoyable.

We flew into Bologna on Thursday evening and just walked the streets finding the lay of the land. On Friday we did a few museums and churches before hopping on a train to Florence and from there to Pisa. It was dusk by the time we found the hotel in Pisa but still wanted to see the Leaning Tower, so walked up to the Piazza. Wow. It was breathtaking.

Saturday we climbed the tower and visited most of the other major sites. Being Australia day, we also found a Contiki tour of Aussies and got some great photos before being chased away by the local police.

Sunday we took the train back to Florence and had a quick poke around before heading back to Bologna and London. All in all a great trip and would definitely return. A huge difference to our trip to Rome over a year ago now.

PGL Summercamp

2007-07-23T13:00:00.000+01:00

Jack and Robert went to summer camp this Saturday at a place called Boreatton Park. Took 4 hours to drive up there, and even longer to get back. Traffic was bad and the rain was so heavy that at times we could hardly see the car in front and some of the roads were closed due to flooding. Very strange to drop Jack off and not be able to call and see how he is doing.

I went Scuba diving yesterday with Tony and Emma at Wraysbury. It was a fresh water lake dive and the visibility was next to zero. We did 2 dives to a depth of 8 metres and saw a bus, VW Combi and occasionally, each other. Going to go again on Wednesday night with the hope that the visibility will be better.

Amsterdam again

2007-07-17T15:20:00.000+01:00

Back to the Dam again. This weekend Jack and I visited the land of tulips again. Leaving London on Friday night we were to meet up with Tony Cojones in the Dam. Unfortunately, he missed the flight from Gatwick, so headed to Heathrow, only to miss that flight as well. Jack and I stayed in the luxurious NH City Centre Hotel.

Tony finally made it to Amsterdam on Saturday morning, so we met him at the station and caught the train to The Hague. A pretty city and we watched rowing races outside the Binnenhof in the centre of town before finding some lunch. We then visited the Mauritshuis museum where we saw many masterpieces by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Steen and Frans Hals. A quick trip out to the Peace Palace where the flame of peace was out (not a good sign) and we had to scarper to Rotterdam to find a room to sleep in.

Rotterdam was hosting the North Sea Jazz Festival and so rooms were at a premium. We ended up staying at Hostal Mafkees which boasts 126 beds in 1 room. We counted over 150 and with 24 hour reception and no curfew, there were people coming and going at all hours. This didn't bother me as much as the warthog with a mucus problem drinking a slurpee in the next bed. This man could snore for at an Olympic level. The beds were so close together I could extend my arms and touch the ones on either side and the temptation to hit the human buzz-saw with a well aimed pillow was almost overwhelming.

In the morning, after a quick breakfast of bread, jam and coffee, we went for a walk around the city. A stark contrast to Amsterdam, Rotterdam seemed deserted. Maybe it was the rain, but we really didn't take to the city at all. After dodging the rain for a while, we gave up and jumped on the tram back to Centraal. After working out that trains back via The Hague were cancelled due to lightening hitting the train track, we caught a train via Gouda back to Amsterdam.

Sunday night Tony headed a back to London, actually making the plane this time, and we stayed at a local hostel. This hostel was far more civilised with only 5 beds to a room, real mattresses, pillows and blankets, and no snoring beasts.

Monday we hired bikes after Jack nagged me, but took them back after we got soaked from the rain and Jack scared the hell out of me with his crazy riding. The bike was too big for him and his method of stopping was to run into me or anything else that presented itself.

As well as getting soaked, we managed to see Anne Frank house, the Van Gogh Musuem and the Rijksmuseum before heading back to the airport. We were supposed to be catching up with Janneke and Mo, but they were using the wrong phone number and by the time I called them, it was time to head to the airport.

Another good trip and while I would like to see more of The Netherlands, I will be in no rush to head back to Rotterdam.

One year in the UK

2007-06-27T09:47:00.000+01:00

Hooray.. I have now been in the UK one whole year. So I thought I would have a quick look back over the last 12 months and see what I have been doing.

Travel: We have sure done a fair amount of this. Seen some of Western Europe, Ireland, Iceland and Beijing, China. Most of the trips have been long weekends so we have not really seen much of these places. Favourite place has to be Amsterdam. I have been a few times and will be going back as soon as I can. Worst place was Rome. I didn't feel safe there. We have seen lots of sights in London, but still have so much more to see. We worked out that if we visited just one London attraction every weekend, we would still be seeing new things in 18 months.

Work: I took the second contract I was offered when I arrived and have been doing it ever since. Coming up on 12 months, though I have had large rate increases at every 3 month extension. Its rats off a sinking ship at the moment and while they may renew my contract, I don't really want to be the guy left holding the basket. I have joined the British Computer Society and done my Foundation Certificate in Testing. I have also booked my Project Management exam, so another tick in the box. I guess this is the area where I have failed to meet my objectives. I wanted to do more of the senior management and have been so bogged down with my contract and travel, that I have not really applied for many jobs. That will have to change soon.

Friends: I have made a few good friends here. Tony has remained a good mate and through association, Emma, Gareth & Alicia and the boys from Cojones del Fuego. Steven and Michelle have become special friends as have George, Latha and Grace although I have not seen them in ages. Only one from Jacks school and some at the Judo Club though I would not really call any of them good friends. Jude who I met through a single parents dating sites has become a good friend and our boys love playing together. I wouldn't say I am overwhelmed as making friends here is hard, but those that I have made I am really grateful for.

Life in general: Its been a great time and hard as well. Love London and am starting to think of it as home. The home sickness was minor as Jack was here and Christmas, which I thought would be hard, was actually easy with the incredible warmth of the Hunt clan, then the trip to China where we met up with Sharyn. Sharyn has been a great shoulder to prop me up over the hard period and I am, as ever, very grateful.

From here: Tony and I are looking to buy a house, but before we jump into that, he is going to move into our place. It may be a little cramped but it should only be for a few months. Will allow us to see if we can live together. Sharyn and I are also going halves in a house, so I may have 2 mortgages, although I am hoping that part of the Australian one will be covered by renting spare rooms. Jack and I are planning on staying here a few more years to go for permanent residence. Then we can come and go as we please and maybe even get a British passport. I will have to move the career along as that is the only thing I am not happy with, but given I was only here to try it, I am happy with my move so far.

Cold showers - the London way

2007-06-25T23:24:00.000+01:00

When I came to London, I was warned about the warm beer. What I should have been warned about was the cold showers. Today I had 2 guys from British Gas banging around in my kitchen. Yes, more percussive maintenance and many phone calls to manufacturers, suppliers, their mates, random strangers... I still have no working boiler. It has now been 10 days and they are coming back with still more parts and, presumably, bigger hammers on Wednesday. I would love to get mad, but I am resigned to the fact that I will be without a working boiler indefinitely.

I went swimming tonight. They have hot water at the pool, so I took all my toiletries and a long shower after my swim. For £3, it is an expensive way to shower, but it was nice. Might have to invest in a camp shower.

Chessington World of Adventure

2007-06-24T23:12:00.000+01:00

Today Jack and I went to Chessington World of Adventure with Steve, Michelle, Jessica and Robert. It was officially for Jacks birthday. The day was wet, with light showers on and off all day. Not enough to put us off, but it was a bit annoying on the faster rides in the morning. The up-side was that there were very few people there, so almost no lines for the rides. Yay.. On some rides they even sent us around again if there were not many people waiting. Jack and Robert were able to go an all rides other than one, which was not particularly special anyway.

I have uploaded the photos onto Flickr. Check em out.

A HUGE THANKS to all the Hunts for a fantastic day.

John Fleming dot com

2007-06-23T10:27:00.000+01:00

We all have love jobs. The ones you do for family. The plumber who fixes Mums pipes or the lawyer who gives Aunt Cyril free advice. My latest love job is to rewrite my Dads web site. I do not do it grudgingly, in fact, it has been fun.

He wrote it using Publisher, which is understandable as he had noticed that you could output web pages from it. Little did he know, that function was added as a perk for people who had a great publisher file and wanted to put a single page on the web. It does it but the file is incredibly ugly. His first page (could only get one to work) had 4 images and a few paragraphs of text. The file, however was over 600 lines long. Last night I rewrote it and it is now 38 lines long. A bit of a difference. It does not have the navigation on it yet, but that should only add 5 lines at the most.

There are another 23 publisher files to convert, but now I have a template, it should only take a few minutes per file.

Another successful love job completed.

"Love ya Dad"

Still no flame..

2007-06-22T12:09:00.000+01:00

Ricky from British Gas is here now and I can hear water running, now banging. Percussive maintenance, not a good sign. He has been here so often I know how he takes his coffee. I am not confident of having a hot shower any time soon.

UPDATE: Defeated again. He is now coming back on Monday with his boss (was supposed to turn up with his boss today) to try again. Unbelievable. That will be 9 days with no hot water. Cold showers again for the weekend. Luckily we will be in Greenhithe on Saturday night. Might be able to have a hot shower there.

We are booked to go to Chessington World of Adventure on Sunday with good friends Steve and his son Robert. A boyz day out. Should be great fun. To facilitate an early departure, Jack and I are heading down to Greenhithe on Saturday afternoon and spending the night.

Cold Shower time

2007-06-21T10:06:00.000+01:00

Man the water was cold this morning. There is no way that getting out of a warm bed and into a cold shower can be a good start to the day. Kept finding myself huddling in the corner trying to avoid the water, only to force myself back under the icy torrent. Its not just uncomfortable. It makes a huge difference when shaving too. Instead of the shaving cream (I use the gel) lathering, it seemed to just run off my face, the upshot of which is that the razor scraped across my face like a cheese grater. I think the fact that I had goose bumps everywhere might have added to the torture. All in all, not an experience I want to continue as a habit. Fingers crossed that when British Gas turn up on Friday, they will be able to make fire. My backup plan is to start collecting kindling and source a cauldron from the witch next door.

Still no hot water

2007-06-20T13:16:00.000+01:00

British Gas man came again today. Arrived just after 9 and left after 1 with still no result. He has replaced the valve, fan pressure switch, sparker and still no fire. Have been booked in again for Friday, so it is cold showers for the rest of the week.

Booked in for the BCS Project Management exam today. I have till the 20th of July to finish the book and do my revision. I should have no problem, but it is another tick in the box on my resume.

The Gas Man Cometh

2007-06-18T22:55:00.000+01:00

Was on a Monday morning when the gas man came to call. I remember this song from my youth and had to chuckle when, after a weekend of cold showers, the gas man turned up on Monday morning. The boiler failed to ignite on Saturday morning. Not a problem as the Landlord was just around the corner and authorised to get it fixed ASAP. I am lucky to have a great landlord.

Still no hot water as parts had to be ordered, but I am hopeful that by Wednesday night, we will be back in hot water.

I know its been a long time between posts. I am not going to try and fill in the missing posts. Suffice to say that Jack and I have been doing loads of travelling. China, Iceland, Cornwall, Madrid and back to Australia for the wedding of the year. Congrats to Sean and Kate. Still cannot believe that he is married. What kind of world do we live in? The links will take you to the appropriate photos sets on Flickr.

Jack is now a Yellow belt with one Orange stripe in Judo. He is also the current European Champion for under 25Kg. Not bad for a boy from Aus who has only been doing it a few months. I am understandably pretty proud.

Jack is still enjoying school and got to catch up with his good mate Gaege while in Australia. He also had his eighth birthday but due to the flying visit, it was a fairly quiet affair. Thanks to Sharyn for putting me up while we were back and helping organise Jacks party as well as all my social engagements.

I have completed my foundation course in Testing and started sending out my resume to companies that source testers. On Tony's advice I sent it to Mission with no modifications. Their reaction was 'don't hold your breath'. My next attempt will have more testing experience highlighted. I am not actually keen to do testing, but the money is outstanding. I can get a 25% increase in wage by doing software testing as opposed to development. I don't understand that, but I will go where the money is.

As far as future travel goes, I am hoping to go to Portugal with Sean and KTG later in the year. There is also the Puccini Festival in Lucca Italy. This will probably be with the super traveller, Justine Townsend. Other trips I would like to do include a trip to Moscow, a night or two out on the Sahara, leaving from Morocco, back to Amsterdam to catch up with Janneke, Egypt, Seattle... the list goes on.

Being back in Australia was strange. I felt like a tourist. Everyone was doing the same things as when I left and I was just flying through. I didn't feel like I was coming home when flying back to London. Guess there is no place I feel at home anymore. Sounds a bit depressing, but it is more just odd. We told people here we were heading home, but then when we were leaving Aus, we told people we were heading home to London. Doesn't feel like home though. How long do you have to live somewhere to call it home? Or should my definition of home change? Home is where Jack and I happen to be on any particular day.

Jacks mum has still made no concrete move with regards to the summer (July/August) holidays. She originally want him to come back for 3-4 weeks, but last conversation was that she was going to try to talk Adam into coming to London. She has also halved her maintenance, so I am not inclined to send him back now. It is too late to be booking un-accompanied travel now. Now I have to work out how to juggle work while he is on holidays for 6 weeks. Summer camp for 1 or 2 weeks. Not sure about the rest.

Hi Specky

2006-10-17T22:37:00.000+01:00

In all my recent travels, I have been learning about myself while learning about Europe. One of the most important personal discoveries was that I can no longer see as well as I once could. My eyes have been getting worse over the last few years, but I have always written it off to spending too long in front of a computer. When they first started going, I would start the week good, then by Friday, was having trouble focusing on distant objects. Then by the end of the weekend, my eyes had rested enough to have mostly recovered. That was a few years ago.

I'm older now and when travelling, it is vital to be able to make out street signs, bus numbers and all manor of things from a distance. I found myself squinting trying to focus on things. In a recent trip to Ireland, I borrowed first Sharyn's and then Kate's glasses and found that there was a crisp world out there. Enough was enough. Time to take the plunge and go see an optomitrist.

ASDA to the rescue. Thats right, my local, all-purpose store also has an optomistrist. They are very busy though as I had to book in 3 weeks in advance. By the time my appointment rolled around, I was quite excited at the prospect of being able to see clearly again.

At the appointed time, I turned up and sat through some automated tests which still remain a mystery. One machine blew air into my eye and scared the crap out of me. Then, just for kicks, they did it to the other eye. Finally it printed out my results, whatever they were. After a brief wait I was in to see the Optomptrist. Playing with lenses, he finally settled on a pair and we went outside into the shop to test them. Without them I found it hard to read the signs on the ends of the aisles in the shop (about 15 metres away), with them I could easily read signs at the far end of the shop (about 80 metres away). Wow. Very impressed. But we were not done. As you probably all know, you then have to pick frames. This turned out to be the hardest part of the visit. There are hundreds to choose from and without Sharyn or anyone else to help, it was a daunting task. In the end, a sales assistant pointed out the differences for me and helped me narrow it down to a certain style. From there it was just try, try, try until finally making my choice.

Done, I thought. Not quite, I then had to choose lens coatings and treatments. Because I need them for distance, I got the self-darkening lenses, but have been told since then that these may not be as clear. Oh well.

Only 4 days later, I got a call to come and pick up the finished product. As you can see, I went for a half rim, square frame. I am still trying to get used to them, but they make a huge difference, even seeing objects relatively close. The first few days I had a headache and think it may be because of them, but I will persist, because I like seeing things in focus.
One unexpected side-effect was that it upset Jack. I heard him crying while I was making dinner and when I asked what was wrong he said "I don't want you to die." Now getting glasses does not mean you are going to die, but he was really upset. I remember crying for the same reason when I was his age because my dad was a smoker. But he is still going strong and in fact going from strength to strength, so I related this to Jack and said that I would be around to make sure he raised his son properly.

Greenwich

2006-10-15T22:05:00.000+01:00

Another weekend and another London exploration. This weekend we took a short walk to Greenwich which is just on our doorstep. Walking to the most Southerly point on the Isle of Dogs (Henry VIII had his kennels here) we entered the Greenwich foot tunnel and walked under the Thames. It took about an half an hour from leaving our front door to emerge in Greenwich, directly before the Cutty Sark. The foot tunnel is 370 metres long and just over 15 metres deep, though there is only a slight incline and there were many people with bikes and prams down there.

On the Southern side, on you are confronted by the Cutty Sark, a preserved 'tea clipper' which made many voyages to China, India and Australia. It costs 4 pound to visit and was a bit run down and tired with many of the displays showing their age. An interesting point was that a voyage from Sydney with wool cost 400 pounds to load, 4000 pounds in transport costs and fetched 100,000 pounds in London. Quite a tidy profit, especially for the first ship back which got the best price.
Leaving here we walked up to the Royal Observatory in search of food. Having not left till late in the morning, it was now lunchtime and the London with Kids book said that the Park Cafe was the best spot. We found it, but the menu had changed to almost high tea. Not what two growing Australian lads need to keep them going. We ended up settling for the old favourite, sausage in a bun, though it was 'free range' whatever that means. I can just see the hunter, hot on the trail of a free range sausage.

Having recovered from our 'starvation' (how come a seven year old can go from starving to full on half a sausage), we entered the Royal Observatory just in time for a presentation on the meridian and the history of the Observatory. It was excellent and explained in a way that even Jack could understand. We then visited all the points of interest, skipping quickly through the 'boring bits' such as the apartments. Actually they were very boring.

After that it was down the hill to the National Maritime Museum. This was free entry but we paid the 4 pound to do the planetarium show which was excellent. The rest of the museum was mostly 'boring' with little interactive stuff. I think we only got through half of it before we were chased out by staff as it was closing time.

We had a quick look around the Greenwich markets before grabbing some subway and catching the DLR back to Crossharbour. We were home in just over 10 minutes. Nice.

Summary
A nice day out though it would make a better picnic destination than an explore day. Next time we might pack some lunch and take a kite, frisbee or sled. (Apparently the hill is good when there is snow on it.)

Braemar Gathering

2006-10-10T19:04:00.000+01:00

On the first Saturday in September, amongst the heather clad hills of Braemar, great big men in skirts throw really heavy things around a paddock. I am, of course, referring to the Braemar Gathering. There have been Gatherings of one sort or another at Braemar since the days of King Malcolm Canmore, nine hundred years ago. When it comes to the highland games, this event is second only to the Edinburgh Tattoo. The Patron of the Braemar Gathering is Her Majesty the Queen.

Leaving London on Friday afternoon, Jack, Sharyn and I took the train from King's Cross station for the 4.5 hour trip north to Edinburgh on the GNER. The trip north went quite quickly although we did stop and have to change trains though the reason for this was unclear.
Arriving in Edinburgh, we caught the local bus to our B&B. After a short walk back from the Royal Infirmary (we missed the bus stop), we dropped off our bags and headed back into town to find some dinner. We were only 10 minutes from Princes Street. After wandering through some cheesy souvenir shops and trying on the local colours we found an excellent Italian restaurant called Bella Italia on Hanover Street. Mushrooms to die for.

After a good nights sleep it was up bright and early to catch the bus up into the highlands. From Edinburgh it is another 2.5 hours by bus to reach Braemar. Leaving at 7.30 we got up there just after 10am. I was expected a much bigger event. This was more like a family picnic, not that I minded, it was very quaint and you got a warm welcome from everyone. We ate the local food which was tastier than it looked; at least Jack thought so. The Stovie is beetroot and oat biscuits on a mixture of potato and ground steak. Not sure that this is right. You sure couldn't tell just by looking at it and there seems to be dozens of different recipes for it.

We got seats in the stand near the 'Heavy' events and at first there was a net between us and the Royal Box (hut) but they took this down before SHE arrived. Turned out to be fantastic seats, but as we were all just sitting on a hill around a small field, I guess every seat was good. Definitely better than standing, though I wouldn't shell out the extra for seats in the stand. Being on the little wooden benches was the real deal.

While it was overcast most of the day, there was only a small sprinkle of rain and not enough to wet us. Temperature wise, it was chilly, but certainly not cold; at least not for me.

With more pipers than you can throw a stick at, runners, dancers, tug of war and the heavies, there was always something going on. The highlights for me included tossing the caber, the band leader competition and of course, The Queen.

She arrived in her Bentley just after lunch with the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Camilla. There was no extra security and it felt really special to be there. As you can see, we were just across from her and she passed not more than a few feet in front of us on the way out. Very cool.

After she left, everything started to shut down so we grabbed some sandwiches (one stovie a day is enough) and jumped on the bus back to Edinburgh.
Sunday was not nearly as exciting, but still an interesting day. We went up to Edinburgh Castle and even though it was raining, it was a nice visit. Then walked down the Royal Mile and met up with Justine and Renee who were also up from London for the last events of the Edinburgh Festival. After lunch Jack and I went to the Dynamic Earth where we fooled around. It was a good display of the life of the planet and different ecosystems. Sharyn went shopping and we all met up at the station at 5 for the trip home.

Summary
For me, the Braemar Gathering was definitely worth the trip and Edinburgh is a nice place to visit. We felt welcome and safe while there and the pricing was not too Scottish. 4 Ook Eyees out of 5.

Monument, Tower of London and Tower Bridge

2006-10-08T23:48:00.000+01:00

I have been reporting on my weekend trips, but I will take a break from that to report on things to do in London. Going through the London with Kids book, Jack and I decided to visit the Tower of London and Tower Bridge.

We jumped on the DLR towards Monument/Bank. I had meant to get off at Tower Hill, but missed the stop and went all the way to Monument. It is only a short walk from there to the Tower so no big deal, but walking out of the station we nearly bumped into Monument.

Wow. I was not planning on visiting it, but it was only 3 pound entry for the two of us, so it was a no brainer. I remember the guide saying to visit this as one of your first activities in the day and at 311 steps, I know why. We counted on the way up and down. On the way up something must have gone wrong, cause on the way down we counted 311 exactly. I only stopped around 10 times on the way up. (It really is a long way) At the top there is a great view all around. From there we walked up to the Tower of London.
It was a beautiful day as you can see and the crowds were not too bad. We did the Yeoman tour first then went exploring. One of Jack's teachers lives in the tower as her husband is a Yeoman Guard. I couldn't remember her name though. The tower was good though Jack flew through the Crown Jewels exhibit. He much preferred the armour and weapons in the White Tower. We had lunch at the armoury Cafe which was nice and not too expensive, we found the obligatory snow globe and visited nearly every building in the place. By 4.00 I was ready to move on so we left by the river entrance and walked up to the Tower Bridge.
The Tower Bridge was not as exciting as I remember it and we went through there pretty quickly. The view from the top is pretty good, but not as good as the London Eye. The highlight for Jack was the interactive displays on hydraulics in the engine room at the end of the exhibit.

Finishing up there we jumped on the DLR at Tower Gateway and was back home 30 minutes later. I great day out in London and 3 more sights ticked off in the guide. Only 65 more to go. (we have also been on the London Eye)

Relaxed in the Dam

2006-10-07T18:01:00.000+01:00

2 Months between blog entries. Luckily I have not been doing anything interesting. Just work etc. Well there has been the odd trip away. Being in London is exactly like living in Brisbane except that Europe is on your doorstep and it is possible to go to exotic places like Amsterdam for the weekend. To prove this I have undertaken an extensive and exhaustive series of trips to ensure that this is indeed possible.
My first foray was to Ireland to meet up with Sean and Kate. As previously reported, the big lesson from this trip was that Stansted is not a nice airport to leave from or come back to if you live south of London.
With assurances that Gatwick was the airport of choice, I booked a trip to Amsterdam with my guide Tony Brynes. For this trip we left on the Friday around 3 PM from Gatwick airport arriving in Amsterdam at 5 PM. There was no jet-lag and very little hassle getting to the airport or into Amsterdam. Customs there is very relaxed. There are so many drugs there that bringing them in makes no sense at all. That was the key word for the entire weekend. Relaxed. Amsterdam is one seriously relaxed place.
We stayed at a friend of Tony's, Janneke, whom I cannot speak of highly enough. Once we had dropped off our backpacks we headed back into the Dam and sussed out the Grasshopper. I was a bit unsure how I would handle the 'atmosphere' as I was still having flashbacks to a small cookie from Nimbin, but after a few minutes I was able to relax and enjoy the place. Of course no trip to Amsterdam is complete without a walk through the Red Light district. I am pleased to report that we spent so much time doing this that by the end of the weekend, I knew my way around quite well. Similar to the 'atmosphere' of the grasshopper, I was content to attend but not inhale. But you can be assured that there were many sights to take in and I did my best.
Janneke's good friend Katerina worked behind the bar at the Bulldog. The best place to stay in Amsterdam and right in the heart of the Red Light District. Each night ended up at the back bar of the Bulldog which is usually reserved for guests. On the Sunday night, there was a fantasy party at the Bulldog to celebrate 10 years (or something), so all the staff came dressed as fairies. A very cool night but we did not get back home till very late. Flying back to London, I jumped on the Gatwick Express (30 minutes to London) and went straight to work.

Summary
While it was easy to get there and back in a weekend, I must remember that if I am going to work on Monday, then I must get more rest on the Sunday night. The highlights of the trip were not the Red Light district nor the freely available recreational substances. The real highlights were the bicycle ride through Vondel Park and the walk through the Jewish sector of the Dam. (Though the other things were pretty good too)
Amsterdam is an amazingly friendly and relaxed place and I will definitely be back.

All Sorted

2006-07-14T20:08:00.000+01:00

Spent the day resting after a very busy week. I got the job working for BDO but at a reduced rate. I am happy for that although I will be asking for my original rate once I have completed my first 3 months.

Having secured a job I then chased up registering a company to charge through. Found a place on the web called Company Warehouse that register a company for only £80. I rang them as well and was told that they guarantee same day registration. So when the contracting agency called to say that I would only be able to start on Tuesday 'due to legal reasons', I went a little bananas at them. Why can I not start because your paperwork is not in order. Turns out they couldn't find the new company name on the web. Not surprising seeing as how I had only registered it a few hours earlier. I called the friendly guys at CW and they not only game me the required company number, he also forwarded me the company certificate in PDF. I then forwarded it onto the agency and hey-presto; I can now start on Monday.

Now all I need to do is open a company account so that I can be paid. I have an offer from Abbey as they have a deal with the Company Warehouse, but I will probably also open one with HSBC as I already have an account with them. Very happy with the progress I have managed to make in 3 weeks. I will probably relax this weekend again in preparation for starting at BDO on Monday.

Jobs, schools and home

2006-07-13T00:22:00.000+01:00

Today I went for 2 job interviews, re-visited my top pick for school and dropped in to a few real estate agents to check out the rental situation. The first interview was with Regent Inns who own the Walkabout Pubs along with others. It was for a full time position and they were not offering much money. They were very impressed. I know this as they told me so many times. They didn't even ask me any technical questions as they thought I probably knew too much. We finished up with them off to see how much money they could come up with. I heard back in the afternoon from the agency that they believed I was too overqualified and would not stick around if I got the job. With the money they were offering, they were right.

The second interview was at 1 and I arrived in town with time to spare. The only business shirts I had bought were striped and I had no tie to go with it. For the first interview I had just worn a mis-matched ensemble, but I was serious about the BDO interview, so I went into a shop and bought a solid color shirt, changed into it and then went for the interview.

The interview went well and the role sounds like a lot of fun. Good money, good location and good money. What more can I ask? Sounds too good to be true, so I probably will not get it.

After that I headed to the Docklands area and timed my trip to the Cubbit Junior School. Took my about 40 minutes to get from work to the school. In peak hour would probably take me a little longer. At the school I was met by the Head Mistress who gave me a much better welcome than the last visit. After telling me that her school had been in rated in the top 1% of London schools, she asked me to come back tomorrow so that she can give me a proper tour and said that there was a 99.9% chance I will get a place. Excellent news.

I then walked down to the Mudchute Farm who handle the after school care. My initial impression was not great, but once I spoke to one of the carers, I was very impressed. The farm includes 31 acres of farm land including many animals. The after hours centre also have their own field for activities that is used exclusively by them. At 8 pound a day, I thought this was an excellent centre.

I then visited the real estates in the area enquiring about places to lay my head. Funny how a suit can get you a better deal here. I went into one place enquiring about a place I had seen on the web and the guy said it was not my sort of place. Apparently it was in a pretty rough apartment block. He said he had one coming up but had not seen inside it. Then the owner of this un-seen apartment walked in. She was very nice and told me about the area and the school as she had attended it herself.

Tomorrow I will go back to the school for the royal tour and am booked in with 4 real estate agents to see their properties. I will not say yes to a property until I have secured employment but it feels good knowing that the school at least is now sorted out.

Twenty20 at the Oval

2006-07-11T23:36:00.000+01:00

Today we went to a Twenty20 game at the Oval with the boys. WOW.. What an amazing game. It was Pakistan vs the Rest of the World. It was raining when we got there and we were thinking that the game would be cancelled, but we went in, had a pint and found our seats. The seats were in the front row of the balcony. By the time we were on our second pint, they announced that instead of 20 overs each, they would be playing 10 overs a side.

The game finally started and the crowd went off. The ROTW scored 123 runs in their ten overs with a swag of sixes and fours. Great spectacle. The Pakis made a good show and managed to get within striking distance by the last over. By the last ball, they needed 2 runs to win. The fielders moved in to prevent the single and the batter snicked a four. An awesome game.

I don't remember ever going to the cricket before. Some would consider that a cardinal sin. But to see my first live game at the Oval in such a dramatic fashion was a real buzz. Thanks Alicia for the tickets.

Weekend in Dublin

2006-07-10T21:42:00.000+01:00

On Friday morning I left the house heading for Stansted Airport and Dublin. Looking at the Transport for London website, I planned my trip. Unfortunately, Friday was the anniversary of the July 7 bombings in London and the increased security and small delays meant that I was late getting to the airport. I was surprised that it took so long and cost so much to get to the airport. It was 14 pounds one way once I got to the tube stop. Adding another 28 pounds to the cost of the trip makes Stansted a more costly place to leave from. Live and learn.

Getting to the airport at the exact checkout time meant that I unless I could find the correct counter I was doomed. So, drawing on all my speed and skill.. you guessed. Doomed; bugger. I could not even find the counter and by the time I reached the front of the enquiry line, I was 20 minute past the checkout time and had to buy a ticket on the next flight. The new flight was about to leave and so I legged it down to the terminal. After waiting 15 minutes, there is an announcement that the plane will be 2.5 hours late in leaving. Double bugger.

I finally made it to Dublin and met Sean at the airport. We jumped on a bus and headed into the city. Apparently Dublin traffic rivals that of London and New York for congestion. Maybe not something to be proud of. I am happy to report that I made it to Sean's place in good time and headed out for a pint. So within an hour of landing I was in a pub drinking a Guinness. Nice.

Friday Kate cooked a lovely dinner for us. She was not feeling well so Sean and I headed out to see Temple Bar and a bit of the night life. We stopped in a bar and had a pint (or 2) and met a nice old guy called Felix who was a retired teacher. Nice to meet the locals. It was a bit cold and the day had been long so we headed home. Another country, another bed.

Saturday we went for a long walk. Taking in the Trinity College, the Guinness Brewery (though the line was too long to go in) and finally the Kilmainham Gaol. We probably spent about 5 hours walking around, plus a tour of the Gaol which was very interesting. Saturday night we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean. Very enjoyable if a little silly at times.

Sunday was more walking with a trip past Sean's office, then off to the Natural History Museum. Unfortunately, all the museums in Dublin are closed until 2:30 on Sundays. What the? Thwarted again. So back to Temple bar for a pint and bangers and mash. The B&M was excellent as was the pint. Again on foot we saw an excellent busker who was more of a stand-up comic on the street rather than a busker. After the show it was time to head back and go out to the airport so as to not miss the flight, again.

Catching a bus out to the airport I made it in plenty of time. Of course, the plane was 40 minutes late leaving and was over an hour late by the time we actually got to Stansted. This time I took a bus instead of the train. It was only 10 pound and a little quicker once it left, but we waited 15 minutes for that.

I had planned to watch the World Cup final back at Clapham with the guys. I finally arrived as the pub was emptying, game having just concluded. I saw none of the match, so cannot make any comment other than to say that Australia should have won against Italy and therefore the World Cup. Ok, so I can dream.

We stayed at the pub till late and had many a pint. A great weekend and big thanks to Sean and Kate for the their hospitality.

Canary Wharf

2006-07-02T21:11:00.000+01:00

I think I have finally found my feet. I am now feeling well and even confident.

After putting on some washing and a huge plate of fruit, I caught the train to Canary Wharf tube station. This was a recommended place to live and I thought I would take advantage of the fantastic weather to check it out. I arrived around 11 and within half an hour had sussed out the main area around the tube station. Big shiny buildings and gleaming malls with loads of glass etc.

After a quick lunch, I made a plan to walk around the Isle of Dogs. Despite the name I saw no dogs, but loads of ugly women. (haha) Took me a couple of hours and included 6 different primary schools and 4 new development sites. You can see my photos of the trip including the millennium dome, some of the new developments and a beach, although the beach was rubbish but a good place to drink by the look of it.

A quick look in some real estate windows shows I can rent a 3 bedroom place in the Docklands area for the same price I can get a 2 bedroom place in Clapham. Tomorrow I will try to find some places in Earlsfield and maybe even visit some of the Primary Schools in this area. I am expecting to get two interviews early in the week which I am looking forward to. I have also booked a flight to Dublin for next weekend to catch up with Sean and KTG.

BBQ & ENGLAND vs PORTUGAL

2006-07-01T20:49:00.000+01:00

Had a great day today. We went to a BBQ at tony's friends place, Alicia. She had bought a wading pool in her yard and we sat around getting our feet wet. Her friend Gareth cooked up a feast of chicken, sausages and home-made hamburgers. Food and company was great. We then headed down the local to watch England vs Portugal.

We all know how mad the English fans are. It was amazing to see the locals drink and drink while the English team failed to score. By the time we reached extra time, most of the fans were nicely toasted. When Portugal missed the second penalty shot, the place erupted. It was all happening, the buzz, the drama, the tension. Then it was over, no more England. Many of the people just walked out of the pub. After we finished our drinks we headed back to Alicias to chill until the France vs Brazil game. Who would have thought that France would beat Brazil. I lost a fiver on that result. Tommy went down to the local French pub/restaurant to watch the game. By the end, the crowd was spilling out into the street, blocking traffic and causing havoc. Tommy even said he jumped onto a passing flat bed truck, till it took off and people fell off. The police came to restore order and push the crowd off the street. Tony and I headed up an hour after the game and the crowd was still going hard. Love the World Cup.

Putney Pub Crawl

2006-06-30T20:18:00.000+01:00

Today I took the bus to Putney in search of accomodation and a pub. I found a pub and another pub and finally ended up in the walkabout pub watching the World Cup. I also had a TED to make it feel like home. I also went to the local Foxtons enquiring about place to rent in the Putney area. Turns out they also cover Earlsfield which I have been told by three different people to check out. Earlsfield also has the Beatrix Potter Primary School which was also recommended to me.

Tonight I caught up with Justine Townsend and Renee. We ended up having dinner at the Clapham Tandoori restaurant. We didnt end up eating until quiet late. It was a great night hearing about Justines travels throughout Italy etc..

Bank Accounts

2006-06-28T10:36:00.000+01:00

Today I went to the First Contact meeting in Oxford Street. This is an introductory meeting where they tell you about life, work and travel in London. I signed up for a HSBC bank account and got my sim card, so I now have a UK mobile number. The meeting took 4 hours as there wer heaps of people to get through. I then was sent upstairs to talk to someone about schools. They must have thought I was a teacher as they had sent me to a teaching recruitment company. Not to pass up an opportunity, I asked if there was someone who could help with an education question. One of the consultants came out and he had a primary school aged kid. He gave me heaps of information to chase up.

I was in town and should have done some tourist crap, but I was really tired. I think I am still running on Qld time. So I jumped on a train and headed home. Looking out the window of the train, I spotted the London Eye and Big Ben. I tried to get a photo, but there were too many trees in the way. It is hard not to see sights here.

I have called the local school district and found a list of schools in the area. It is going to be tough as they will not accept an application until he is in the country. He arrives a few days before the new school year starts, so it will be a tight squeeze to get him in. He might have to have a week off to get used to the place before starting school anyway.

Tonight I started looking for work. Sent off 5 applications for programming jobs. Already got a call back from one, but it was a permanent job on the North side of London. I think I will stick to contract unless it is an executive position. I am also thinking I will live in this area unless I find the perfect job and it is out of London. There are heaps of Australians in this area and just having a few people that you know in the area can make you feel a bit more secure.

Tonight for dinner we had roast beef with mash and salad. I was told that the fruit and veg over here was rubbish and very little access to beef. Well check this out.

Day 1 - World Cup down the pub

2006-06-25T23:03:00.000+01:00

Today I bummed around the house, had a big cooked breakfast, played some cards and then went down to a dodgy local pub to watch the England - Ecuador game. Luckily, England won. I was feeling a little under the weather the entire day and left the pub half way through the Netherlands - Portugal game. 15 yellow cards later, Portugal went through to play England. All eyes were on the England match, but no-one was really watching the next match and it ended up being better to watch it back at the flat. Especially as it was such a controversial game.

Tomorrow I will head in to London, visit First Contact and set up the bank account and phone. I will also try to find out more about the school system and see what recruiting agencies I should be talking to. In the afternoon, Australia play Italy so I will try to get back here for that. Met one of Tony's friends who joined us at the pub. She works in PR for E-Sure, where Tony works and has to go to Wimbeldon on both Monday and Tuesday. She is going to see if she can get us some tickets for Tuesday afternoon.

I made it.

2006-06-24T23:31:00.000+01:00

I am now in Sunny London. The weather is almost exactly like the Queensland weather. (although I hear it is now raining there) My laptop tells me it is 8:28 am on Sunday, my watch tells me it is 11:28 PM on Saturday; my body just wants to lie down and sleep. zzz

No Turning Back

2006-06-24T03:19:00.000+01:00

One whole month since I last wrote an entry and hasn't it been eventful. My sons 7th Birthday Party, 2 garage sales, flea market, moving all the remaining stuff into storage, moving out of my house and flying to Korea..

The flight here was a breeze. 10 hours, but I had an emergency exit seat. You trade under seat storage and fresh air for the ability to stand up whenever you want and stretch. The guy next to me was a Korean student studying at UQ. I got less than 3 words out of him to find this out and figured he really didn't want to talk to me when he pulled the travel blanket up over his head. I felt really odd sitting next to a wrapped body, but maybe he just didn't like the gentle aroma of isle 46.

On arriving in Korea I cleared customs and immigration easily and found the service desk. I was expecting the overnight hotel to be a bit run down. I was sort of right. It is the Hyatt Regency Incheon and was a very nice hotel, but signs of age are showing. Also, being a heavy smoking country, every room has that decidedly smokey flavour.

Met an amazing guy on the transfer and had dinner with him. Clive, the Yoga instructor from Byron Bay. He spends 2 months a year in India, 2 months traveling Europe, teaching in retreats and the rest of the year on his 5 acres in the Byron hinterlands.

Today we do the 11.5 hour flight to London. We are on a 747-400 instead of the A300 we came from Brisbane in, so no idea where on the plane I will end up. Fingers crossed that 34A on the 747 is equivalent to 46A on the 300. I don't mind the smell that much.

I want to take a moment to thank all those who have given me support in my endeavours to this point. Particularly Tiger and Shagger. Without your help, I would still be sitting at Packer Street trying to work out what to do with all my stuff.

I am still in shock at not having a home anymore. No place to call my own. No end in sight to my travels. I find that a bit overwhelming. I still get the "What the hell am I doing?" every now and then, but talking to Clive last night helped remind me why I am doing this.

HSMP - Approved

2006-05-23T11:17:00.000+01:00

With 30 days to go until I leave for London, my application for the Highly Skilled Migrant Program (HSMP) has been approved. To say that I am a little excited is an understatement. I was dancing around the kitchen once I had peered through my fingertips to read the letter. My dancing has not improved.
I didn't realise how much I had built up on the application until I was able to release it. YEE HAA..

So what does this mean? This means that I can now apply for a Visa without requiring proof of income, finance or any means of support. For an employer, it means that I have a stable migration status and my credentials have been checked by the Home Office.

I will now send the HSMP approval letter with my Visa application form and then we are away. No more doubts about going and staying or having to fudge a job. I will sleep well tonight.

Less than 6 weeks to go

2006-05-16T12:27:00.000+01:00

It has been a while since I last blogged and lots has happened since then. The highlights as I remember them include

Seeing Kevin 'Bloody' Wilson play live at Kedron Wavell. Very funny night.
Trip to Sydney to do a presentation for Ernst & Young decision makers. (though they have as yet to actually make one)
Seeing The Living End at the Exhibition Centre. Totally awesome, though the crowd was very young.
Sold some major stuff including all my massage gear, outdoor furniture and the gym equipment.

In the weight stakes, I have been holding steady, but I just got some major motivation when I found that a friend had dropped 48 Kg since Christmas. So now I am walking in the morning, swimming at lunch-time and stretching every night. We will see how long this lasts.

I have started working on PapaStew.com. I have had this domain for years and never got around to doing anything with it. Not sure what I am going to use it for, but am going for a single page, Ajax and CSS driven site. I have started by putting in the div tags, but am now going back to Photoshop to start working on the design.

I have still not heard any news on my Visa application. I will try to call them this week to find out what is going on. I know they received it because they took the application fee out of my account. With only 6 weeks until I leave, there is still so much to do. I have to sell the rest of my extra stuff including my car, organise storage, pack and decide what essentials to take. Better go and get on with it now.

Back Pain

2006-03-20T03:42:00.000Z

The number one medical problem in the US and the fastest growing physical disability in this country. Not wanting to miss out on a trend, I have what I believe is a herniated disk. I am going to see a Physiotherapist friend of mine to see what can be done.

After spending most of the morning looking at back-pain related websites, it seems that I am not alone and that my treatment of lying flat and waiting for it to get better, is the most recommended of solutions.

I thought that I was just getting old before my time, but it appears that 80% of people will suffer from back pain some time in their life. As such, there is a huge amount of information on how it occurs, how to prevent it and miracle cures to fix it. These include magnetic beds, faith healing and even water. I am not going to try these and so will not knock them but think what could be achieved with a faithful magnetic waterbed!

During my last episode I tried Acupuncture as recommended by my father. My trip to the acupuncturist actually made it much worse and instead of 2 weeks to recover it took a record 3 weeks. I must say however that my Dad swears by this treatment. I think for back pain it is a case of see what works for you.

Just got back from my good friend Richard the Physio and I am walking straighter and with more confidence. In the past, resting for a few days (or week) gets me to this point. Now I have begun the gentle stretching and exercises that usually come in the second week of recovery. He was saying that "back people" make up about 70-80% of his clients and more than 90% of them recover quite quickly. Big thanks to Richard and if you have a back problem, go see the man.

Natural Arch

2006-03-18T13:15:00.000Z

Today we went to Natural Arch for Andre's Birthday. It is a fantastic spot within Springbrook National Park, about 90 minutes from the Brisbane CBD.

Once you pass Nerang, the drive is spectacular with some amazing mountain ranges visible from the road. We even had to stop for horses out on a trail ride crossing the road.

From the car park, it only takes about 10 minutes to reach the waterfall created by Cave Creek. There were plenty of people swimming, but it looked pretty cold.

The trail then circles around to the top of the waterfall and then a little further up stream where a bridge lets you get across. We left the trail there and had lunch sitting by the creek. It was a truly beautiful spot and made the meatballs that much sweeter.

On the way back, Jack and I went for a swim and swam under the waterfall. It was as cold as it had looked but after a few minutes, your body gets numb enough that you don't feel it. The waterfall hitting your head was really hard and it was hard to keep my head above water, especially with Jack clinging to my back.

Some interesting plants along the way. One in particular was the Wait-a-while also known as the Lawyer Vine. I remember this from my days in the rainforests of Mareeba out of Cairns. This nasty little plant will remind you that you shouldn't move quickly through the forest in just shorts and a t-shirt.

It was a great day and I thank Andre and Jodi for suggesting it.

In the evening we went to Southbank with Richard, Cheryl, Nicholas and Kate. I forget that Southbank is there sometimes which is a shame. It is a really nice spot with lots to offer. We had Pizza at Amici's and were still swimming at 9 o'clock.

A very relaxing evening and a wonderful end to a fantastic day.

Satellites & Visa Application

2006-03-16T13:04:00.000Z

Tonight Jack and I spent an hour lying outside on our trampoline after sunset and watched out for satellites. We saw 3 before I was dragged inside by a bored 6 year old. While he was excited when we finally saw our first one, it wore off quick and by the third it was time to head inside. I am not sure what we were seeing, but according to NASA, I think it was either weather or communication satellites. I found this site after Jack went to bed that predicts all satellites in your town. If you want to see them yourself, the best time is just after sunset when we are in darkness but they are still in sunlight. You will know when you see one as they move across the sky in about 1-2 minutes. They look like moving stars.

After Jack went to bed I started going through the explanatory notes for the Highly Skilled Migrant Visa which I am hoping to apply for in the next few weeks. The system is point based and you need to get 65 points to be admitted. The tricky bit is the supporting evidence. I have no problem getting the 15 points for the bachelor degree. I can definitely get 35 points for 5 years post-grad work. I have added up my earnings for the last 12 months and I should qualify for 25 points for earning capacity. Much of those earnings were paid into my company and so I will have to backtrack and find records of payments and see if some of the employers will give me receipts as some just did EFT Transfers with no accompanying paperwork. The other option is to go for 10 years of post-grad level work. This could be really hard as I have to find 10 years of references which all have to be on company letterhead. This would give me 50 points for experience and combined with the degree give me the 65 points needed.

97 days till I leave and I had my first real twangs of doubt tonight. I think it was when I read the part of the application that says you will be expected to make the UK your permanent residence. PERMANENT.

Cookon Layout

2006-03-15T10:33:00.000Z

Cookon Layout

We all know about love jobs. Those times a relative or friend asks you to do something for them or a friend because you are in IT. I always say yes because of my need to help people, but this one has been fun.

My Dad asked me to "Look after" a mate of his who owns Cookon Commercial. They make incredibly good cooking appliances. I'm not on commission so believe me when I tell you that I have never seen a better BBQ. Truly a work of art.

They already had a site but had been stuffed around by their developers for over 8 months. The site was a purchased product written in ASP and had been butchered to fit their needs.

It was full of nested tables, odd colors and mismatched elements. I have been working with CSS a lot recently and decided to build a new layout using a full stylesheet approach. The longest part was cleaning out the tables and inline fonts. Once that was done the site was sweet though not very pretty. After all, I was in charge of the graphics.

Check out the finished product at www.cookon.com.au

After looking at this blog again, I think I will have to attack the style of this as well.

100 Days to Go

2006-03-14T02:39:00.000Z

100 Days to go till I head off to the wilds of Little Britain. During this time I have to

Organise a Visa so that I can work while I am there.
Sell or store a house full of stuff. More sell than store I hope.
Sell my car and try not to take too much of a financial beating on it.
Save all the pennies I can in case it takes some time to get my first job.
Organise a place to stay for when I first arrive.

In reality, all I have organised so far is the flight over. I leave on the 23rd of June which is 100 days from today.

Those that read my last blog will recognise the pattern of diet self-abuse which I am going to try and endure for the next 100 days. The basic premise is to reduce calorie intake to the absolute minimum and increase the energy expenditure. With this as the goal, I will be going back to my liquid diet and get minimum of 1 hour of exercise every day for the next 100 days. Anyone feel like we have been here before? I will keep track of my progress in the standard way; milk bottles lost of course.

A summary of my last program, I was on the program for 12 weeks and lost 18 Kg. It has been 3 months since I finished it (fell off) and have put back on 6 Kg. I actually put this weight back on over Christmas and have been holding steady since then.