teds travels

The red spot special

2012-01-17T20:21:00.008+01:00

We went to the local Myers here (Galleries Lafayette) to get the boys some things at the sales. There were Converse All Stars sneakers. 44 euro normally, these had a Red Dot. Each colour dot represents a different discount. There weren't many sizes left, but one pair fit Ollie, with Batman on them, oh yeah. I couldn't see the price, but who cares eh? After we got out of the store, we saw we'd been charged 60 euro. So I went back to check it out. The check out girl said yep that's right. So I showed her the stand, and the red dot. Oh yes, that means no discount. But I pointed to the colour codes. Look the biggest discount is red! Oh no, that would be pink, not red. Yep the red spot special is very special: it means that there is no discount. In most other stores here though, a red dot means 50%.

This misunderstanding ranks up there with the others. Like when I opened up the door to the shower room at work. All the lockers had gone, with all my clothes. Or the time I thought we had 10 grand in the bank and bought a car, only to discover a couple of days later that we were about 3 grand behind. I had a long conversation with a guy yesterday, who said he was off for a ride on his bike, which he had in his car. Then he hopped in and drove off. Not sure what he really said. Then I almost smacked into a fence on the way home, as it was cyclone mesh, dark, and was right across the path. Last Thursday I almost lost a tooth on the ceramic crown stuck in the king cake thing. You find out about it all, just after you actually need to know.

At least I won't be losing sleep over this one.

<-- finding out ahead of time! They will be spraying the garbage bins at this time.

Cheese notes:
Roquefort: the search for awesome blue cheese is over. On bread, it's like the tastiest chicken you've ever had.

<-- from the building next door Romain, and his mum Silvie at "the beach".

leftover shot from Christmas, the rink at Carpentras -->

Ollie's first report card

2012-01-16T20:53:00.002+01:00

At the end of the school holidays, all the kids were moaning about going back to school. Not Ollie! We must have bored him a bit too much with all the ruins; he raced back in there.
We got his very first report card. It was colour coded like traffic lights. He got greens for colouring in, doing puzzles, craft, hanging his coat up, washing hands, counting up numbers. He got reds for language skills, knowing the days of the week, and knowing what number to write down when they call it out. We're working on it at home.
Last Sunday, we went for a ride with the kid in the building next door. Ollie has made great progress. Learning from his buddy, he can now take off and stop by himself. No more aching backs! I've got a video from a week or so back below (on right). Louis is enjoying his balance bike, trundling along at his own speed and still breaking my back a lot.

Arles

2012-01-10T21:41:00.004+01:00

Arles is pretty! Apart from the new buildings, holy hell, how did construction get so ugly!

<-- More ruins

Nativity scene in church. Every town has one. -->

<-- when you think of a house in Provence, it's this kind of stone, and shutters in blue.

<-- the boys get some time

exploring -->

Gordes and Glanum

2012-01-10T21:25:00.005+01:00

<-- Glanum was a quick stop to wake Ollie up. We didn't want him to sleep for too long. Sadly it was late in the afternoon, so we only saw a bit of it. It seems like it was a decent sized town, with a heap of ruins to see.

quick stop at Glanum -->

Gordes was voted one of the prettiest villages in France. As a result, they get heaps of visitors, and the local hospital is made from the same stone. Being a modern building with modern windows, doors etc, it looks weird. From the direction we came in, leading into town all the buildings looked weird, and obviously new, with proper footpaths etc, until you reach the middle. Leaving town though, we saw this.

<-- Gordes

the view from Gordes is over nice farm land -->

Nimes

2012-01-10T21:02:00.005+01:00

<-- Here's the other end of the aqueduct, Nimes. It's amazing it's still here. On the far side of the shot, the water arrived after 30kms from Uzes. On the near side of the circular tank, are the outlets to feed different parts of the town.

The local theater, seated 24,000 apparently about 2000 years ago. Must have made some noise! -->

<-- wrestling with a wooden croc

Near Orange

2012-01-10T20:34:00.002+01:00

I wish we'd kept some kind of diary. All these days blur together! Spent a lot of time walking around.

<-- The main attraction in Tarascon is easy to find! The good king Rene lived here. Not bad digs. Also used as a prison later. Nice views from the top.

Louis checks out the camera up close. -->

<-- Ollie enjoyed singing I'm the king of the castle, and you're the dirty rascal! The fireplace was pretty clean.

The aqueduct feeding into Nimes, still an important city today. There's another set of arches under the foot bridge. The Romans were damn amazing. -->

<-- Roquemaure (rock more!) was great to visit, as it seemed we had the whole town to ourselves. When we walked into the bar/cafe, everyone stopped playing cards and drinking to watch us walk in. I didn't know they still had those pit type toilets, but the cafe did. How to use these is a mystery!

In Orange

2012-01-06T20:52:00.003+01:00

On boxing day, we went to the historical town (they all are) of Orange. It's about 3 hours away in Vaucluse. There's a theatre and a Triumphal Arch from Roman times.

<-- the boys were happy with the place

day 1, we give them some kid fun to make up for all the churches and ruins they will be forced to see -->

<-- the Roman theatre in Orange, built in the 1st century AD. Seats about 10,000. I'd love to see a show there - they still put them on.

on one of the main streets -->

<-- Nice arch. Louis checks out the Romans work, celebrating wars in Gaul.

Merry Christmas

2012-01-05T21:01:00.003+01:00

Marie bought a real pine tree, and put loads of decorations + chocolate on it. Overnight Santa put 2 bikes under it, some lego, pencils, textas, books and an Etch a sketch.

<-- the lego cars were awesome. Even losing half a fair bit didn't stop Ollie from turning the remainder into a plane, a rocket etc

After a couple of years on the balance bike, Ollie could pedal along straight away for short sections. A couple of days later, he's really smooth. -->

<-- Louis's pretty stoked to have his own machine, instead of endless hand me downs. It's a tiny bit tall yet.

Winter is here!

2012-01-05T20:37:00.002+01:00

<-- well at least, we thought it was. It looked a bit like snow, and melted on the road. There were still plenty of people out, one lady on a bike was wearing shorts.

Some days are almost 15 deg, perfect for a ride. The seaside path is at the end of our street, and runs 10km into Nice. -->

St Laurent du Var Telethon

2011-12-07T20:28:00.009+01:00

Saturday, Marie had a French lesson first thing in Sophia. She's enjoying that. The progress is slow.

<-- Me and the boys walked in the forest nearby. We found stock piles of dirt and gravel to play on. The boys got filthy for an hour, and I got filthy while carrying them.

In the afternoon, we went to a huge fete in St Laurent du Var. We watched old rally cars doing donuts and figure 8s in the car park. Dont worry about seat belts... even 3 year olds can have a go if they're sitting on dad's lap in the front seat. One man risked his life to hose it down, while a variety of cool old cars took turns to slide around without wiping him out. Trials motorbikes did big jumps and tricks. Fire engines and fake but real USA police cars gave joy rides with full sirens.

Then Ollie and Louis got on the dodgems. They both laughed a lot. Ollie got the idea of driving. He had the time of his life banging into people. Louis loved it until he bumped his head. He retired to the kiddie ride.

The first toilet stop was next to the line dancing and cake table. After the judo demo, and trash & treasure, we ran out of time on the jumping castle. Ollie tried out archery. Hamburgers and chips topped out the least French day so far. We missed the flying fox, trampolines, and blow up suit sumo wrestling. The kids had a great time.

Sunday was up in Vence. We visited an Australian newly from work, and his wife. She's a bit tired of retired ladies giving advice, and not being able to park anywhere. All the kids got Australian flag tattoos.

We got our long term visas, so now we can stay. The next thing is to get a social security number. By the time all that's done, it will be time to renew it again. To get integrated I'm doing a course on history and civics.

Me and the boys have colds.

<-- Someone finally shovelled out the path to work. Thank you French man!

St Paul de Vence

2011-11-26T20:11:00.004+01:00

On Friday night, we got some lights flashing in our window. Then some red laser light. Turned out to be our neighbours getting our attention. They told us about an open day at the local gym for kids. So we went to that this morning. Ollie and Louis did some kid gym, ping pong and nerf ball tennis. It's a nice idea from the local council. In the arvo, we went to St Paul de Vence.

<-- St Paul de Vence high on a hill

no hippies, just the elderly, well dressed, and arteests -->

It's about 10mins drive. This place is beautiful, and in immaculate condition. When we get some visitors, hint, hint, this is definitely on the list.

Marie got word about French lessons, so she's excited about starting that next week.

<-- Louis sees how far he can run until Marie starts yelling

Ollie drinks from the fountains whenever we're not looking -->

Aix En Provence, Touet Sur Var

2011-11-19T21:25:00.005+01:00

We bought some chocolate at the local gourmet show, one in the shape of a cheese wedge. It was fun watching Ollie's face go from confusion to joy tasting that one. We also got 1.3kg of cheese. The cheesemaker gave us lots of tips. With his pointy goatee and twinkly eyes, he couldn't look any more like a mouse.

<-- We had another long weekend, alright, and went to Aix En Provence. It's another beautiful old town. It's pedestrianised centre was packed with people, and had so many shops, it felt like an open air shopping centre.

something to dance to -->

This weekend we drove along the Var river, lovely. Touet Sur Var is an interesting walk and straight up. Puget-Theniers is flat enough, some nice little squares, but a tiny bit edgy.

<-- the only way is up. Getting fit in Touet.

Tomorrow, we'll watch the Nice-Cannes marathon. Three of my
coworkers are in it. I am more scared about this than they are. No special food, and alcohol seems ok.

They walked around work today no problems. They say that sitting down and getting up is hard.

By the time they reached our street, 9ks from the start, the Kenyans leave everyone else for dead. -->

Was putting on a movie the other day for Ollie. He told me "depeche toi", hurry yourself up.

<-- 2 Mandarin trees in our driveway are chock a block full, and delicious

Cheese notes:
The best way to store cheese is to sit your wedges upright on a plate, and no wrapper, so it can breathe. Put on some clingwrap, and poke small holes in it. Keep it in a fridge if you have to, but better to stick it in a cool cellar. Some are good with nuts, some with grapes, but I can't remember which.

Carmageddon

2011-11-09T20:08:00.003+01:00

<-- The waves looked crazy, but at this time they weren't reaching the road. The boys normally play on the big ones.

We didn't believe that rocks could make it onto the road. -->

Due to rocks on the road, the main route through here was closed. Traffic was a complete disaster all day, and got much worse at night. Luckily, Marie called, so I knew to get off and walk home.

<-- 3 lanes of hopefuls going in, but only one side street exit in about 500m.

Rainy weekend

2011-11-07T21:07:00.007+01:00

<-- have I got a deal for you

boy in doorway checks out our boys -->

It was raining this last week. I came home in pitch black Friday night. Going down the underpass on the path with my too small light, I noticed a big puddle and hit the brakes. Too late, I was in over the axles. Walking back, I wondered how to get around, but decided the safest way was to stick on the path, as long as the water didn't go up past my thigh. So I walked on in. It was only above the knee, but cold, and not good for shoes. My ankle reflector is still in there. Ollie will be disappointed, as it was a favourite toy. Coming home today, it's still about 60cms deep. Maybe it's time to get some fishing waders so I can still ride home.

<--view from La Roquette

The weather cleared for a bit so we walked down to our beach. On Sunday, we drove a little way to La Roquette Sur Var, to get the boys to sleep after lunch, via the creepy St Martin du Var. Everyone gave us a good stare. Doesn't look like they get visitors there.

<-- Marie at the Mairie

Buildings wrapped around the boules (patonk) patch in the town square gives this place a homely feel -->

All saints long weekend - Tuesday

2011-11-02T20:37:00.005+01:00

<-- a nice path all along the shore. Like the Bondi beach walk - packed with people.

giving the boys a break on the merry-go-round -->

Day 4 we finally went to Nice. We told everyone we were going to live there, but we're about 9km away. There's a fantastic bike path along the water all the way. Louis fell asleep after 1/2 and hour in the bike seat, and on a park bench. Hope this does not continue in his adulthood. The boys had a go on a merry go round. Louis got excited about a pizza for lunch. Stopped at a park on the way home to run off the fat.

<-- at the beach. Ollie got too close to the edge, and gave Marie a heart attack

near the port, a nice part of Nice -->

Notes:
Marie went shopping today (Wednesday) and bought 26l of water, 24l of milk, and some cheese.
Cousteron 320g: 50g is outside skin hopefully edible, very mild, delicious.

All saints long weekend - Monday

2011-11-01T21:43:00.002+01:00

<-- it's a long way down

it's a long way up -->

Day 3 we drove to Eze, "the" perched village, in awesome condition. Narrow winding walkways, no cars, and shooting straight up on the hilltop. A beautiful cemetary and church. It was halloween, and the boys enjoyed looking at everyone's costumes.

<-- but worth it, and not much of a climb really.

All saints long weekend - Saturday/Sunday

2011-11-01T21:37:00.003+01:00

<-- Cagnes sur mer old village

something old, something newish -->

This weekend was a 4 day weekend. We're keeping a bit quiet at the moment. Day one, we put together one of the kitchen wall cabinets from Ikea in the morning, getting excited about the kitchen now. The afternoon was at the beach at the end of our street. Louis forgot himself and had a little accident.

<-- Cagnes Sur Mer village. Hope to visit again soon! -->

Day 2 we put the kids seats on our bikes, and rode to Cagnes Sur Mer castle, an easy 1 hour ride, apart from the end bit up the hill! Another great village on a hilltop with great views. Louis slept on a park bench on the way back down, after falling asleep on the bike. Passers by yelled something to Marie as they struggled on the way up. Could be, how the hell did you lug a kid up the mountain, but we don't know.

<-- The old town centre, and the new area. We live down there in the Mexico city part of Cagnes Sur Mer.

School holidays

2011-11-01T21:17:00.006+01:00

<-- handsome playdo woman with feet by Ollie.

Putting together the kitchen wall cabinet Saturday morning. Photo by Ollie. -->

This week has been school holidays. It rained a bit at the start, so Marie was going crazy inside. We don't know where any play gyms are yet. They did a lot of playdo, drawing, making pancakes, plus playing with cars and trains.

Last weekend

2011-11-01T20:39:00.003+01:00

<-- like cats marking their territory

Ollie's new favourite pastime -->

We picked up 2 2nd hand couches 2 weeks ago. They're beautiful, and top quality. Now the place feels like a home. The boys love jumping between them, and rolling around in the cushions.

Last weekend we went to St Jeannet, about 20 minutes away. It has the feel of Katoomba, and not too many tourists or shops. This is somewhere we'd like to take visitors.

<-- hope to get back to St Jeannet soon

it's small, not a tourist trap. The fact that you can get a car in here, hate to say, means that people working normal jobs can live here. -->

School

2011-10-31T21:24:00.006+01:00

Now that we moved in, we could go to the local council, fill in the paperwork, go to the local area school, meet the principal, get enrolled, then turn up (easier than it sounds!)

One of our biggest worries in coming to this place was sending Ollie to school. Often at home he really protests about being left at day care. How was he going to go at school, 4 days a week after going for 1 day per week, and when he couldn't understand anything?

On the first day, we were anxious, and Ollie seemed a bit down hearted. Every day, there is 2 hours off for lunch. At least he only has to turn up for 3 hours each time before coming home again. On day one, he skipped back to school. I asked him how it was, and he said they buzzed like bees, did some mash potato type dancing, sounded ok to me. They've started teaching him to write, and if you listen to him mumble a song, he's definitely picking up a lot of new words. It's mind blowing after being used to baby talk, learning to walk, then bammo we're into a new language.

Now to get Louis into daycare (much much harder than it sounds!). Lucky I have some French speaking colleagues at work, and one kind one offered to call up. The local kindy could take him, once we done the paperwork at the council, and in June 2012. I wrote out a list of private kindies (garderies) for him to look at. A few more days later, started to get worried, emailed the boss 2 up, got the answer that Assistant Maternelles were the way to go. We rang up a few more. I would feel guilty about wasting all this time at work, but it was my direct boss this time, ringing up the council to get an availability list. I wittled the list. Then we rang different ladies for some time. We are in a tough situation in that we can't speak the language, so can't do it in our own time. We owe my boss a bottle of champagne I tell ya. We both turned up to the his carer's house, a lovely place up a windy road, with a nice garden, and one play buddy. We left him there, and he just kept playing. On the 2nd day, he slept for two hours. He's mainly weed in the potty, and had one accident, think that's pretty awesome for a new trainee. Next week, Marie will work a bit. It's a big relief.

<-- after we moved in, the toys arrived. Ollie whipped together a tower during lunch. The other day, Marie and him sat at the beach and ate a sandwich, as Louis was at daycare for the first times.

Louis in the playground in Antibes. It's one of the best around the area. -->

Review notes:
Iveco Daily: acres of space inside, really nice gear shift. The driver's seat is pretty stiff though, and rolls around on springs.
Mercedes Sprinter: I think the Merc has a nicer motor. The turbo whistles nicely, and sounds like a real truck. Clever fuel filler is hidden behind the front door, so you don't need to lock it up. Just open your door, and fill.
Raclette: medium soft, tasty, big thumbs up.
President camembert: Ollie calls it "cake cheese". We eat half the container in one sitting. Deffo v. good.
Saint Loup Sur Thouet goat's: soft brie style, very goaty, delicious. Would buy again for sure. Marie and Ollie dislike it.

At the beach..

2011-10-31T21:09:00.003+01:00

Do I need to say: we told them not to get close to the water. You'll get wet!

<-- they started away from the waves. Then we took off their shoes. Then the water got a bit higher, then..

we gave up as it was too late, and let them go crazy -->

<-- Angus Young from AC/DC in his earlier days

Louis scoots home afterwards -->

Work and stuff

2011-10-21T21:45:00.004+02:00

<-- Lunch is subsidised, so this lot cost about 2 euro.

Our desks are lined up, and the PLCs keep us warm -->

We've now been in the new building in Carros for about 3 weeks. It's a bit sterile, but very green, apart from the car park, which is good old bitumen. Any time anyone gets on the phone, everyone gets to hear the conversation. That's good for learning the language.

The most important part of work is lunch. Every cafeteria must have at least 4 different entrees, 3 different kinds of cheese, decent long bread rolls, 2 to 4 main meal choices, a few differrent deserts, and a range of fruit. It MUST have 3 types of wine (250ml bottles), and maybe some beer. Not ours though; alcohol is banned on site! It's just not French. Laurent says that we say we drink in order to forget. They must be remembering everything now that there's no wine with lunch.

They've been churning out pizzas, calarmari rings, and other junk lately, but sometimes they have gems like in the picture. The other guys thought it was bland.

<-- It took 3 days to build the tent, fix the garden, and put up some signs etc etc. Everything was over in an hour. There was fruit juice and coke to help everyone get into the spirit.

Opening the new building. "Inauguration Officielle" means "Official Inauguration". -->

Trip to Italy

2011-10-21T21:36:00.004+02:00

<-- it's a nice a place

just stubstute 'eh' for 'le' -->

The day after we went to Ikea, we had a car, so we drove to Italy. It's about 40km up the street. It took about an hour door to door, winding around a bit.

<-- pasta was a bit crunchy; is that "al dente"?

Trip to Vence

2011-10-19T21:58:00.007+02:00

<-- Vence's heart is on the right of this picture, where the old walls form a circle. On the left is the new part of town.

Vence is at least 20 mins away, and Saturday afternoon we went there. We drank a Kir; white wine with black currant liquer - delicious!

<-- Wei Ching, from work back in Sydney, and Marie watch Ollie celebrate the car free streets.

bust a move! The French lady has seen it all before. -->

*Cheese notes:*
Casino Petit Roblochon - buttery sensational
Brie de Moubert - slight tang, v. nice
Fourme d'Aubert - rubbery blue cheese, more salt than blue flavour
St Paulin ligueil - cheddary brie - nice
Le Rotelie - buttery brie - great!
Tomm Montagne - bitter tang, but nice.

Trip to Ikea

2011-10-19T21:22:00.004+02:00

<-- there were wires hanging from the ceiling. Now we have a light. Having a lit kitchen is something we really missed! The doors are new, double glazed aluminium. The old doors had a cat flap sized hole with winter air blowing in, and flaky paint. Stove is gas. Stand and bin from Ikea (pronounced ee-kay-ah here)

2 sets of drawers with wooden bench top, holds loads of stuff. Upside down fridge is fantastic. -->

Ikea is about 1 and 1/2 hours drive each way, and now we have a kitchen. By a miracle it all fit into the back of a Megane station wagon, and the 1.8m bench top slid in over the tops of the seats etc. Seeing all the French people loading up their cars with boxes is a real laugh. Boxes spilling out of tailgates, and rooves piled high; some of them couldn't have made it home.

<-- our name is now on the letterbox, and the doorway button. Nice photo by Ollie.

Moving in

2011-10-17T20:29:00.005+02:00

<-- dining table and sideboard were 200 together, fantastic!

The Mercedes Sprinter 10 cubic m and 2.8m tall swallows any size table, bed etc. -->

We hired a Mercedes Sprinter turbo diesel. It was horrifying since it takes up most of a normal lane, and is about 3 feet longer than most parking spaces. After 2 days, I got comfortable smacking trees with the right mirror in order to stay in my lane. At the Carrefours, we parked into a spot, only to return, then discover we could not get out. Reversing, I nudged the cars opposite, but the front was not even out of the spot yet. We sat in defeat wandering what to do, when the car in front moved after about 3 minutes. So we fronted out and got free. What were the chances of that?

We picked up a lot of nicely carved solid oak furniture, which is much much cheaper than the prestigious chipboard stuff. They have a lot of old oak furniture in France it seems.

One fellow who sold us the trundle bed etc for the boys, sat us down for a beer at lunch, and gave me a bottle of Orange wine - sensational! (Marie doesn't like it) The people at work give me a hard time for turning up late/leaving early every day, and taking 2.5 hours for lunch eg when served a beer. Turned up to the appointment after, and there was 5 buildings for the one street address. I had no mobile phone, and no hope of finding the furniture for that one.

<-- the boys in the toy room. Some old oak cupboard holds all their toys, cost 100 euro.

the kitchen comes with a sink. We bought the dishwasher -->

Check out the area

2011-10-17T20:10:00.003+02:00

<-- the old village of Cros de Cagnes, 1km walk from home

The 1km walk from home. The air is sweet, if it's blowing onshore, otherwise it's 4 lanes of diesel and 2 stroke for everybody. -->

I spend the morning with Marie and the boys during the inspection/condition report. It was very thorough, and took the whole morning and into the afternoon, so I rang in to say I wouldn't be in to work. We walked around locally to see the area.

<-- mmm 2 euro beers are dangerous, as are 2 euro gelatos.

The new place

2011-10-16T20:59:00.003+02:00

<-- Ollie tries out the awnings

Louis, as photographed by Ollie. Our bedroom looking toward the living room. The hall to the other 2 bedrooms is 1st left, the front door 2nd left. One toilet 1st right, kitchen 2nd right, then straight to the living room. -->

Not sure if it was a smart move getting our current place. Marie says she wished she'd held off a bit longer. I feel hot and cold about the place.

But all of the other places we saw were either as old, or nowhere near as convenient. It is in a handy spot. Today we went to the kids park. It's in the same street. The beach is at the end of our street. The boys LOVE the beach. There are 3 breadshops, a supermarket and a cellar within 5 minutes walk. The light comes in from 3 walls, the other wall being a common wall. Once we have some more furniture, it should be more homely.

<-- in most French places, you have to supply your own light fittings, and the kitchen (ie the kitchen will have a sink, and nothing else in it). The living rooms have no lights. In ours, the kitchen had no light either.

Ollie gets snap happy. This is the living room. For the first 2 weeks odd, we could not see at night, until we bought a lamp. Then we had the choice of seeing what we ate for dinner, or seeing what we were cooking for dinner, but not at the same time. One of the guys at work suggested we just open the fridge door. -->

Finally we sign the lease

2011-10-07T21:49:00.002+02:00

<-- when Ollie gets a hold of the camera. This is an umbrella, made in France. Ollie and Louis fight over it. It almost never rains here.

Another great shot from the 4 y.o. boy wonder. Near the main plaza in Antibes -->

Marie was busy checking out some places, and we were desperate to get something. You need an address to get Ollie into school, to get your long term visa, theoretically to open a bank account, etc. Marie liked one, but we both then visited the area, and there seemed to be a lot of cars, being near a major intersection, and backing onto the A8 freeway. There was one other, which she did not like the appearance of. But it was in a quiet spot, close to the beach, not far from shops etc, so we asked for that. We waited and waited, then finally got it.

<-- Ollie had a nice time

Genevieve and Keith, friends of Celia's, dropped in for lunch -->

At the new work site

2011-09-17T07:52:00.004+02:00

<-- the new building is super eco blah blah blah. The green path leads to a dead end at the fence, requiring more fossil fuels to return the way you went. There's a 110km/h freeway out the front, as with most "eco" buildings standing by themselves in the middle of nowhere.

Babyfoot (pronouced babby). Should be like a miniature fusball table, but they made people into the toy figures -->

Today we all went to Carros, where the new office will be. I ran 1km to the bus, and ran another k odd to work, since they said you must be there at 8. I didn't want to be the idiot they're waiting for, when all the buses had been loaded. The plan said the buses would leave 8.10 at the latest, and we took off at about 8.30.

The new place is energy efficient with double glazing, solar panels on the roof and a green path in the front yard. Nothing says green like painted concrete. The car park is very big. There are paper towels in the toilet. They don't use electical power.

I'm in the group doing activities in the morning. There's rock climbing, archery, "babyfoot" (a fusball table) and step class. We get a tour of the M340 factory on site after lunch. I can't understand a thing.

Lunch looks like a Roman feast. A long table full of cheeses, with green grapes and other fruits around the outside. There's 5 different kinds of meat, prawns in hot sauce, some gourmet meatloaf things, quiches and some salad if you look hard. Deserts are fruit flans, brownies, and slices. The marquee in the car park holds about 300 people, and fills with smoke from the rotisserie at times. It's like a bbq at Vince's, but huge.

For now, we're in the old offices at Sophia for another 2 weeks. Then we move to Carros. At the moment, the offices at Carros aren't ready.

The new software is a bit slow, so I bring a book to read while I wait. One of the guys says that we should ship a book with each of the software sold.

<-- Linde supplies a lot of gas to the plant.

See the green checkered path on the left. That's where I get to play frogger with two roads worth of traffic. The path dips down to the far side of the road, then joins up again on the near side in the photo. -->

The language

2011-09-15T20:33:00.004+02:00

<-- Old Antibes near where we were living during September-->

When you come to France, you will have 62,000,000 people who really want to help with the language. Everyone from the shopkeeper to your coworkers will spend time explaining and giving tips. They tell me I'm doing well, but I am not sure about that.

Yesterday, Patrick invited me to hear his presentation on his work trip to South Africa. I waited until 6pm, and then asked where's Patrick. He'd gone already! I asked if the time had changed, but it was always on at 4pm. Philippe thinks he must have said "sez", which is 16, or 4pm, and I got it wrong. Six sounds like "sees" and 16 is like "sez". Oh well.

As per usual, I run for the golden #9 bus. Philippe stops in the traffic right near the bus stop. I pretend to thumb a ride, telling him it's not far to Antibes, and only a small side trip (20k in heavy traffic). He says "side kick?" then has to drive off. I'll be glad when I can speak some more French.

<-- the backyard in Antibes, Juan les Pins. Our little unit is on the left on the ground floor. We moved out at the end of September. No-one told us we had to clean up the unit, so 41 euro later, we gave them a job.

They are very happy if you can say a couple of words, so here they are:

French lesson for today:
le parking - parking spot
le weekend - the weekend
le t-shirt - the t-shirt
le GPS - the GPS
organise - organise
shopping - shopping.
on street signs "stop" means stop.
but!
demande - ask
correcte- something like honest

On the bus

2011-09-14T21:51:00.002+02:00

The first couple of times I walked out of work, and almost straight onto a bus. I don't know how I did that. The #9 is about 40 minutes apart. Today I missed it by 5 minutes. Last Sunday, we ran up to it carrying Ollie as the doors closed. Nothing sucks more than knowing for sure that's it's going to be a long wait, and there's nothing you can do. Everyone keeps saying we must buy a car, and my fantasies of going car free have been smashed.

A trap for young players: when the #9 gets to Antibes, it loops and leaves again. So if you're like me, you wait for about a good 15mins to go 1k before realising that they're now taking you 10mins walk away in the wrong direction.

The 100 is fun. Yesterday I was wondering how brave the driver was to go down the local shopping street. Turns out another driver was bravely coming the other way. It took about 10mins to fold mirrors in, back away a bit, then inch past. I honestly didn't think there was any way he could make it, but of course they did. I think our driver gave a Merc 4WD a decent nudge on the way. Noone parks within the lines here. I can see why they complain so much about the calls during tennis. A pumping truck wisely waited for the 100 to get past on the roundabout.

If you miss the golden #9 going home, you need to walk another 10 mins to wait for the #1 or express #100. There are displays at the stops stating exactly when the bus will come. Yesterday, the 100 was due in 15 mins, but the #1 arrived. I ran across the street for it with 2 others. One guy with his hand on my bag, I think pretending to drag me, soccer style, definitely not suspicious. Meanwhile, another #100 turns up. So we all run back over the road for that (buses go all over the place). The queue looks huge, and the bus half full, so I give up and run back again in time to board the #1. After sitting on it for over an hour, I vow never to catch the #1 again.

On the way home, I stop at the Orange store to get instructions on how to use our mobile internet recharge. He tells me it's not possible to do it from a fixed land line, even though someone did this for us last time. You need to pull the SIM card from the key, and put it in our phone to do the recharge, he says. Once home, I see that the instructions specificaly say not to do it. After doing it anyway, I can now say that this does not work. For the record the number to call is 0800224224, and it took 30 secs. I hope they're not paying him to work there. After waiting for him to waste more of my time, it took 2 hours total to get home. Last week, I had a bike, and getting home is less than 40mins door to door. A car takes from 20, but mostly 40 mins to get home, and is just dead set dreary.

<-- most of the way is pretty good, with occasional hair raising tight busy streets

a little bit of the way by bike is a real mini holiday -->

===============
Tasting notes for today
===============
Cheese
Saint Nectaire production fermiere AOP. Fromage au lait cru
- sorry not sure what the names of some of these cheeses are. We just buy whatever. This one has so much mould on the outside, it dries your tongue. It's like a brie, with a stronger flavour. Thumbs up.

Saint Nectaire. Fromage au lait pasteurise
- weak but nice flavour. Like brie. Thumbs up.

Fourme d'ambert A.O.P.
- blue cheese with so much mould, it means business. Serious furry mould does not translate into strong flavour though. Thumbs up, 8 / 10. The search for a truly hard biting blue continues.

Beer
8.6 special blonde Bavaria - made in Holland, 7.9% alcohol. 4euro odd for a 6 pack.
- this is lethal. If it was in Australia for this price, I would be an alcoholic. The flavour is awesome, but it's more like a meal than a drink, so not sure if it would wear well.

Guiness (last week) - brewed in Dublin. About 7 euro for a six pack.
- mate, who could ask for anything more? Irish beer is heaven.

Cheese count: 347 varieties to go.
Beer count: 2 down, unknown to go.
Wine note: had 250ml for lunch. It cost 85c at the cafeteria at work. It's true, they do have wine for lunch all the time! Felt super sleepy in the lab afterwards.

Grasse

2011-09-11T22:15:00.005+02:00

While we still had the hire car, we drove to Grasse. It's another beautiful old town high on the side of a mountain, with more mountains soaring high behind it. Just as well we drove, as it p'd down with rain for a bit.

<-- I don't care where we go, as long as I can run around like a nut.

Beautiful old homes packed into the hillside of tiny streets. Get fit walking around here. Sadly most people don't want to live in old town centres, as you can't fit many cars in. -->

<-- Ollie souvenired this umbrella as soon as we bought it. It was supposed to be shared. Do we really need to buy 2 of everything? Not really, luckily the next day they forget whatever was their favourite thing today.

Who could ask for anthing morrrre? -->

<-- hope you put the brake on.

Juan les Pins - Antibes

2011-09-11T21:49:00.002+02:00

<-- the street outside our current home in Juan les Pins. Our building is just left of where I'm standing to take the shot. It's a little bunker with some sloping grass out the back. The boys love to kick a ball, and run around with the other kids here. Dan, 2, and his 2 week old brother Aaron were here for a week, getting eaten by Mozzies and having fun. Crazy Paul, 6, speaks German and French, and is on his way to getting English from Ollie and Louis.

We're finally getting to know our way around here. We stumbled onto the old part of town yesterday, lovely. Went furniture shopping. Our budget allows for serious chipboard action, so we're checking the 2nd hand website. The stuff there is a fraction of the price, and so beautiful you'd just cry to look at it. We might be getting a container to bring it home to Oz!

We ran for the bus. I got to the closed door as the lights went green. He practically ran me over, and the next one was an agonising 35mins later. Marie says we're getting a car for sure (it would be a ten min drive max to the ugly furniture shop).

We had a hire car, but after 2 weeks, we didn't really need it. I came home early, had a tea with Marie at about 6.30pm, pulled the kids seats out, cleaned out the odd stuff, got on the road about 8pm. Tried to fill up at a petrol station. There is no attendant, and the pump won't take my credit card. Get to the 2nd one after going the wrong way up a one way section. Same credit card problem. Speak to the lady, and work out I have only 20 euro, and start counting my change, which is 8.50, so I can prepay the 28.50. She says "Quelle caburant" twice, then a bit louder, while people wait behind. The penny drops, it means what fuel (like carburettor I suppose), so I say diesel, and I'm ready to drive around to some pump, and try it out. Finally, I head for the A8 at about 8.30, wondering about public transport home, and realise that since I've spent every cent, I now can't get on the freeway. I drive home feeling completely defeated.

<-- president Wilson street. It's the one street name that's easy to remember. It's the main connector to the local shops, and square, and has the bus to work running down it.

We've got 2 or 3 beaches, the town square, the old part of Antibes, and a little fun-land with dodgems all within walking distance of home. It's like the Gold Coast, but a bit more compact, and everyone looks good.

<-- the ladies of Antibes tonk along down the middle of the street, and don't care what the cars think. She's just gone down possibly the busiest street in the middle of Antibes. Hats off to you matron of the 2 wheelers.

Avenue de Nice is one of the main connectors, but only 2 lanes for most. There's a cycle track on the side. Many of the riders are dressed very nicely. -->

Monaco is go

2011-09-11T21:28:00.002+02:00

Louis had a temperature. Normally, you can drive him 5 mins to the hospital for a checkup in the middle of the night, go home, and forget about it. Here, we wouldn't even know where to go.

He seemed ok overnight, and we went off to Monaco. Then he seemed to detiorate. We got out of the car, and went to the pharmacie. The pharmacies in Monaco have a lot of perfume, makeup and vitamins, and no plain old panadol. We spent the morning trying to locate the one real one that's apparently open on Sunday. The guy was really nice, and after about $75 australian, we had a thermometer and 2 bottles of panadol/ibuprophen. Louis' temperature came down.

<-- the patient makes a recovery during afternoon drinks. The table behind had willie-wonker style super deserts in monster elevated glasses. They got through them ok.

We went for a stroll past the Ferrari, Lambo and McClaren dealerships, where you can buy a car that will get you across the whole of Monaco in 2mins 33secs. That's at least a minute faster than a Hyundai, or catching a bus.

<-- nice fountain.

Monaco is a couple of k's long, and not very wide.-->

Anna visits

2011-09-08T21:51:00.004+02:00

<-- the boys sit still for a minute

water pistols at 3 paces -->

We were here for about 2 days, then Anna came which helped us feel at home. The boys loved having her around. Not sure if Anna liked having the boys around. They were still tired, and a handful.

On Thursday, we check out some places that are miles away from anything. At a toll booth, we pull up. They don't take cash, just coins, and we don't have any, again. The guy stuck behind us helps me feed the credit card in, in any way we can, but it won't take 1.50 from an Australian card, and us + 2 other cars back out of the toll booth. I beg for coins for the 2nd time, standing on the road waving a 5 Euro note, but no-one will stop. Walking around, one of the machines tells me to go to the empty looking office, where we finally get change. "What happened??" says our agent when we get there.

parts of Nice are well preserved -->

On Saturday, we moved from the hotel to the holiday unit. The email from HR said 3pm. Reception said the booking was for 5pm. After hanging around from 3 until 5pm, while smacking Ollie every 5 minutes, they then told us the room wouldn't be ready for another 1 and 1/2 hours. We went for dinner, and I wondered if the office would be closed when we got back. It was stressful, and I had the, oh-no what are we doing here feeling. Dinner was spaghetti with tomato sauce - really awful, and expensive.

<-- near the holiday unit. The sand has been trucked in, a lot easier to walk on

The unit has a 2 rooms, and feels like a palace compared to the hotel. We have nothing to eat for Sunday. I ask reception at about 9pm where there is a supermarket. I don't know what she's saying, but it seems there's a Carrefours off the A8 highway. I set off with the GPS, and cruise around, to try to find the one supermarket. It is hopeless. Before I go on the A8 again, I check, and it seems the 50c piece is Irish, and I give up, skip the highway, and go home. It the full light, it is stamped Ireland, but it is 50 euro cents, so I could have travelled on the A8 after all.

Nice one.

2011-09-08T21:34:00.003+02:00

<-- the stones kill your feet.

On the way to the beach -->

Since the normal accomodation in Juan les Pins was not available, they put us into the Novotel next to Nice airport for a week. We settled in and walked to the beach. The boys loved watching the planes on the way.

Everyone's helpful here. Even the lady in the supermarket was patient with us, explaining "sac" is the right word for a plastic bag, and wishing us "bonne courage", whatever that means.

<-- water's nice except after rain

mini-gangster scooting past the locals -->

Arrival!

2011-09-07T21:44:00.005+02:00

<-- aaa, do I look (*^^&*^ happy after a 1 hour drive, a 2 hour wait, an 11hour flight, and during a 4 hour wait?

Louis gets ready to drop something over the back, and Ollie is not too bad -->

Emirates is awesome! They gave the kids colouring in pencils. They didn't hassle us to put on their seatbelts too much. The shows on the TV were pretty good too.

The boys eventually went to sleep after getting on the 10.30pm flight. Apart from kicking each other, trying to get comfortable on the too-soft pillows, and falling off them, they got some useful sleep. In Dubai, felt ok, but it was 4 hours of wandering around, trying to stay awake and stop the kids from throwing coins, paper, and dropping things down the backs of chairs, under other people's feet, on purpose. Got 2 newspapers, read none.

The flight to Nice was ok mostly, until the last couple of hours, when it started to be a bit of a torture test. We gave Louis something to eat, put on a movie, and gave him his dummy. We were all a bit ratty, but survived. Got off the plane last, and they'd locked all the doors. It took about another 15 minutes to get someone's attention through the glass.

Pulled our 100kgs off the conveyor, and thought how do we move all this? There were trolleys, but you needed Euros. Marie commenced the search through all our 7 bags, and I eventually asked someone for some money (not the first time I begged for coins already). Not sure if she understood the question, and I didn't understand the answer. Angela and Steve saved the day with the handful of coins they gave us.

Said "Bonjour Monsieur" to the customs guy in the booth. Our book says this is very important in France, and in our experience these couple of words open any door, and get anything you need! He stamped our passports with a pleasant hello and goodbye in French. Then we were out into the hall to wonder how to get a car, how to get out, how to understand the signs. I wished we'd read a bit more!

Waiting for us was Sophie the manager. What an angel! She'd been through the same going to China, but it must have been much worse. We got a car, went through some impossibly small openings, and headed into my first roundabout. You have to go the wrong way, on the wrong side of the road, and guess which road to exit that doesn't end with oncoming traffic. Thank goodness she was there to guide me through that bit, and get us to our hotel.

<-- Party on in the 33cms around the bed!

The hotel is one room, taken up completely by the 2 beds, and then with the bags and stuff all over the place. Luckily that was only for the first week.

------------------------------------------
More shots from Perth, I forgot to post:

<-- we miss our English speaking relos already. And their kitchen is bigger than our whole unit (at present).

Maryanne chased Louis while watching Peter play soccer -->

<-- we accept dogs if you post them over (with Ollie stamps)

Farewell to sunny Perth

2011-09-07T21:28:00.004+02:00

<-- the coast at Mindarie

Louis goes for an early morning scoot in the beach car park -->

Apart from the nice welcome, all the food, wine, etc, Perth has a fantastic winter, plenty of sun, and nice weather. All the worse for the drive to the airport, when it suddenly hit me: it's now that we're not going to see this or our families for a while! We won't know anyone, can't understand much, and can't leave for 3, yes 3, years.

<-- when should you not hold Louis close to your nose? Don't worry, he'll let you know!

running down the dunes -->

Perth

2011-09-07T21:17:00.004+02:00

<-- the boys enjoying the Rock and Roll show

having a scoot prior to being told to stop scootering on the grounds -->

<-- cats are friendly, as long as you don't chase or shout at them. This one has no tail, the other had 3 legs. Both are lucky!

Louis tries on his new dragon suit -->

Now we're in Perth

2011-09-07T21:03:00.004+02:00

<-- asleep at Maryanne's. After waking up at 5.30am, and going to bed at 6.30pm local / 8.30pm Sydney time, the boys seemed to be ok.

7 bags, 2 child car seats and a pram were about 110kgs. -->

Well what a nice way to break up the trip. All the cousins were pretty excited to have a few days together. Too bad about the school days.

On the weekend, we saw Julia sing in a Rock Estedford.

<-- scootering everywhere is easy with the excellent paths -->

And we're off

2011-09-06T22:03:00.002+02:00

<-- after the biffo, all is forgiven (I think) when the 2nd cake turns up

A good time had by all.

Many thanks to Evonne for getting up out of bed at 6am to drive us to the airport. It was starting to feel like it's really happening. Louis pees past the nappy, down his pants, and into his shoes. After looking through some of our 7 odd bags, and 40 minutes later we're ready to checkin, pass security, and board. -->

The long farewell

2011-09-06T21:49:00.005+02:00

<-- taking it easy

competitive cricket -->

The long farewell went for about a month. I'd already had 2 farewells from work, so did not want to go back there again! Thanks to Evonne, Fil and Baka for letting us invade their homes for weeks.

<-- brekky

magic bubble lady -->

A job offer

2011-09-06T21:07:00.004+02:00

<-- boxes and stuff everywhere. What a mess!

All our furniture ready to go on the truck. About 160kms and 7 stops (Mum's, Felicity's, Steve and Ang's, Evonne's, Bo and Igor's, Baka's and Adam's). The whole day went perfectly, and we expected complete disaster. Thanks Orana truck rentals and the completely awesome 4.2m Hino 616. What an awesome truck. If it drank less, it would be the family car. -->

HR finally interviewed me in February. It seemed the job was a goer. 2 bosses from France came out about April, and gave me a contract. 6 weeks holidays, so many public holidays, and 1.5 days off per month; how could you say no? So, I told work I was leaving, we sent our stuff to France, and then left our home, just as our work permit was approved. Great timing! Then all we needed was a national criminal statement for every country we've lived in for the past 10 years, and to try to get an appointment with the consulate while most of their workers were on holidays. Not great timing!

So while we tried to work out who to ask for a criminal record in the USA, we stayed at everyone's homes again, after swearing off doing so.

It was a nice way to say goodbye to everyone though, and great to spend a huge amount of quality time in people's homes.

<-- photo of Ollie taken with his brand new camera, of him on his brand new scooter. Do you think kids are spoilt these days?

Marie laughs since the camera looks like a fake kids one. It works fine! -->

The last 12 months

2011-09-06T20:50:00.002+02:00

Here's a quick catch up post:
Jack and Ally got married.
Before Christmas, the boss wanted to know who would go to America to start a new support centre there. Marie said no. I would have said yes, for the fun of it. I was going to just say no, but I didn't want him to think I wasn't open to the idea of other places. After saying as much, he turned around pretty quickly with a job ad for France. 2 interviews later, we thought we were in with a good chance. So, we told everyone at Christmas we might be off, and we got some renovations done in a hurry. Oh yeah, that was stressful. I could not get any money for the first month odd, and the builder had progress payments.

We stayed at my Mum's, Felicity's, Tony and Evonne's and Peter's place. The boys really enjoyed having an 8 week sleepover, but we found it tiring, living from 4 suitcases. We swore we'd never do it again.

Ollie fell over backward and cracked his head. Celia said we had to keep an eye on him in case of concussion. I knew you can ask simple questions to test if their brain is functioning ok. I asked who won the race at the end of the Cars movie. He said "Chunkin, and Mr Shrinking Hat." This test does not work on a 4 year old.

We went to the Wiggles. It was pretty damn boring, but I think the kids had a good time.

We had a good time at Joshua's 1st birthday. There was a jumping castle, a great idea!

Trip to Wagga, and Easter

2010-10-21T03:42:00.002+02:00

<-- Elkie, us, Adam and Anna at the Licorice Factory in Junee.

At Vince's for Easter. There were so many chocolate eggs for the hunt, that we ran out of spots, and had to throw them all over the lawn. -->

Port Macquarie April 2010

2010-10-21T03:33:00.003+02:00

We went on a trip to Port Macquarie. It has nice beaches, and is pretty quiet.
<-- On the way up, we stopped at the Reptile Park. It was great. Ollie chased some emus, fed the kangaroos, checked out the snakes, spiders etc. V cool, and a nice way to break up the trip.

On night one, we found a farm stay at Bullahdelah. The manageress was lovely, and her two adopted kids were unusual but very friendly. Ollie helped feed the animals, and had a horse ride in the morning. What a great find.

On the train

2010-10-21T02:11:00.002+02:00

Each Sunday, train tickets cost $2.50, if you bring a kid. You can go about 5 or 6 hours north (300km), 3 hours west (150km) and 4 hours south (~200km). Sorry, that's not far on the train.

It's about 15mins into town, so we head into town, and be tourists for the day. Ollie always asks to go to the train station, and Louis seems to enjoy it a lot too.

Bike smash! 4 Mar 2010

2010-10-21T01:46:00.004+02:00

Had a smash. It was my fault for not checking my pannier properly. It got loose, and became lodged in the front. I chipped a small bone, triquetrum, in my wrist, and got some scrapes. Its another vote for confidence in the bicycle helmet. I wacked my head hard, but am fine.

The neighbours asked if I was going to give it up now. Luckily, Marie still allows me to ride. It's either get fat, and guarantee bad health, or risk another smash. I'm trying to ride more carefully.

<-- due to the speed, the frame got very bent when the front wheel stopped.

Merrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry Christmas!!

2010-01-01T12:15:00.003+01:00

<-- what we look like in real life

a huge crowd for the music. The crowd also got an unexpected treat from our Solid Gold little dancer -->

A big Merry Christmas to cyber space, and hope that 2010 is better than ever.

These are from about a month before Christmas. They had some Christmas Carols. We didn't last until the carols came

<-- No need for a cage for this go-go dancer. I said, how's your hearing, OLLIE?

hittin the highs -->

Ollie and Louis are really well. Louis is smiling at everyone, and has some excellent strength. Ollie is entertaining now. We were getting used to his limited vocab with little words like Mama and Papa. Here's a list from February of this year
hello, hat, bye, all gone, up please, hot, car, bus, truck,
bike, ball, see ya, mama , papa, book, shoes, woof,
meow, no, ta(thanks), fish, walk, baka(grandma),
are you?(where are you?)
We are very proud of his language skills, and every new word was pure delight to hear.

But now Ollie is now really expanding. The other morning he came up to the bedside. I asked him How are you? And he replies "Not too bad!". We both had to laugh. Before that I told him I love you, and he responded "You're welcome!". We went to Ang and Steve's today, and he entertained everyone with his odd sayings. At the local daycare he encourages the other kids with "come on!"

The 27th of December

2010-01-01T12:07:00.002+01:00

<-- What do you call THIS? His first taste of ice cream. Looks like he liked it.

Louis, Marie, Ang, Steve, Alexandra, Gabrielle and Ollie escaping -->

Ivana was playing in a tournament near Manly. It is a sensational beach, with an overcrowded plaza. At least its just for pedestrians.

<-- the happiest man alive

ta naaa!!-->

Citect Christmas thing

2010-01-01T11:59:00.002+01:00

Michael, Wei Ching, Tim

Dean, Bernard - 2 bosses up, and me -->

I just thought I'd put up a couple of shots from this one, as it was fancy dress, and lots of fun.

<-- Marie, me and crazy in a good way adventurer Dave

Bernard says I can still turn up on Monday, as long as the moustache is gone. He won't have competition -->

Boxing day 26 Dec

2010-01-01T11:43:00.003+01:00

If I wasn't so lazy, I'd look it up. I'm not sure how many people boxed on Boxing Day, but now there's a yacht race, the Sydney to Hobart, and not much else on. It's a public holiday, so Christmas is the best time of year by far!

Merrry Christmas!

2010-01-01T11:38:00.002+01:00

<-- at Tim and Zdenka's in the Alladin's room

Beautiful Milly -->

Christmas this year was at Ceal's and Zdenka's. Ate too much as usual. I was astonished at the huge room piled up with presents for the hordes of children. Had a great time.

<-- Louis and Marie

At Ceals-->

2010-01-01T11:23:00.003+01:00

<--at the bowlo in Tribal Zone

on the way down-->

We went down the South Coast to Sanctuary Point, Jervis Bay with Zdenka and Tim at their place. Had a lovely time at the beach. It's perfect for kiddies. Louis watched everything excitedly, and Ollie just loved getting into the water, building sandcastles, and annoying hell out of the cats next door.

<--telling the cat where to go

The weekend

2010-01-01T10:49:00.004+01:00

<-- one the trampoline at Tess, Belle and Will's

very excited about "going in the water"-->

We've been doing some swimming lessons. Ollie enrolled for his first set. He absolutely loves the water. He just started to understand kicking to get some propulsion. It's marvelous to see the idea click.

<-- Beautiful Louis

Fran holds her latest beautiful grandchild -->

The trip to work

2009-11-03T12:23:00.002+01:00

Here's a 3 minute video of my trip. As Marie said, it's more interesting than I thought it would be.

The way there is via Pacific highway, then back home on the back streets and the path.

The school fete

2009-11-03T03:02:00.002+01:00

A day at the school fete. We went on every ride, and even the jungle gym. Had two huge slices of watermelon.

<-- the best slide ever

2 happy customers -->

<-- one of the cutest boys

what's he thinking? -->

Emily's 2nd birthday!

2009-11-03T02:51:00.002+01:00

<-- beware the cake monster behind

Emily and Anna watch closely -->

Aramageddon today

2009-09-23T12:18:00.003+02:00

<-- the road to Armageddon

the normally busy Pacific Highway -->

Just as soon as Ken warned us about environmental problems, and then we have this. Waking up, it appeared as though the whole place was on fire, on we'd had an atomic attack. Turns out it was dust. I can't get the taste out of my mouth.

<-- they stayed inside for most of the day, until the dust blew over

at the local cafe days before -->

Ken Livingstone former mayor of London

2009-09-22T13:17:00.003+02:00

<-- only Dave can bs his way into photographing 2 of the most moderately powerful people around Ken Livingstone and Clover Moore.

Proof that I was there. -->

On the way home yesterday, I rode uphill, slowly, much to the annoyance of a large BMW 4WD. Rounding me, his turbos whistled loudly, the revving engine testament to his testiness at being delayed by some seconds. He reached the top of the hill at speed, then turned left onto the highway and stopped. Friday night traffic heading North is more stop than go, so I passed him soon after.

The transport needs of a city is an interesting problem, and former Mayor of London "Red" Ken Livingstone was in town last Wednesday to give local mayor of Sydney Clover Moore a few tips. London has been renewed. From gridlock of cars shrouded in smog to a reduced free flow of cars, and increased alternative transport. In a speech from the heart, Ken also touched on environment, obesity, and the downside of consumerism.

The focus of the talk was the problems facing London. Car usage in the city had reached a critical level, and producing a gridlock. Public transport was underutilised.

A congestion charge was introduced on cars entering London. Overnight, there was a drop in car trips by about 40%. Now those, who really need to use their car, can drive in freely flowing traffic.

Only unemployed and pensioners used the buses, which were old. A new fleet of buses was renewed so now all kinds of people use them. Business people and even rich people use them, as they are now more convenient than a car. New unified ticketing means you only need a single Travelcard, which is more convenient and cheaper since one ticket covers buses, trains and trams. Bus trips have increased from 4 million to 6 million per day. As we all know a single bus can replace around 50 cars. Rail capacity also has also been increased by around 50% to cover for the reduction in cars.

With the reduction in cars, bikes are now being seen on the streets again. The number one problem for wealthy English speaking countries is obesity, and cycling is a simple way to achieve people's exercise needs, while getting to work at the same time.

A reduction in greenhouse emissions of 36% can be achieved simply by lifestyle choices, without any need for new technology. Producing electricity locally would cut down on losses during transmission from remote stations. Red Ken also reeled off some statistics concerning the rising oceans. 15% of Bangladesh will be underwater, and 4% of the resorts around the Mediterranean will be desert. Without action on emissions, this will get worse.

Earlier speaker Anthony Albanese said improved transport is also a social issue. He pointed out that many people spend more time in their car, than playing with their children.

Personally, I just hate breathing car exhaust outside my front door, and that there are almost no pedestrian crossings. Dear Ken, I hope you get back in again. More power to you!

Coffs Harbour 4-9-09

2009-09-22T12:39:00.003+02:00

<-- A good time had

by all -->

Nice beaches, plenty of time in the water. Despite turning purple, Ollie complained bitterly when it was time to get out.

The trip up was hell, but on the way back we took all day, with plenty of stops.

<-- storm boy looking for pelicans

a long lunch stop at Taree -->

Kindi farm 2-9-09

2009-09-22T12:21:00.002+02:00

<-- beautiful Louis

making friends -->

Ollie spent some time checking out all the animals, but still found time to go off with his ride on trucks. The larger animals poked their heads through seeking food pellets, but scaring the kiddies away. Lucky for the birds who sat calmly.

<-- The golden goose

some very cute animals -->

Holly and Lola's 29 Aug

2009-09-10T15:31:00.003+02:00

<-- a nice time had by all

I know what you're thinking -->

Rara with one of the guests of honour -->

<-- hey there

Get out

2009-09-10T14:35:00.003+02:00

Once in a while.

<-- At Olympic Park, Newington Armory. Ollie, Andy, Anna, Zane, Sohi, Rob, Michelle, Em, Marie, Louis, Jen and Pete

taking it easy -->

<-- Lunch with Paul and Chris

Paul and Ella -->

Louis christening & Ollie's 2nd birthday 9 Aug

2009-09-10T14:23:00.002+02:00

<-- Mum, Millie, David, Fil, Louis, Me, Marie, Baka

in the church -->

Huge thanks to Angela and Steve for putting on the after party at their place. A nice time had by all.

<-- in church

the happiest boy around looking at 2 cakes -->

Visit to Perth 30th July

2009-09-10T14:04:00.003+02:00

<-- dog surfing

new slippers -->

Slightly hellish flight on the way over. Arrived late. Ollie still awake of course.

Had lovely time. Thanks v. much to Maryanne, Peter, Julia and Peter.

Every home is brand new. The nature strips are all immaculate. The train to town is close, as is a wide strip of dunes and the beach. Went for a walk every morning with Peter, the dog, Ollie, and sometimes Julia and Peter Joel too. Went for a ride with Julia and Peter. Of course all the bike paths are marvellous there also.

<-- in the kitchen

at the starting line of the interschool race, Julia on the left -->

<-- getting artistic

Louis at 1 month

2009-09-10T13:55:00.000+02:00

<-- still sleeping a bit

at the midday snooze -->

At Fils

2009-09-10T13:50:00.002+02:00

<-- the cousins

flying -->

Gabrielle's confirmation Anna's birthday

2009-09-10T13:37:00.002+02:00

<-- and Louis's getting bigger

a fine speech -->

<-- Uncle Vince ducks from the girls

Ollie going for a ride & kip -->

Home again

2009-05-26T06:02:00.002+02:00

<-- Milk ..

.. drunk! -->

Marie was allowed out of hospital after 30 hours, as everything is fine. Had a couple of home visits from the midwives, who've checked up on us. How nice to be home!

< --A bit like a cross between Napoleon and his cousin Tomas.

Starting to investigate things -->

At home

2009-05-26T05:58:00.003+02:00

<-- Ollie, Baka, and Louis

Marie and her 3 boys, plus Baka -->

Baka very kindly minded Ollie while we were in the hospital.

Our great news: Louis is here!

2009-05-26T05:26:00.007+02:00

<-- Louis at the weigh in: 4.155kg (9lbs 3ounces)

Being stretched to 56cm (22in) wearing nothing but a fig leaf -->

Woke up with Marie having contractions, which were rapidly picking up. Rushed breakfast, kissed bye to grandma Baka and Ollie.

Arrived at the hospital at about 9am and 4cm, then got into a room after Marie started swearing. Morphine and gas helping somewhat. Papa had very civilised lunch brought in. Got the eppy sometime after 2pm, and then even had a power nap. Being the only people on the ward at the time, we had all the doctors and nurses coming through at various times.

At roughly 4pm, we were ready to start pushing and at 5.05pm, Louis arrived! We got to see him at last. Everyone was happy and healthy apart from a few stitches, and a squished up screaming bub.

<-- having a well deserved rest in his robe

Mum and cheering team -->

At the cousins

2009-05-26T05:02:00.003+02:00

<-- Lunch at Charlie's

Posing for the shot at Millie's -->

Ollie and Louis have 23 cousins (plus another boy in 20 weeks). Ollie visits often. All the young'uns get pretty excited.

<-- Listening to Tess's fine fiddling. Hmm maybe I can have a go one day.

At the park

2009-05-26T04:53:00.002+02:00

<-- Spiderman

pregnant lady a couple of days before -->

<-- On the way to childcare. The smile vanishes at the gate. It's heartbreaking. He's happy enough once inside and playing in the sandpit etc.

Ahead of his time for style. Hey, you should save that hat for when you're seventy. -->

Triathlon

2009-04-19T16:04:00.003+02:00

It's not often this happens, so I thought I'd record it.

<- the swim was in front of the bridge and the Opera House.

I'm an athlete, honest ->

<- Citect got bought out, so now we're Schneider Electric, and the team got a lot bigger.

A trip to the zoo

2009-04-19T15:57:00.002+02:00

<-- the giraffes with the best views win

built on the side of a hill opposite the city, Taronga is a nice spot. -->

We saw the big cats, some turtles, a kimono dragon, giraffes, performing seals, pandas, and that hind of thing.

<-- Marie, Evonne and me get to push around the troublemakers

A trip to Anna's

2009-04-19T15:50:00.002+02:00

<-- Ollie really enjoyed his swim in the river

Anna and Marie ->

<- Ollie on a Adam's nice bike

A trip from work

2009-04-19T14:54:00.003+02:00

<- it started with 2km of bush track. My work buddies chose to walk part of it, as they had substandard equipment ->

We left from Gordon after a night shift, on a Saturday morning. I went to Abbotsford, to Tony and Evonne's house, for something to do, and to try to get another recruit into cycling to/from work.

<- a lot of the trip was off road path. Here we have a converted rail bridge over the Parramatta River, extremely convenient.

Millie's christening

2009-01-11T12:53:00.000+01:00

<-- before

during -->

South Coast

2009-01-11T12:43:00.003+01:00

<-- meeting the locals

His first sight of a roo.Ollie called out "Woof" to him, and walked up for a pat, but he hopped away. -->

<-- Holly and Lola having a good time

Ollie at Palm Beach, Sanctuary Point -->

<-- Still friends after getting bitten.

Jason - Christie wedding

2009-01-11T11:21:00.002+01:00

<-- Ollie trying to outrun the girls

Being caught by the girls, nice lipstick there buddy -->

<-- Evonne, Anna, Zdenka, Tim, Tony, Steven

Charlie at full pelt -->

Christie - Jason wedding

2009-01-11T11:07:00.003+01:00

<-- Christie

Ollie and Charlie in church -->

<-- preparing for the wedding in the breadfast cupboard

Surrounded by girls again. Another day with Anna, Ollie and Emily -->

A night out

2009-01-10T01:19:00.005+01:00

<-- the babysitter with my camera.

before -->

<-- during

-->

<-- after

Ride to work/paintball

2009-01-10T01:07:00.004+01:00

<-- Dave grins on Ride to Work Day. 10 people saved about 50kg of CO2 in one day alone. We just need to work on the other 260 people in the office. My 11km ride goes past some beautiful backyards, and is a shaded tree-lined path for half of it. -->

<-- Chappy, the groom, after being peppered by paintballs. I got some nasty ones at the end of the day, when we thought we might have some balls left over, and they had some can't-die battles. -->

Day at the museum + visit Charlie

2009-01-10T00:57:00.003+01:00

<-- The most popular guy on the train.

At a Christmas tree in town -->

<-- On the way to the museum. They were impressed by the dinosaurs. At Charlies place..

The latest cousins

2009-01-09T03:20:00.006+01:00

<-- Millie Ollie has 23 cousins now, the latest additions being Millie, Holly and Lola.

<-- Lola

Holly and Lola -->

<-- picnic with Gab and Tess (Willie not in the shot)

Ollie walking on 27 August 08

2009-01-09T02:32:00.004+01:00

At the local park a day or so later-->

<-- Walking on the 27th

Ollie took his first steps! By sheer luck, we were both at home for it.

Happy 1st birthday Ollie!

2008-08-17T13:31:00.002+02:00

< -- A big birthday bear hug with older cousin Alexandra

It's my party, and I'll do what I want. The cake is mine. -->

Few, thank goodness that's done with! Now to eat all the leftovers.

<-- A special birthday song for the special birthday boy on his special 1st birthday. Thanks girls!

Mr. Popularity, especially with his granmas -- >

In the new place

2008-07-11T13:02:00.000+02:00

< -- undoing the one dark purple feature wall

there's some sun outside-- >

We've moved in now, and most of the boxes are away. The main problem is the darkness inside. Then the crumbling kitchen, old old carpet, etc..

Back home in Sydney

2008-07-10T07:20:00.000+02:00

< -- Mum, Alexandra, Anna, Gabrielle, me, Ollie, Marie, Tony

Peter's birthday; Peter + Jen -->

< -- Ollie on Fil's staircase. We stayed at Fil and David's for 3 weeks

helping out with netball practice - Marie, Ollie, Tess, Belle, Ceal -->

Leaving SF 19 May

2008-07-10T07:14:00.000+02:00

<-- Ollie, Marie, Chris, Lisa and about 10 pieces of luggage

Our kind friends Chris and Lisa let us stay with them while we repacked, drank at the B2B, and got into a cab for the airport. The manager on duty was kind enough to let us check almost everything we had without charging us.

Bay to Breakers, San Francisco. 18 May.

2008-07-10T07:07:00.000+02:00

< -- the bull runners and their magically alcoholic bull

thousands of people getting trashed -- >

This is the City to Surf, except everyone gets really drunk. San Francisco I am going to miss you.

< -- so, where'd you guys meet?

< -- There's no place like home.

Detroit again

2008-05-20T00:49:00.001+02:00

< -- Toronto is big -- >

Well that's the end of the trip. It's a bit of a relief as finding a new place to stay, packing etc can be a pain.

Stayed overnight Guelph. Dropped in on Anna and Stipe, Marie's godmother and father, and got super stuffed one last time.

< -- me, fatty, fat Winston and a seagull

7 lanes in and out for lots of k's, Toronto -->

< -- the crossing into Detroit off Ambassador Bridge

At the booth on the border, the homeland security guy didn't like our story of travelling for a month. Seems like you don't do that kind of thing in the biggest, best etc country in the world. We still had the old visas in which was the problem. Two hours later we were let out of their office, all the while being watched by a smiling photo of George W. and two other probably suspect officials.

At the end of the flight, we were getting picked up. Ollie's car seat did not make it, so he and Marie had to home on the train and bus instead.

Now we're packed up, and crossing our fingers all our junk will be accepted for the long flight home.

Kingston

2008-05-20T00:43:00.000+02:00

< -- spending hours behind the wheel. Stuck in Montreal.

Kingston -- >

Travelled near Sherbrooke to see some of the lovely countryside. It's just getting green now.

Then got to Montreal late, and a truck lost its 30 tonne load on the highway, so us and three lanes got diverted off, with no clue, and a big old mess. Stopped to feed Ollie, found a side street and went along strangely quickly given that it sounded all the other routes were not doing well. Got into Kingston late. Found a strange woman runnning a B&B in a nice place.

Kingston has plenty of beautful old stone buildings, and as per usual, the most expensive real estate, next to the river, was stuffed up by some hideous high rise buildings. Some in the process of still going up, so too bad they don't appreciate what would attract people to the town.

< -- Royal Military College -->

Visited the Royal Military College across the causeway, which is luckily protected from the developers.

Sherbrooke

2008-05-13T02:43:00.000+02:00

< -- Sherbrooke

trail around the lake, Sherbrooke -- >

Yesterday we made it to Sherbrooke late at night. We stopped at a "Residence", that the GPS got us to, which is an old persons' hospice. The priest there sent us to our current place between HyperSex and SexStudio, near the Salvos. The rest of the town is beautiful and very green. I'm currently updating using the free town wireless - such a great idea and a reality here already.

We came via Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. It seems that our GPS is severely retarded and sent us the long way. I was driving and still have no idea how we got here.

<-- St. Johnsbury

In St. Johnsbury, VT, we did our washing while a four year old entertained Ollie. A nice man told me how he dined for the week, by raiding the supermarket dumpster at the end of the day. "I get salads for free from the macket. I get boi. Been in Vermont all me loif."

making tunes Dixfield -- >

Lunch was at the Front Porch Cafe in Dixfield VT. The owner wanted us to sign her wall. I did a mangled picture of Australia, so her visitors will probably think it's a bad picture of one of the states. It's funny being back in the US where Ollie is always so popular.

Northeast Harbor, Bangor

2008-05-11T02:19:00.002+02:00

< -- on the postal service boat out of Northeast Harbor

Maypole dance at someone's 6th birthday -- >

A fellow in Millbidge told us to get on the mail ferry here, and we had a great day on Cranberry Island. 2 people invited us to get out of the cold in their house. Caught Sophia's 6th birthday party in the community hall,and some ribbon/May pole dancing/ piano playing. Dipped my foot in the Altantic ocean. What a great bunch of people. One sticker on a truck said "They call it Tourist Season, so why can't we shoot them?"

Tonight we're in Bangor, the home of Stephen King. A realtor on the ferry told us his address. His home has a black fence with assorted steel creatures welded on it, and a cool spider web style gate. His neighbour's homes were just as grandiose.

< -- Cranberry Island

Stephen King's house, no bull -- >

St. Andrews NB, Lubec ME, Millbridge ME

2008-05-11T02:19:00.001+02:00

< -- St. Andrews -->

Another nice resort town / old fishing village.
Lubec is the easternmost point in the US, yay us.
Millbridge is nowhere, but that's the best thing. Lots of trees and a nice river. Ollie entertains some locals for tea, who are up for their sons graduation. The man at the bar with the "Ollie the Otter" cap tells us to take the Northeast Harbor mail boat.

< -- Lubec - most homes are about 100K, so you could buy the town for the price of an SF home

almost crawling, making progress in Millbridge -- >

Mahone Bay, Lunenberg, Digby, St. John

2008-05-11T02:19:00.000+02:00

< -- 3 famous churches at Mahone Bay

Lunenberg home of the Bluenose boat -- >

More picturesque postcard towns. We get the ferry from Digby, and a ferry is always fun. Ollie got to try crawling again. St. John has so many heritage buildings in need of a facelift. Reversing falls is very cool, but there's a paper pulp mill right behind it.

< -- Digby, NS

St. John, NB -->

Dartmouth

2008-05-07T01:17:00.000+02:00

A short ferry ride over the harbour. Walked around more Victorian homes. Some of the modern buildings look out of place.