We are now eager to be on our way now. All this build up and anticipation is getting too much. It is bit like when as kids you see the first signs of Christmas during October.
We have been catching up with as many people as we can before we go and have had some lovely evenings with friends and family with more yet to come.
Sue spent a lovely weekend with the girls shopping, eating, drinking and generally cavorting around.
I, in turn, spent the weekend with a couple of buddies playing RPGs and getting set up for playing our games via the internet. We tried a couple of VOIP systems and found that, while Google Talk was easy to use it only seemed to allow you to talk to one person at a time. We also tried the Gizmo Project, which although it was a little more complicated it did seem to allow party line conversations quite successfully. We now have to see if it will work as well from one side of the world to the other.
This is our last week at work now, so we are focusing on the important things, such as our leaving ‘do’s.
We are planning to have most things organised at home by the weekend. This will mean that from then on until we settle in down under in mid October, that we will be without our computer and possibly incommunicado.
After the weekend we have almost a week to pack and sort those last minute details out before we fly on Friday the 7th Oct. We have a few days in Malaysia and Singapore before we land in New Zealand on the following weekend.
For all of you we leave behind, farewell and we will be back before you know it. For all of you we are about to meet, put the white wine in the fridge and have the glasses ready…
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
More of wot I have read…
Recently I have read a couple of books by Ken Follett, the Hornet Flight and the Night Over Water. These books were given to us and had been lingering on the shelves for a while, so I thought I’d give them a go.
Both books are set in the time of the Second World War and involve a boys-own style adventure that includes airplanes.
Hornet Flight by Ken Follett
This is an interesting story for the setting and background as I was not aware of the situation that Denmark and its citizens found itself in during the war.
It is June 1941, and the low point of the war. England throws wave after wave of bombers across the Channel, but somehow the Lufwaffe is able to shoot them down at will. The skies – indeed the war itself – seem to belong to Hitler.
But on a small Danish island across the North Sea, Harald Olufsen, a bright eighteen-year-old with a talent for engineering, stumbles across a secret German installation. Its machinery is like nothing he has ever seen before and he knows he must tell someone – if he can only figure out who.
With England preparing its largest aerial assault ever, what Harald has discovered may turn the course of the war – but the race to convey the information could have terrible consequences for everyone close to him.
For his older brother Arne, a pilot in the grounded Danish Air Force and already under suspicion of the authorities. For Arne’s fiancee, Hermia, an MI6 intelligence analyst desperate to resurrect the foundering Danish resistance. And most of all for Harald himself – because as the hour of the assault approaches, it will all fall to him and his friend Karen to get the word to England.
And the only means available to them is a derelict Hornet Moth biplane abandoned in a ruined church, a plane so decrepit that it is unlikely ever to get off the ground.
Pursued by the enemy; hunted by collaborators; with almost no training, limited fuel, and no way of knowing if they will survive the six-hundred mile flight, the two will carry with them England's best — perhaps only — hope of avoiding disaster.
Night Over Water by Ken Follett
I found the most interesting character in this story to by the flying boat. I would have loved to have flown in one of them.
In 1939, with war just declared, a group of privileged people board the most luxurious airliner ever – the Pan American Clipper, bound for New York: an English aristocrat, a German scientist, a murderer under escort, a young wife escaping her husband and a charming, unscrupulous thief. For thirty hours, there is no escape from the flying palace. Over the Atlantic, tension mounts and finally explodes in a dramatic and dangerous climax.
Both books are set in the time of the Second World War and involve a boys-own style adventure that includes airplanes.
Hornet Flight by Ken Follett
This is an interesting story for the setting and background as I was not aware of the situation that Denmark and its citizens found itself in during the war.
It is June 1941, and the low point of the war. England throws wave after wave of bombers across the Channel, but somehow the Lufwaffe is able to shoot them down at will. The skies – indeed the war itself – seem to belong to Hitler.
But on a small Danish island across the North Sea, Harald Olufsen, a bright eighteen-year-old with a talent for engineering, stumbles across a secret German installation. Its machinery is like nothing he has ever seen before and he knows he must tell someone – if he can only figure out who.
With England preparing its largest aerial assault ever, what Harald has discovered may turn the course of the war – but the race to convey the information could have terrible consequences for everyone close to him.
For his older brother Arne, a pilot in the grounded Danish Air Force and already under suspicion of the authorities. For Arne’s fiancee, Hermia, an MI6 intelligence analyst desperate to resurrect the foundering Danish resistance. And most of all for Harald himself – because as the hour of the assault approaches, it will all fall to him and his friend Karen to get the word to England.
And the only means available to them is a derelict Hornet Moth biplane abandoned in a ruined church, a plane so decrepit that it is unlikely ever to get off the ground.
Pursued by the enemy; hunted by collaborators; with almost no training, limited fuel, and no way of knowing if they will survive the six-hundred mile flight, the two will carry with them England's best — perhaps only — hope of avoiding disaster.
Night Over Water by Ken Follett
I found the most interesting character in this story to by the flying boat. I would have loved to have flown in one of them.
In 1939, with war just declared, a group of privileged people board the most luxurious airliner ever – the Pan American Clipper, bound for New York: an English aristocrat, a German scientist, a murderer under escort, a young wife escaping her husband and a charming, unscrupulous thief. For thirty hours, there is no escape from the flying palace. Over the Atlantic, tension mounts and finally explodes in a dramatic and dangerous climax.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
The end of one summer…
All signs are that the UK is in transition from summer to autumn. The nights are drawing in, the temperatures are cooling down and it is picking time in the kitchen garden.
Several other signs confirm this change too; England beats Australia at cricket in the Ashes series, and Harvest Festivals are happening in villages throughout the countryside.
We have been very busy on our run up to our departure. The allotment has an abundance of produce which we are gorging on, clearing areas in preparation for the fallow winter time. We have been packing items for storage, selling unwanted items at a local boot-sale, and delivering unsold items to charity shops. Before we leave we are trying to meet up with as many friends and family as possible that necessitates much eating and drinking – it’s a chore, but someone has to do it.
We noticed a strange apparition whilst driving through the local village of Carshalton. Many brightly coloured and strangely clothed individuals were playing music and cavorting around a whirling haystack outside a local hostelry. Intrigued we returned to investigate and found that it was a harvest celebration called Straw Jack. This was the events second year (and so it was now a tradition) where a group of musicians (largely very enthusiastic drummers) and dancers escorted Straw Jack around all of the local pubs from 11am until 7pm where up Straw Jack was put to the torch. It was a very entertaining spectacle that I hope is continued for many years to come.
Several other signs confirm this change too; England beats Australia at cricket in the Ashes series, and Harvest Festivals are happening in villages throughout the countryside.
We have been very busy on our run up to our departure. The allotment has an abundance of produce which we are gorging on, clearing areas in preparation for the fallow winter time. We have been packing items for storage, selling unwanted items at a local boot-sale, and delivering unsold items to charity shops. Before we leave we are trying to meet up with as many friends and family as possible that necessitates much eating and drinking – it’s a chore, but someone has to do it.
We noticed a strange apparition whilst driving through the local village of Carshalton. Many brightly coloured and strangely clothed individuals were playing music and cavorting around a whirling haystack outside a local hostelry. Intrigued we returned to investigate and found that it was a harvest celebration called Straw Jack. This was the events second year (and so it was now a tradition) where a group of musicians (largely very enthusiastic drummers) and dancers escorted Straw Jack around all of the local pubs from 11am until 7pm where up Straw Jack was put to the torch. It was a very entertaining spectacle that I hope is continued for many years to come.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
More of wot I have read...
Balance of Power by Richard North Patterson
This is a ‘big’ book in both size and in the subject matter it tries to cover. It is obvious when reading this book that the author knows his subject very well and that he has done some very detailed research to ensure that the book is both accurate and detailed. Unfortunately, unless you are an avid political geek, all that detail might just get in the way and slow down any building tension. It is another one of those books that appears to be more about the message than the story. The author does develop interesting and believable characters and writes very good dialogue and character interaction. It is worth the effort if you can dedicate time to wade through the convoluted Machiavellian machinations to the pay-off.
“An epic story that moves with force, passion, and authority, Balance of Power begins when President Kerry Kilcannon and television journalist Lara Costello at last decide to marry. But the momentous occasion is followed by an unspeakable tragedy—a massacre of innocents by gunfire—that ignites a high-stakes game of politics and legal maneuvering in the Senate, the courtroom, and across the country, which the charismatic but untested young President is determined to win at any cost. But in the incendiary clash over gun violence and gun rights, the cost to both Kilcannons may be even higher than he imagined.“
This is a ‘big’ book in both size and in the subject matter it tries to cover. It is obvious when reading this book that the author knows his subject very well and that he has done some very detailed research to ensure that the book is both accurate and detailed. Unfortunately, unless you are an avid political geek, all that detail might just get in the way and slow down any building tension. It is another one of those books that appears to be more about the message than the story. The author does develop interesting and believable characters and writes very good dialogue and character interaction. It is worth the effort if you can dedicate time to wade through the convoluted Machiavellian machinations to the pay-off.
“An epic story that moves with force, passion, and authority, Balance of Power begins when President Kerry Kilcannon and television journalist Lara Costello at last decide to marry. But the momentous occasion is followed by an unspeakable tragedy—a massacre of innocents by gunfire—that ignites a high-stakes game of politics and legal maneuvering in the Senate, the courtroom, and across the country, which the charismatic but untested young President is determined to win at any cost. But in the incendiary clash over gun violence and gun rights, the cost to both Kilcannons may be even higher than he imagined.“
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Countdown…
We are counting down the days now until we migrate south for the winter and set up nest in New Zealand for their summer. Everything is pretty much organised now except for the packing up and the last one or two small details.
We are excited and nervous in equal measures, but everyone is very supportive and keeps telling us that we are doing the right thing, which I’m sure we are.
We are excited and nervous in equal measures, but everyone is very supportive and keeps telling us that we are doing the right thing, which I’m sure we are.
Environmental Flair…
On the last Bank Holiday in August we went down to the local Environmental Fair with our neighbours and friends, Deb, Dave and young Tom. Unusually for a bank holiday the weather was great and we had a nice time sitting out in the sun listening to the music, eating the fine food, and drinking the occasional cold one.
This fair is a nice relaxed affair rather than the full hectic extravaganza that is the Notting Hill Carnival that was also on over the weekend.
This fair is a nice relaxed affair rather than the full hectic extravaganza that is the Notting Hill Carnival that was also on over the weekend.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)