Initial Style Conference Hunton Park Watford

... sure we'd have to delay our departure till after the weekend and totally screw up the itinerary. But great news - it arrived ten minutes ago. A very classy new Australian passport with aussie illustrations on every page to make us homesick.

SO WE'RE OFF tomorrow morning. Hopefully we'll get away about 9 am for the 12:30 ferry at Dover.

I suppose we better finish packing...

... connection in Newark, so I immediately started researching the other options for getting to Heathrow and we had three flights from San Jose to Houston and then we had two options from there to Heathrow. We ended up getting on the second flight out of San Jose and connected with the last flight out of Houston so we only ended up being about 5 hours late overall. They gave us good seats on the flight from Houston to Heathrow where we were ...

... turn on, the list goes on and on. Everything is different here but we are finding it very amusing learning it all and having a blast while we wonder around like idiots being amazed by the new coke bottle designs. We are all exhausted after having some supper at a local pub and chatting it up with the bartender for a bit we headed back to our room to probably just going to sleep the rest of the night away. Tomorrow were heading into Oxford to start our ...

... girl from Dublin while I was waiting. The hostel is in the middle of everything. Didn't get settled in till about 6:00 or so...walked around town, went and sat in Trafalgar square, met my hostel roomates...4 other guys from the US...they all seem pretty cool. Had a beer and now I'm out of time. Will write more later!

... street. There are plenty of shops nearby and the nearest station is about 10 minutes walk at kid pace. We took the open top bus tour to give everyone a first look around. The appeal of an open bus in the middle of winter eludes me, but the kids loved the ride. Hannah and Nicholas frantically took pictures all the way around with their new ...

... is to Mill Valley parks. The dice rattle and clack of individual stones is everywhere. Anyway, after losing to each of my 3 companions several times, it is clear to mean that backgammon is pure luck and nothing but. Soo...Kas was lovely, more amphibious living; a peaceful luxurious locale. On to Ozbek for a few days, Bahar's stomping grounds and where her extended family has 4 houses consecutively aligned along the waterfront. Feast after ...

... as this is the first european city i have ever been to, I was coompletely awe struck by the history and the age of the buildings. And not just the popular monuments, but even the average buildings on any given street. I was truly swept away!! Sunny took me around London for the next two days and we pretty much covered everything by foot. I think my favourite places were the Abbey (I had lunch and a little rest in the grass here!) and just strolling along the Thames. I haven't ...

... have worried, he played really well and the others were very impressed with his natural swing. After the round Richard an experienced golfer advised me to get James into golf membership as a soon as possible as he felt that more regular play on full size course would improve his games further. I could feel my wallet ...

... shopping (window or otherwise) so I won't be able to save any cash at all!! It is tediously boring but I am too lazy to find something in London proper...anyway, you have all probably read the extended version of this, but now there are pictures - oooh, aaah. OK, there's one - and it's not very interesting. This is a couple of my co-workers in the tea-room, making tea for the first and no doubt last time, I was there to give instructions.

... day trips. The agency job is going quite well. I'm classified as an RSW (residential social worker) and though the agency I'm with has many different places they can send me too, I have done all of my work at a short term/emergency placement for adolescents called Haslam House. It's nice because it's easy to get to and I've become a bit of a fixture there. And it pays twice as much as the pub ...