OK - so we haven't exactly been keeping this up to date.

We started off October (6/7) with a spur of the moment trip to Nannies, feeling incredibly guilty that we actually haven't been to visit since Christmas. Well I haven't anyway, Dunc of course visited earlier in the year when he went to do his course. So it was with tails between legs that we arrived. October 6th of course was also England v Australia in the Rugby semi final..... and what a craptastic game it was!!!! Not only did we have to suffer losing to England, we had to lose to them, without them acutally playing well and scoring a try!!!! It would have been easier to endure if England had played superbly..... but oh well *sigh*.... We went to the Olton Tavern for dinner (where I first worked in England) and it is amazing what new ownership and management has done for the place.

I think Nanny was pleased to see us, and sorry to see us go. She does love it when Dunc visits because apparently he makes cups of tea like no one else :)

The downside the weekend was the same as any weekend - returning to work. This was compounded by having to endure the plethora of English Rugby jerseys and supporters that decided to come out of the closet after their team won (although they weren't brave enough to support their teams on the Friday before the game were they, eh eh??)

The next weekend saw me nose the grind stone at Harely Street in London - boring!!!

Right, its Duncan taking over the commentary now.

So what else have we been doing? Well, I'm glad you asked. Vic had her birthday so we had a bit of a gathering at a Lebanese restaurant in Soho called Kaslik. We took the bottom room that was beautifully layed out with Turkish style carpets on the floor and walls and big cushions on the floor to sit on, and cushioned benches around the walls. The food was really good and we had a really good time. I have to admit the incensce was getting a bit strong by the end of the night but it was a cool atmosphere for a birthday.

We also had a few guests at our place during October. When we went to Canada we stayed with Gem's friend Becky for a while, and also with Becky's sister Charity, so this time it was our turn to return the favour. Charity had been visiting Becky, who lives in Sweden at the moment, and they both came to London where Charity was returning to Canada. Charity also had her 3 year old daughter Layla with her. She was quite well behaved and handled the travels quite well too. She loved playing peek-a-boo with Grant... especially in his bed ;) Charity and Layla were only with us for 3 nights. They did a bit of sightseeing during the day while we were all at work, then on one night we went out to a restaurant on the river down called the Mayflower. From there we can see Tower Bridge so its always a good place to take overseas visitors. We had a nice dinner a short walk along the river front. In the morning I had to drop Charity and Layla up at London Bridge ready for them to head to Gatwick Airport for their flights back to Canada.

Becky was staying with us for a few more nights. On one of those nights the three of us went to Avenue Q in the West End. Its a show with a few human actors and then some puppets, and would have to be one of the funniest things we have seen in ages. The people who control the puppets (who are usually just torso, arms and legs) are clearly visible on stage, but they tend to enhance the puppets rather than distract even though you can see them. The expressions on their faces perfectly match the puppets. The show has also got a few classic songs like "Everyone is a little bit racist", and "The Internet is for porn". On the whole it is a brilliantly funny performance and I highly recommend it if it ever comes to where ever you might be reading this from. Friday night Gem went shopping with Becky, and then about 3:30am I dropped her at the bus depot to catch her flight back to her new home in Sweden.

The next weekend we went out to drinks for a farewell for a couple of friends of ours, Jax and Josh. They are travelling through South America for a few months before heading back to Oz. It was also the Rugby World Cup final and we watched that in pub on a tiny telly :) I think most of the Kiwi and Aussies were going for South Africa as even though in an ideal world I wouldn't want them to win, I'd rather they be the second team to win it twice, rather than England win it twice in a row. A few days later we went out for a final farewell dinner in Covent Garden with them. It was sad to see them go as we'd had some fun time together with them in London.

The following weekend the Ski & Snow Show was in town at Kensington Olympia. Me, Gem and Grant (Vic was studying) headed into this and spent the entire day walking around looking at the various things to buy and Gem did what Gem loves to do and collect pamphlet after pamphlet. Grant ended up buying himself a new jacket and I got myself a helmet. Gem did have her eye on one but by the time we'd finished walking around they had sold out. We also got lots of information on what sorts of things we should be looking at in terms of helmets, layering for warmth and Gem looked at new jackets.

A few days later it was finally time for Vic's exam. She had been studying very hard for the last few months as she had an exam for a course in tax accounting. She had her exam during the day and we met her in Covent Garden after work to go shopping for the ski gear we kow knew so much about, and to celebrate her study being over. I bought two new thermal tops for snowboarding, and Gem managed to rack up a huge bill buying a new jacket, three thermals, new gloves, new wrist guards, and a helmet. Don't even think of asking what it all came too... :) Grant and Vic also bought a few items ready for this upcoming ski season. Can't wait! After shopping we went out to a nice little Italian restaurant and had a nice meal.

On a more boring note there has been two other things happening at home. One, me and Gem have started to try and get healthier so she has given up junk food for 30 days and I have given up alcohol. Its actually tougher than I thought, not that I want to go out and get drunk, but I do like to have a nice glass or red wine if we go out to dinner, or on fridays we often headed up to the Borough Markets at lunch at work and had a pint. But so far I have been good. It ends for me on the 20th of Nov. :) I'm also doing a cash in hand sort of job for the mother-in-law of one of the designers at work. Its a website to sell houses in a certain area, and its quite good as I get to play/learn the new programming language that I'm primarily using now... asp.net. It an be tough as I have to try and do it on the weekends but its been a good learning experience, and as she doesn't really know exactly what she wants, I get to try out new things to fill her requirements. But I must admiyt I'm looking forward to finishing it.

So... after all that we hit Novemeber... finally :)