What are friends for?

Giving you the creative material to create a postcard of course!

Bye - Bye - Buster - Bye - Bye!

Here's me and my pal Buster. We were movie stars together. Today he had to be put to sleep. I know it'll be tough for his family, he really was one of them and he knew it!

Dinner at Het Gesprek.

Dinner with Elly and this view - that's what hot weather and a terrace are all about!

I'm slightly concerned when I hear...

According to recent news reports, the people of Phoenix are currently under threat from two potential serial killers. As a result the citizens in this area have gone self defence crazy. What I find more disturbing is the fact that while I was just watching a BBC News 24 report, a man purchasing a gun for his wife says to the man in the shop "... she just wants something that's good for around the house." It will be interesting to see wedding gift registries of the future - China Vase, Toaster, Mixer, Towels, Gun, Pillow Cases, Iron. Does anybody else see what is wrong with this picture?

Put your weight behind it...

It's no secret I've always battled with my weight. I'm not one of those fortunate few who can eat and drink whatever they like and continue to look like a model. In fact I'm the exact opposite - I smell food and the kilos just attach themselves to my thighs, backside and love handles. Today however, the heat was turned up on this topic.
Last night I saw an episode of 'Oprah' for the first time in at least two years. Uncannily enough it was about weight loss and of course Oprah packed the show full of as many success stories as she could. Obviously it's motivating to view, but I felt slightly ripped off that I didn't get all the free gifts the audience got. Each person left the studio with a new work out outfit, exercise equipment for the home and a book with some 12 week kick-start program. All I got however was a conversation from about 5 different people who I never knew were Oprah fans, but somehow all managed to watch the show last night.
Today still feeling a bit flat and tired after yesterdays goings on, I decided to indulge in a 'swirl' graciously paid for by work. I never knew as I tucked in to an ice-cream mixed with fresh strawberries and chocolate pieces, that I would be met by the viewers of last nights episode of Oprah and of course two other people who had read my blog - Is exercise necessary? Confronted with questions such as "How do you expect to lose weight eating that?" I defiantly ate away at my ice-cream hiding the fact that their questions were actually slicing through me like a knife. Now I'm left with the question - Do you have to give up everything you enjoy to lose weight? Anyway I walked for more than an hour again tonight. I took a different route; just for a change in scenery. The picture attached here is a view of the sun setting over Rotterdam.

How can a melted candle say so much?

Well this is what the heat has done to my candle.
Especially after today when we hit a high of 33 degrees!

Funny thing is - this image says so much about right now...

1. This relentless heat has left me feeling much like the candle looks. I'm so shattered from not sleeping and generally just feeling washed out. This morning it was just before 5am that I eventually fell asleep - not very conducive to a productive work ethic.
2. Greg's grandma died today. Obviously this has left him feeling like he to has been knocked over.

It's just over three years since our last visit home to Australia and I know he is feeling guilty about that. Of course this type of situation evokes a whole plethora of thoughts and emotions... Do you just stay at home and never leave to live your own life just in case someone that you love and care for dearly dies? How happy is that person, even when they say it doesn't bother them about you being away from home for so long? Why has it been three years since we have been home?

The only question I have been able to answer so far is the last one. I don't know about Greg, but for me not going home is about not having to say goodbye. I'm completely torn about leaving behind the people that are most precious to me and everything I have left Australia and the one time my Mum left Scotland, I felt like my insides had been torn out. I love the life I am living over here in Europe, but everyday I loathe being so far away from the people I love. It's much easier being away now - you get used to it. Of course I still get homesick, but the feeling doesn't last as long as it used to. On the other hand, saying goodbye/see you later, is a whole different story. I love my family and friends just as much today as I did the day I left - in fact maybe even a little more as it's easy to take people for granted when you regularly see them. However hanging up a phone and logging out of Skype is so much easier than holding tight to and then letting go of someone you love.

I hope Greg is ok with saying goodbye to his grandma. Life sucks, but death sucks more!

Niet normaal!

It's not often you'll see this as the current weather for Rotterdam. One thing's for sure - This little Aussie boy has been away from home for a little too long, as weather like this now sends me in to a spiral of grump and misery. Especially when I see that it's going to be 20 degrees over night, but feel like 23! I love the no sleep factor of summer... How will I ever return to Australian shores?

It's sad but true...

I am a Big Brother fan. Yes I admit, I'm completely addicted in a deviant, voyeuristic way to watching on a daily basis the smoking, burping, farting and fighting that goes on in the Big Brother UK house. To prove my dedication to the cause, I download the episodes on a daily basis as I am not blessed with the good fortune of it showing on TV here in Holland. Today one of my favorite housemates was evicted. Really she was evicted on Friday night, but because I didn't watch it until today... I never knew. In fact - I shed a tear, before reminding myself that it was not real life! Goodbye Nikki - I'll miss seeing you each day, your bitching, your temper tantrums, your over articulation and hand waving have entertained me beyond my imagination. Hopefully in honor of you, your housemates will continue to release me from my mundane existence and provide me with 7 hours per week of essential and life changing viewing.

Photo taken from Big Brother - Channel 4 (UK).

Nieuw Wonning...

Last night (Saturday) was the house warming for Emmanuel and Andreas. They were two people who we met while living in the caravan park. Unfortunately they were stuck there a lot longer than we were, so it's great to see them finally with a place of their own.
In true hippy fashion they are setting up a really nice place where it is impossible not to feel welcome!

Is this not the ugliest animal in the world?

This really is - only the face a mother could love. I feel like I have just had my vision scared for life... Anyway if you want to read more about the Naked Mole-Rat check out Eusociality and Reproduction in the Naked Mole-Rat. I credit Davidson College and their website along with their picture for my temporary blindness and forever being too scared to do another search on Google for the "World's Ugliest Animal".

Warning: Take care when doing Google searches for obscure things - boredom is no longer safe!

Is exercise necessary?

Well Greg has decided that the two of us have become a bit plump and is encouraging us both to improve our level of fitness. To be perfectly honest, after a hard day at work the last thing I want to do is go 'power walking' for an hour. I'd much prefer to watch TV and have a wine, but with a view like this to admire while exercising - who wouldn't be motivated?!

It could have been me...

It always freaks me out when I have been somewhere or been on something where later a tradgedy occurs. A few months before the bombings in Madrid, I had been through those stations where the bombings took place. With the London bombings, well they happened a few stations away on the Underground line I used to take. Now today I read on the BBC website that people were badly injured on the Gondola ride in the Nevis Ranges. A place I have been twice and a ride I have taken twice with people when showing them about Scotland - here's a link to the story on BBC: People Injured in Cable Car Crash.

Today is...

8 years since my car accident. Who would ever think that something that happened that long ago would still have an effect on my day to day life. Although it did teach me the best lesson I have learnt in life - If you can learn from a negative situation then you actually turn it in to something which is positive and worthwhile and therefore no longer a negative situation. I wouldn't want to go through the experience again, but I'm glad it happened.

Watching this inspires me to want to travel more...

Even when life is shit, it's easy to close your eyes and pretend you're somewhere else. Watching this shows me just how many places you can escape to.

Seven Years Ago...

I started a relationship with someone. A someone who in that time has been my best friend and my worst enemy. Someone who has been my responsibility and at the same time responsible for me. Someone who has been my support and someone who I have supported. Seven years of ups and downs, because fairytales don't come true. What is true is reality and seven years later I know what is real... We have each other for better and for worse, through thick and thin, through the good times and the bad times, through love and hate. When the bad times come they should be celebrated, because they make the good times so much better. I don't say it everyday, in fact I don't say it that often at all. Many times I don't even show it, but seven years ago, I became a very lucky man!

World Cup Concludes.

Aussie Aussie Aussie - Oi Oi Oi (apparently this chant originated in Wales - according to Big Brother UK). I suprised myself by getting quite involved in it - the World Cup that is. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not really the sporting type. That said I'm a bit shocked at how wrapped up I am in the whole thing. Firstly I was devistated when Holland went out, one day later it was Australia (by those cheating Italians) and a week after that England. I'm left with the dilemma now of who to support. It would have been Italy, but I have a personal dislike for them at the moment due to their on field theatrics, so I guess it has to be France.
Well done to our little Aussie Battlers - you did us proud!

Photo linked from FIFA World Cup 2006 website.

Chinese Boat Cruise on De Maas.

Tonight we went for a dinner cruise on the river Muse. Well that's what it started as and then finished with a crazy night out at Cafe de Beurs. It was great catching up with Randall, Matt and also meeting their friends Jonathan and Sarah Jane. I always like it when planned evenings turn out to be so much more than you had expected. The Chinese Boat cruise was quite amusing they give a whole different meaning to "dinner is served" - I won't say anymore as it will ruin the surprise for anyone who is planning to do it. For buffet food on a boat the food was pretty good. Cafe de Beurs on the other hand... Best enjoyed under the influence!

Getting Started...

I've decided to start my own blog. I only wish I had done this earlier. It's an idea I have toyed with for some time now, but decided the photos on my website were enough to tell the story of my life. Last night however that changed.
Yesterday was the Summer Party for work, there was a BBQ down at Strand aan de Maas in Rotterdam. Of course drinks were also on work, so there was plenty to be had. Anyway a photo from a silly drinking game we were playing ended up on a friends blog. Today I was looking through his blog and well I was inspired to capture my life in a similar fashion. Thanks Carlo...
So this is the beginning nearly 31 years after the story really began...