Well we had a fantastic time on our roadtrip, too many highlights to mention, all good! I promise I will post the photos from all our holidays before we leave for home (famous last words!).
Just had time to catch up on the washing and air the apartment and we are off again!! Mum can not believe it, she jokingly said its getting ridiculous. I say bring on the ridiculous, always been a big fan of it. Oh I should mention where we are going….England, the south west, Cornwall country. Apparantly its to go hiking and enjoy the gorgeous and varied lanscape of the area, but if the truth be told its just an elbarote ploy to cross the channel for fish n chips! Also I cant believe I’m going to say this but I need to escape this heat, it has cooled down a bit but it got so hot here recently I took an ice pack to bed!! Poor Jim rolled over for a cuddle and instead got the hairs on his chest frozen off.
Shouldn’t complain, I know you are in the middle of winter, still it cant be that bad, everytime I ring mum she’s been out gardening. A quick update on the puppies, apparently they are both gorgeous but have proven to be chalk and cheese. Sadie is a quiet sweet little girl and our Maggie is affectionate but the life of the party. Jim loves ringing mum for the latest update on Maggie’s antics. We haven’t even meet her yet but I miss her when we are away, crazy I know, but at least when we are home we can pop on the phone and find out what she’s up to. Mum just had a doggy door put in so they are learning to use it, not much success yet, they may need to get a bit bigger.

Also people have been asking how Heidi is getting along with the twins….Great! She sounds fabulous and I’ve checked she’s telling the truth, she assures me she is! She sent me some recent photos today and its offical, they are the cutest pair of bubs ever, but then so are Sophie and Joes twin girls!And then little Costas and Thomas, look we all know ALL babies are cute. Well lets tell the truth here, not all! I’ve seen some shockers on the street but ALL the babies I KNOW are cute without exception.
I had better go continue to pack and as well confirm the address of Jamie Oliver’s Cornwall restaurant, yum!

Oh and one more thing Jim has confirmed which job he’s excepted back in Melbourne but I should check with him if I can say here yet. I’d say he will pop on but if I’m bad at updating and sharing details then Jim is, well he isnt bad at it he just doesn’t do it at all!

Ok cant delay the packing anymore! xxxxx

Ok the the World Cup is over and Zidane has spoken (unfortuantly so did his mother!), so it is time to move on. What next? Le Tour de France!! Jim and I head off tomorrow for a farewell lap of France and will partake of Le Tour at some of the mountain stages in the Alps. We had a ball last year and so Im looking forward to doing it all again. And as an added bonus our Aussie boys are doing great
We have near to 2 weeks so we will also visit the Burgundy region, Ardeche, Provence and Cote d’Azur. We wont visit Paris this month but next month for our 1yr anniversary, my god did that come around quick.

Our plane tickets home arrived in the mail this week, I cant believe we will be back in Australia in less than 12weeks. Part of me is so excited and another part nervous, I know I will miss Europe, but we are grateful for the time we had and we made our choice……… AUSTRALIA!! In the meantime we are enjoying a gorgeous summer, have already had a crazy amount of trips and there are still many to come including Moscow.

a bientot

We are just back from Germany after having the most fabulous weekend. It was wonderful to be in Stuttgart where Germany were playing and where they won. It was also very emotional as our German friends told us it is the first time in their lives they have seen the Germans, and so many of them, wave their flag with pride. They carry much shame and have never felt it was appropriate. It was wonderful to be in the city after the game and see so many proud and happy people. The next day we watched the celebration in Berlin on the TV and our friends confirmed my suspicions that the coach is just the nicest man and the team, very much that a team. I cant imagine the players and the fans could of been more joyous if they won the final. They certainly would of been a popular winner as they could not of been better hosts, the whole world saw that.

Sunday night was not so joyous, I was speechless when I saw Zidane head butt Materazzi and then I was struggling not to cry as he walked off with his head held low. Zidane is a hero to the children here in France and when I think of them it is of course impossible to condone his actions. However I have no doubt Materazzi was relentless and willing to go as low as required, and Zidane, like the rest of us, is only human and therefore fallible.

Zidane made my jumping on board the soccer bandwagon a more joyous ride. Yes he has a beautiful face, but it’s not just that, I challenge anyone who has not been a fan of soccer to watch his play and not be won over. That unfortunate incident is not the sum of Zidane!

So France are in the final, I am very pleased but will confess to a niggle in my pleasure. The thing is when the World Cup started the French had very little to say about their team, very little air time was given and when pressed they would respond very briefly that their team was old and not united, they could not be counted on. Despite Lille being a big city the streets were quiet during their matches, no big screens and no French flags, but plenty of Brazilian ones. The French had turned their back! Coming from a culture that is very big on supporting the underdog I found the situation sad.

But then Les Blues made it to the finals! The big screen went up, the flags flew and the fans gathered in the centre of town. When they beat Brazil and won it was fabulous, I had never been anywhere where absolutely every person was united in who they supported. It was a moment I’ll never forget. Zindane’s face filled the screen and thousands of fans cheered with the flags flying and the night air filled with red and blue flares. We didn’t go into the centre of town last night but I watched and was thrilled the French won. It was strangely comforting drifting off to sleep last night to the sounds of a very happy celebratory city.

Jim and I will not be in France for the Final, we head to Stuttgart to stay with friends and enjoy the final two games in the host Country. We will take our Aussie flag to wear at all times and as well wave the German and the French. It’s a small world after all :).

I’ve just been watching the Hewitt Baghdatis Wimbledon match, I couldnt believe it when I turned on the television to discover Hewitt down the first set to some bloke with man boobs! He doesnt just have man boobs, but tummy flab and muffin tops! This is not what we are use to seeing on the tennis court, whats worse despite looking so jowly and exhausted he’s doing well. Well the game is not over yet, Hewitt is a real terrier and Im sure he will win in the end. He has to, I dont know how much more I can take. Australia out in the soccer, then England, Germany done by Italy and if Portugal beats France I dont think I could stand watching the final. What would there be to see anyway, flashes of brilliance in between time spent rolling about on the field or in the ear of the Ref.

So I will be brave and and watch the soccer, just lost coverage of the tennis, hence my being on the computer so I can keep up on BBC sport. Jim has gone to bed!!! He has been working so hard lately, he fell asleep in front of the Tv, so I sent him off and tucked him in.

So just back from checking on Hewitt, he lost!! That little Mia must be keeping him up. I read in 8/9 past grand slams Hewitt has only lost to the eventual winner. That will not happen this time, extra kilos are ok on us mere mortals and cricketers, but not tennis players!!