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Let it snow!

We've had a cold snap for the past few days, and on Tuesday morning I was greeted to the sight of everything covered in a couple of inches of nice white fluffy snow. Nat took some pictures when she got up, unfortunately it had already begun to melt. However, it's been so cold that there are still patches lying around.

I wish it would snow on the weekend so Nat and I could have snowball fights and Lucas could build a snow man!

Lucas' 9 month day

Here is our boy at 9 months.

Lucas learns to crawl

Well.. it's more of 'dragging myself around by my arms'.. but it's a start!



And before you ask.. those moccasins never make it outside the house!!

Lunch in Deddington

We spent last Sunday at the fabulous Unicorn Inn in nearby Deddington, and we had one of our best pub meals yet. Suzie and Simon from Melbourne (currently in Oxford) joined us and brought along their lovely daughter Ella, who amazed the entire clientele of the pub by demonstrating how to put on her coat.

I think Lucas and Ella really hit it off...steady Tiger..she's a bit old for you at the moment ;)











We went for a short walk after lunch. Strange to see an abandoned Range Rover sitting in a paddock.. not quite a Holden ute is it? ;)

Lucas sitting up in the bath

Like a big boy!

New Year's.

So New Year's Eve was probably our worst ever. We put Lucas to bed.. and it was nice watching your usual 'year in review' comedy event on the BBC along with singing from Albert Hall.. but we both crashed into bed just after midnight.

Naturally, New Year's was another excuse for the locals to go crazy with their firework, transforming downtown Banbury into a warzone once more.

We were rather sad and depressed after that, thankfully my workmate Jimmy came to the rescue and cooked us an amazing New Year's day feast that was un...be...leave...abull**.

Jimmy had managed to cook a five-course dinner all by himself. He's the kind of guy who realises at the last minute that there isn't any tartare sauce to go with the prawns... so he just makes it himself from scratch in under three minutes.

Entree was vegetable soup, followed by crab in filo pastries, followed by a salmon roulade with prawns. We also had some bacon-rolled olives for nibblies.

Main was lamb provencal.. cooked to perfection (i.e. not too French). Dessert was ...some chocolate fudgy cakey cherry thing.

All washed down with a bottle of Sauternes, followed by a bottle of Bordeaux, with some Champagne to finish it off.

And to top it all off, Lucas got a nice present as well.

Cheers to you Jimmy, for a superb and memorable evening!!




**Makes sense if you've seen 'The Adventures of Ford Fairlane'

Christmas in London

So we travelled to South London for Christmas at my brother's. Nat was worried that perhaps this Christmas would be somewhat lacking compared the feasts we have had in years past. Thankfully, she was proved wrong!

Michael's friends from Switzerland, Mark and Troy, came over and cooked up an absolute storm. A turkey so big you think its mother had been rogered by an omnibus**, and a big fat juicy ham to boot. Michael's work friend Delphine also served up some fastastic entree nibblies... we ate so much and we ate well. Nicole also came for lunch/dinner and Anthony dropped in as well.

Lucas loved all the attention and he was completely hyper by the end of dessert.

I didn't eat too much, but certain other members of my family may have had eyes too big for their stomachs and over-indulged.



Lucas' first ever Christmas tree.. hmmm.. shiny! OK so it was an inflatable Christmas tree but the concept is still the same.



Lucas is enjoying his 'Superman' phase.




The calm before the storm.. and Lucas opening his first ever Christmas presents.












**the joke is from Blackadder

Christmas Eve - Banbury

Banbury (like most towns in England) comes awash with Christmas lights along all the main streets. Christmas lights make far more sense in the winter when it gets dark at 4 pm. I'm a real Christmas grinch but I must say that it's far easier to get into the Christmas spirit when it is dark, cold and wet.

Maybe Australians should celebrate Christmas in July.

It's been a while

For those who don't know, we've been battling useless English telecommunications companies and dodgy wiring.

Our BT modem blew on the 12th December, and it took them until the 3rd of January!!! for them to send a replacement.

Then our computer died just before Christmas.

Thankfully a friend lent me an old Pentium III from work. I transferred the files and this machine was activated on the 26th December.

This machine died last week.

Putting two and two together, it seems highly likely that the voltage from our wall outlet is extremely dodgy (as we've blown a few lamp globes from this socket as well). This is despite having a 'surge protector' power board in place.

I bought a replacement power supply for our computer on Friday. Our home PC is now up and running again, from a different wall socket.

So, normal service has been resumed... for the moment.