England is a country rife with tradition & local custom, which gives rise to some fascinating events — I’ve written before about the tar barrel running in Ottery St Mary before, and alluded to but not gotten around to writing about the cheese rolling race at Coopers Hill in Gloucestershire.  In May I was lucky enough to be invited to Padstow, in Cornwall, for another distinct local gem — the Mayday ‘Obby ‘Oss Festival.

Mitch & Bill from our morris dancing team have been heading down to Padstow for years now …

It’s probably abundantly clear — because I clearly mentioned it several times — that back in December I was extremely fortunate to be able to get back to my hometown of Adelaide and spend a few weeks there, soaking up the sun and spending time with friends & family.
Organising relaxing holidays has never been my special subject, and this was no exception: there were only 19 days or so available to catch up with everyone, and so the mission was timetabled rigorously.  At this point it should be obvious that …

And that, as they say, was the trip.
I’m presently parked in the BA lounge at JFK, having been dragged from my 9:00 flight to the 18:00 one.  They offered me $800 by way of compensation for my trouble, and by smiling at the lady I managed to wangle a day pass to the lounge and a meal voucher too… so that rather solves the problem of what to do for the day.  Can’t say that it was a smooth ride in – the chauffeur car that my “hotel” organised was …

That was awesome.
So good to be back. Thanks to all of y’all: especially Bullfrog, Rebecca, and little Miss Callie.

I got interrupted from my top ten this morning by an airport cab driver who had the gall to arrive early, and my laptop’s currently checked into a baggage hold somewhere so I can’t finish it…
So I’m sitting waiting now for my flight to Jackson, Mississippi to board. This’ll be the first time I’ve been back to Meridian since summer camp out at Camp Binachi in 1996. Really looking forward to seeing Bullfrog, Patsy, Cindy, Tony, Ranger Bill, and whoever else we run into, and going for a trip out …

I’m sitting in Aaron & Tanya’s kitchen, writing a blog post while we wait for the satellite TV guy to get his arse back down from the roof so we can jump in the car and go in to check , you’ll all be relieved to know.out what’s goin’ down in Seattle…
I arrived here yesterday, and it’s been great to have a chance to catch up with these two – I’ve not seen them in ages!  We managed to sneak a beer in pretty much instantly, you’ll all be relieved …

September? Yeah, that seems like an appropriate time to write about what we did in January!  It was bloody good fun though, as snowboarding always is.  This time, off in the frozen north of Sweden, in the town of Åre.  Whilst only about half way up the landmass of Sweden, it’s definitely the furthest north I’ve ever been, and its latitude helps to explain its snow-cover.  Unfortunately it’s got a little circle over the “A”, which I can’t figure out how to type without copy & pasting, so if it …

We went to Paris in May.  “We” is the trio of Bruce, Ange & myself.  We didn’t all start in the same place – I started in London, and Bruce & Ange started in Agen, the part of the south of France where they live.  I got to Paris before they did, so I had a bit of time to do some wandering around.  Paris is a city which lends itself to being wandered around, and before I knew it I’d wandered about 6 miles.
Anyway the interesting bit was that …

It’s worth mentioning that I’ve been making various attempts to write this post for months now.  You know those tasks that lurk on your To Do list but never seem to be toppled from it?  Well, that.  It’s now as much about me getting closure on the storytelling experience as it is about you reading it.  Probably more the former.  It’s certainly not relevant weather-wise, and my goal was to finish it before it once again became so.  Onward…
When we last left our intrepid heroes (in December) they were hurtling …

There’s something intrinsically depressing about British trains, I think. From the second you step on them you’re predestined for a gladiatorial territory dispute for a seat (frustration level adjusted based on whether you’ve paid for one in advance or not), and if/once your temporary empire is established, there’s always the lurking question as to whether you’re ever going to get to where you want to. Admittedly the answer is customarily “yes” – the variety comes in the number and pedigree of excuses you hear along the way.
Presumably this makes German …