Snow!

About a whole month late, but it's here. All of it, and all at once. This is definitely the first time I've trudged through powder wearing a suit. The news websites are not quite sure whether this is the biggest single snowfall in 6 years or 18 (to be confirmed at some point I expect, probably once it stops snowing). Either way it is lots of fun. Yippeee

My favourite is the guy on the right (daffodil eyes, turnip nose and string beans for hair, on closer inspection)

M

Sweet moves on the ice

After we each made blink-and-you-miss-it visits home for 2 weddings and freely available beaches, mussels and sunshine - there was going to have to be a fairly good next adventure waiting back in the UK.

I'm not sure how well it matched up against the beach but ice skating on the outdoor rink at Somerset House definitely offered more scenic surroundings than my one and only other ice skating attempt - at 'Paradice' in Auckland aged 14. I'm not sure my technique has improved any but the good old mulled wine afterwards was a definite improvement. Paradice, if you're listening, this could be a go.

M

Christmas in London

Finally a chance to see what everyone's been talking about - the Oxford St Christmas lights and shop displays ... (depressingly, the above photos were taken at 4.45 on a Sunday afternoon).

Despite the number of people telling me that Christmas "just makes sense in the Northern Hemisphere" it's strange how long it's taken to get into the Christmas spirit here. The lack of sunshine has made me realise that all my Christmas reference points involve long summer evenings and warm weather. However - better late than never - Christmas sprit belatedly arrived at about 7pm on Christmas Eve at Christmas carols at the Royal Albert Hall with the Mozart Festival Orchestra (and a fantastically heavy-handed organist), followed by a midnight service at St Pauls. We sleepily trudged off to bed via some mulled wine and Christmas mince pies. Mulled wine definitely makes more sense over here.

Then on Christmas Day came the inaugural British Christmas dinner taste test. After enduring what has felt like weeks of jibes from UK workmates about what "Antipodeans" eat at Christmas time (apparently we stand around a BBQ in shorts and jandals pushing burnt sausages around the hotplate) I was ready to test the "true Christmas" fare of brussel sprouts, turkey and pigs in blankets. Despite very much wanting to find fault with these most British of Christmas institutions, Regan cooked up a storm and so now I will have to resort to teasing my workmates using that other fail-safe option - the weather.

Merry Christmas everyone

M (S is currently in NZ sampling lamb and sunshine)

Taniwha v Dragon

We took the opportunity of the All Blacks taking on Wales in Cardiff to head to Wales for the first time.

The city pulled out all the stops for the test match and the influx of New Zealand fans. We were made to feel welcome wherever we went by knowledgeable local rugby fans.

And what a ground - the Millenium Stadium was filled to capacity with Welsh hymns reverberating around around the stadium as the crowd tried to rouse their boyos to victory (although to no avail).

On the Sunday we took a train up into the Welsh valleys and went wandering around the base of the Brecon Beacons at Abergavenny.

Although (typically - we were told by modest locals) the weather was a bit dour, that didn't stop us engaging in some intrepid canal wandering.

Wales - a great place to visit with fantastic food (roast takeaway) and welcoming locals - we will be back.

S

Papists and pasta in Rome

Buon giorno Rome ! We spent a great 4 days in Rome. Already better than London simply by being warmer, after this trip, Rome for me beats Paris and even Berlin as a cool city to spend a few days in. And finally, after all those photos and postcards I finally got to see what the Colosseum looks like on the inside!

One of our first efforts was to try and beat the crowds at the Vatican early on a Friday. As someone more used to the relative austerity of Presbyterianism, the Vatican seemed hopelessly luxurious. Gold leaf everywhere and outrageously famous paintings appearing on every second wall. It was weird to realise that paintings I've seen in books are not only here on the wall - but are actually painted straight onto it. Still oddly like a palace though ..

Outside the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, it was time to visit the enormous St Peters Basilica. After trips to some impressive temples last year, and a couple of pretty decent mosques, I'd been thinking that members of other religions might not be all that impressed by what Christianity had been building. But St Peters is the motherlode - over a football field long (and almost as wide in parts) with enormous marble columns, and Michelangelo's Pieta tucked into the top corner. That was the weirdest thing about churches in Rome - an embarrassing display of incredible statues almost jostling for position.

Shaun has urged me not to be misleading so I will clarify that the above 2 pictures are of other churches in Rome, not St Peters. Breaking out of the churches, there were other things going on in Rome. In particular, our first day coincided with a massive street march and protest for something in Italian which we think had something to do with schools. It was certainly the first street protest I'd ever seen with happy balloons. There was also time to terrorise some pedestrians on a segway - and to perfect donuts and slaloms around streetlights.

In between visits there was a lot of pasta to be eaten, and weird kitschy Jesus babies to take photos of:

But to sign off , the last word goes to someone slightly better qualified than me (click to play):

M

Democracy - the next big thing

As I type this we're sitting up late watching the live coverage of the US Election results. Hopefully in about 12 hours Obama will be the new president of the US. However for some reason the papers over here have been a little bit less generous in their coverage of the upcoming clash between Helen and John. I did my bit (and so did Shaun - but he wasn't willing to be the poster boy for democracy) last weekend at the great retro New Zealand House.

M

[Go Jeanette!]