Backblog

Hoi zäma, So it has been a year without much blogging; aplogies for that. Basically the as the years progress and being away from Australia gets to be more "normal", the intense desire to blog everything seems to have waned a bit

And life sometimes gets in the way of blogging. So just a quick update as to my situation:

Though most of you probably know, back in 2009 the crisis and various other internal issues meant that my job at Rolls Royce Fuel Cells was moved to the US Midwest. For various reasons, mostly a girlfriend in Germany, the move wasnt appealing. So after a few weeks in Aus for Xmas, the first time with Christina, I went to Weil am Rhein in the very southwest corner of Germany, just a stone's throw from Basel in Switzerland, and the French border. This is where Christina found work. During my 3 months there, I was looking for work in the area, and eventually had an offer from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, (interview on my first day in Germany, job approved and visa application started 3 months later). As an aussie without I could only stay in Europe for 3 months. I also started German langauge courses during this time. Most weekends were spent travelling back up to Wallerfangen, Christina's hometown, for various Carnival events and birthdays and so on. So we only had a bit of time to explore the local area - Alscace is 30 minutes northwest of us, the Schwartzwald (Black Forest) 30 mins northeast, and Switzlerland just to the south.

After 3 months I had to leave and go back to the UK where I had a residency permit, to await my visa application. Here I spent 2 months doing basically nothing! A bit of tourism, but also a bit of casual editing work, some more German learning, and catching up on lots of UK TV comedy. Thanks to a friend Michael, who was away, I could stay in his flat in Camden in London, went down to Cornwall for a week and stayed in the dodgiest but cheapest hotel ever, and then relaxed back in Hathern near Loughborough with my mates from the Hathern Band. I also managed to almost-break my elbow being a muppet on a bicycle.

Then I started work in July. We currently want our main residence to be together in Weil, so I commute twice a week from "Basel" to Winterthur - 2 hrs door to door, and stay over in a share house 3 nights a week in Winterthur. Not ideal, but the for the moment it is good. We both play in a local orchestra in Germany, and C has started to build some good friend networks from work, whereas I am spreading myself a bit thin for that with all the travelling and partial living.

And today we are off to Aus. Half our time is spent in Cairns with the family and only a short 6 days in Melbourne, where we are getting married! So lots of stress and things to do...

Anyway, I hope you all have a great New Year, and that we can catch up somewhere, sometime, soon!


And yes, the usual promises for more photos coming soon apply, when the wedding is over...

Weil am Rhein Altstadt - downtown, nestled amongst vinyards and 3 country borders

The famous Vitra chair factory is based here, and has become a center for industrial design, so its claim to fame is being the City of Stools

The new shop Vitra Haus designed by Herzog & de Meuron

The Museum designed by Frank Gehry

Weil am Rhein

Windmusic festival, complete with oversized comic instruments - Alphorn

Haut Koenigsburg, and a Stork, the symbol of Alsace, just 30 mins north of us

THe castle Haut Koenigsburg

Colmar

Colmar - the so called Venice of France (Alsace)

Christina and Julia

Engaged!

Hoi zäma,
as they say in Switzerland, where I'm now working and where they corrupt the German language to something unintelligible.

Big news is that I'm now engaged to Christina! We were on holiday in Sweden, and when visiting Lulea where we first met I asked her on bended knee with a reindeer-horn ring bought from a Lappland handicraft store. Good move with the temporary ring, because she isn't a ring erson a or a dreaming about the perfect engagement ring kind of person, so I had absolutely no idea what she would want or like. Turns out reindeer-horn was exactly what she wanted!

The picture of us is not from Sweden, but from a Sunday afternoon bike ride that was rudely interrupted by a wine festival in the next village (we didn't get very far).

I know there's only been 2 posts this year, but I promise I'm working on an update of pics from the last year, and possibly a name change and header change on the blog, in the next week or so, so keep tuned!

Ciao

Carnivals

Hi All, I promise more text soon, but in the meantime enjoy some pics of the 3 different carnivals I've been to on my Picasa albums, with links:

http://picasaweb.google.com/DrMrTerner/Carnival1Wallerfangen?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/DrMrTerner/Carnival2WeilAmRhein?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/DrMrTerner/Carnival3Basel?feat=directlink

Christmas in Aus Pics

Hi'yall,

Yes, many moons (including a blue one) have passed since last I've uploaded pics or written on this blog. So I've just gone and spent some time making a quickie photo album selection on Picasa for you to look at, without extensive comments, embellishments, or colour/contrast fixing or anything.

Enjoy!

So clicky on the linky below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=DrMrTerner&target=ALBUM&id=5429370600641143345&authkey=Gv1sRgCLWSkoj2jouDPQ&feat=email

Cousins of Cousins in Milano

So it's almost 3 months since the last post, and many photos taken, in charming cities like Paris, and Bradford(!), but while I take a quick break from job hunting (yes, I'm moving jobs and countries again), I thought I'd add some of the latest pictures from a long weekend spent in Milan.

Joyce, and Chris Munster (my cousin from Sydney)

The reason was simple, my cousin Chris from Sydney (1st cousin once removed) was in Vienna and then Milan visiting cousins of his (xth cousins, slightly removed). My other Chris(tina) also popped over and we spent most of the weekend just walking around the town, celebrating Haloween in an Indian restaurant (?) and seeing a bit of Lake Como and the Swiss Alps in the not-so-distance. Nice. So some pics:

The Pavia family: Joyce, Giorgio (Chris' Dad's cousin of some sort), and Alissa

Near the Swiss border (I think at Mt. Bisbino)

It was a long day for Chrstina who got up at 3.30 am to get there

As usual, more pics are on Picassa, so click on the link / pic below:

Milan & Chris(Munster) & Chris(tina)

Rufford Abbey & Lincoln Cathedral

Just a quick post from a trip up to Rufford Abbey, where an international ceramics exhibition was being held. Not much to really see at the Abbey, but there were some interesting ceramics on offer. I really had to wonder though about the Japanese guy selling chawan bowls for 1500... pounds each!! I though the price was in yen! They were rough cast, deformed and brown, I guess trying to capture the spirit of untamed earth. But in credit crunch times, I wonder how many he sold?


Lunch there was a disaster, really feeling like something out of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. I guess the canteen doesn't get much business and this weekend just swamped them, but despite the 8 or so staff in the kitchen, no food was coming out, what did come out in terms of full breakfast combinations wasn't right, no-one was in charge and everyone was flustered. Amazing stuff to watch. Then it was on to Lincoln, which has an impressive old town with lots of "old town" charm to it, and a pleasant few hours were spent walking the streets and checking out the cathedral which is very impressive. Some endagered peregrine falcons were nesting there, and telescopes were set up by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds so get a better glimpse than just the grey blob which can be seen with the naked eye.

Getting home I went to a bbq at Dave's house (hathern band conductor), which was an experience. No aussie bbq this, with the blokes chargrilling meat and barely a bit of green salad to be found. With Lesley Bentley's involvement it was guaranteed to be extremely organised, and within a minute of arriving at the house I found myself standing in front of a salad buffet table a beer in one hand and a sausage in the other. The bbq was tended to by Stephanie mostly, though later in the night an attempt was made to restart the fire by two other english 'blokes', but with limited success. It was a good night, and quite amusing.







For more pics, click on the link below:
http://picasaweb.google.de/DrMrTerner/RuffordAbbeyLincolnCathedral?feat=directlink

North Wales

Conwy Castle

May is a month of 2 Monday bank holidays, so Christina came to visit and we went on a quick excursion into North Wales. This almost didn't happen due to a bit of linguistic misunderstanding in Swenglish of when 'next weekend' actually was. I got that dum, de dum dum feeling when on the Wed before the weekend in question I asked her where she wanted to go she said there was another week to think about it so why worry now? A change of ryanair flights was still cheaper than the other alternatives that needed to be considered.

So she came and we went for a drive, staying a night in Llandudno, which is partly how I imagined a British seaside town to be. The city itself reminded me of old Aussie country towns, with a central grid of a couple of streets in Victorian style. What I liked about Llandudno was the curvy, hilly streets around it, which always adds a bit of interest for me. There was also what I guess is a typical beachside pier with small shops and amusements and such, all a bit naff and tacky. Yay! Finally some naff seaside amusements!



On the way back, middle of Wales, drove we did. Passing the mountains of Snowdon - the highest in Wales at 1085m, and taking a quick stroll to the Fairy Falls. Very nice, and can easily see why this area is popular for camping and quiet country retreats.

For more pics, click here or on the graphic below:

North Wales