Ice Skating + Charlottenburg + Bing Crosby

Update: Work Christmas party photos

Hi Kids. Things are hectic leading up to Christmas, trying to cram as much work in before the quiet period. That is my excuse for still not having bought my family any christmas presents, written any cards or bought Mum a birthday present which is on Christmas Eve! Sorry Mum! We have had a few big weekends, Christmas parties with friends and with work, far too much excessive consumption. They start christmas parties at lunchtime over here and given that it gets dark at 4pm it is quite strange when you feel the urge to go home and pass out at 8pm. It has all conspired to make the working week drag on a bit, but it’s very exciting to be in London for Christmas for our second year. It’s a unique atmosphere and one we appreciate more every day, except for the fact that it is bloody cold. There are lots of markets in all the streets selling beautiful food, handmade gifts and christmas trees. Heaps of skating rinks have popped up around London, we went skating a couple of weeks back at Tower of London which was fun, not so much fun for the ankles. We’re headed to Scotland for Christmas with Fiona’s family on Friday night, as someone famous once sang: ‘i’m dreaming of a white christmas’. We went to Hamleys last weekend to buy a few presents. Pretty amazing place, very similar to FAO Schwarz in New York - think about the story from the movie ‘Big’. Five stories of very cool toys and lots of little tykes running around the place like crazy.
Post-christmas i’m heading to Berlin for a few days on my lonesome (couple of work mates pulled out, bastards, yes you). I’ve paid for an awesome apartment in Charlottenburg (West Berlin) and can’t wait to see the sights. Everyone tells me it is amazing, I can even speak a bit of German, don’t know how to order a beer yet, but i’ll touch up on that phrase before I go. Oh wait, I have no one to drink with, oh well. I’ve been applying frantically for World Cup Germany 2006 tickets over the last couple of weeks. Highly doubtful we will get any, but I have been a good boy and am hopeful Santa will deliver.
More travel in the pipeline. Fi and I are off to Paris for my birthday on the first weekend of January (hint hint), catching the Eurostar rail across the channel. We’ve also booked a trip to Amsterdam in February with Sarah, Sam and a group of their mates. Now when I come home and you ask me where I have been in Europe, I will actually have a response. New years eve about 20-30 of us are headed to a bar in Putney, on the Thames, to boogie all night long. Ow, ow and ow.
Happy Christmas and New Year. Remember it is not about the presents (thats what people who haven’t bought presents say).