Ohh,,,,,The Weather Out Side Is Frightful

View of Sydney Harbor Bridge for the 1st time!

It has been some time since I last wrote a message and quite a lot is going on at the moment which is partially why it has taken so long, the other part mostly laziness.

So big news on this side of things is that Niamh and I have bought a house, well, are in the process of.  We have finally after many years of renting managed to get our act together to save up and find a house we both really like.  Without boring anyone to much about the Irish housing market, prices have dropped considerably from the peak of 2007 down approximately 35-40 %.  Although no one knows when it will stop dropping we have decided to purchase after 2 years of falling prices. So even though prices may continue to fall we have found the house we want and don't plan on moving any time soon, which means that we should be safe from any negative equity issues.  We had a chance to go back and visit the house again since our offer was accepted and we are very happy with the decision we have made.  Anyone wanting to see some info about it can select this link Our House.

The strange thing is that the process of bidding and winning the house was done while I was over in Australia for Brooks wedding.  I do have to thank my lovely wife for taking care of everything while I was away.  The wedding was really great and I had such an amazing time catching up with everyone in Auss.

Bit of Nando's

Everything kicked off with Brooks buck weekend extravaganza.  Friday night, was a night in and then Saturday was October feast in the city proceeded by a night out in town.  Friday boys night in consisted of playing pool, cards and a kick ass sound system all within the confines of "Man Land".  Yes, you read that correctly, this was a carefully constructed area of Brooks' house that had been prepped for such event and let me just say,,, it delivered.  I proceeded to live in man land in the week leading up to the wedding and shared this room with some other mates who were in town for the celebrations/wedding.

After a weekend of catching up with the boys in Auss, I must say I was feeling a little under the weather.  It is safe to say that I don't have the stamina that I used to in my early years.  After the buck was finished I was picked up on Sunday night by my old buddy Grantus to crash at his for a few days.  In preparation his lovely wife Donna had cooked us dinner and invited a friend over.  I was in no state to be sociable and couldn't even eat so had to spend most of my time apologizing.  (Not good)

The wedding was on Sat and it ended up being a sunny but windy day.  Everything ran smoothly and I really enjoyed to opportunity to take part and stand beside Mr Brooksy on his big day.  The most responsibility I had on the day was to tie the ribbon onto the cars, other than that it was pretty much smile pretty and take it all in which I did gladly.

Grant and I

After the wedding activities were all said and done I headed towards Sydney for the second week along with Grant.  Fortunately for me Grant grew up in Sydney and was able to show me around the main highlights and around his old neighborhood which I heard so much about.  We stayed at his sisters place which was along the north beaches of Sydney and it had an amazing balcony with great views of the sea.  Leanne was a great host and one of my highlights was ski surfing (like kayaking) in the ocean and seeing some whales up close while out there, very cool.

Rupert and Eden

I also took the opportunity to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in a very long time.  I caught Holly (London buddy) and her man Charlie in the airport in Sydney as she was heading back to Cairns. Short but sweet catch up and it was great to finally meet Charlie.  Then I moved onto Rupert and Sara and there two very cute and well behaved kids.  I managed to crash over one night with the fam and then we spent one morning together and headed to the infamous Bondi beach where they live.  Got loads of good vibes from that loving family!  Lastly I caught up with Prue who I hadn't seen in years.  We used to flat share back in London days and have managed to keep in touch after many years.  It was great to see her in a happy place with her new family as well even though I didn't get to meet them (next time hopefully).

So big trip over and done with, now focus is on house and getting things like beds and sofa sorted so that we are not sleeping on the floor.  I have also had a bit of a change at work and as of January I will be working for the parent company of Fronter, which is Pearson.  Great opportunity for me and I am really looking forward to this new role. Plus I get to be a Director, I am officially the Director of Europe K-12, Pearson Platforms.  Let's see if I can live up to such a title.

So many exciting changes ahead at the moment and the weather is changing which means Christmas is just around the corner.  Until next time...........