Kris and I took off on the train and bikes to Scotland, just a few dozen miles south of Edinburgh, for the week. We stayed in a fantastic place called Barns Tower just outside of the town of Peebles. Cue a large amount of excellent cycling, wonderful walking and even some time to just relax and read without interruptions from phones and computers. Bliss! It only rained a few times too, and we never got soaked. Much kudos to Kris for carrying two heavy panniers on a much heavier bike than mine!

Cormac and Steph turned 30. This seemed like a good idea for a party. 16 of us (and one small child) descended on a large white house in Salcombe, Devon for a week. There was cooking, drinking, running, kayaking, golf (apparently) and lots of wandering around and looking at things in wonderful weather.

Kris' parents came to see us and, being from out of the country, wanted to see something of the British countryside. We settled on staying in the Cotswolds and heading to (among other places) Blenheim Palace.

Kris and I took advantage of the long Easter weekend to hire a car and drive to the Cotswolds and a lovely Vivat Trust property in a sleepy village called Shipton-under-Wychwood. There was lots of cooking, a restaurant trip par excellence, cycling up and down actual hills for once and picnics galore (with attendant ducks). What's more it barely rained once!

Kris and went to Paris! Ostensibly this was to reset her tourist visa, but it turned out she still had three months left on it. No matter as we needed the holiday. We saw pretty much everything the city has to offer (the Louvre, the islands, the Seine, Notre Dame, the catacombs, went shopping, ice-cream, churches, all the Quarters, the Eiffel Tower and all on foot too!) Interesting, a chance to see lots of things and talk about more. Definitely a really rather good time on all counts.

Kris was spending some time in China, researching her Ph.D, teaching to get free accommodation and generally using her time usefully. Given she speaks/reads/writes Mandarin and knows an awful lot about China we figured it'd be the very best time for me to come and visit her and China. Especially as we both needed a holiday.

Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Yangshuo and back to Beijing again. Some fabulous hotels, amazing archeological and historical sites, lots of people (LOTS of people) and some truly astounding scenery. Not to mention some lovely company.

Stowe Gardens in Buckinghamshire. Rather a strange collection of buildings-as-art. Lovely weather though, and fabulous company.

A whole load of us (and Kris, who was over at the time) headed off to Porlock in Somerset to stay at (take over) a hotel on the coast. Walking, running, supporting the local economy buy buying lots of produce from the village shop, murder mystery parties on trains, hiring a whole cinema, kiting, horse riding, falconry, cycling, drinking, cooking, croquette, football (of a sort), pass the parcel, games console playing and all kinds of other things I don't recall were the order of the week.

I believe we also celebrated two birthdays at some point, too.

I got a new front door. It was about time as the last one had holes in it. Seriously. This one looks fabulous. It's not the colour I'd envisaged for it but it's close enough and I already love it.

Oh and the locks on it are very nice.

I headed on over to the Big Apple to see Kris. Cue a week and a bit of Central Park wandering, meals out, exploration of the city, walking a duck down 5th Ave, seeing Avenue Q performed on Broadway and a trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

"Ah, Boston in the Fall..." Well with Jenny out there for the next year or so I thought now would be the time to take advantage of a friendly face to show me around. It also being Thanksgiving we took a very short trip to Cape Cod to see what the place was like out of season. The answer: brilliant, cold, windy, deserted, wonderful. Also, this collection contains penguins, autumnal colours, climbing, a squirrel and vague attempts at being vaguely arty, vaguely.