Meeting all kinds of people and doing all kinds of stuff in the 'sunny' city of Leiden. Food, seeing the sights, windmills, being the Karate Kid and generally doing things with other people.

A quick visit to meet Jenny's horse Peggy at her stables near London. Neigh lassie. I also got to ride her which is something I haven't done in many many years.

Popping out during a weekend staying with Gideon and Jenny to have some Sushi and stuff.

A productive weekend spent at Dunk's house decorating his lounge in paper and paint. Tons of fun, good company, a learning experience and a large amount of free curry. Damn, some of it was HOT!

The weekend of the main move of Shaun and Linda into their stunning new house. Heavy lifting a-plenty!

This is the wedding of Gideon and Jenny in Bath Spa. Being one of the bridesmaids (don't ask, the best man was a woman) and responsible for some of the organisation, Elaine and I travelled up on the Friday and booked in to the hotel. The day was great, the occassion splendid and the food at the reception really quite marvellous. Aside from helping two of my favourite people get married I got to catch up with a lot of friends I haven't seen in a while. The only down-side was not always being able to remember the names of the relatives!

Vicky, Nicky and their little newborn son Benjamin decided to have a little barbecue and alcohol-tasting thingy one Sunday evening. While I didn't indulge in the wine tasting, or beer tasting I did go with the whisky one and very much appreciated the types on offer. Getting a taxi there and back with six other people may not have been the most cost-effective way to do it, but it was a very pleasant way to do it.

Geoff, Shelly and Rhys (and others) came to town for the bank holiday and we ended up messing around on the grass telling the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears to Rhys before going shopping for a while.

An afternoon of relaxation and (you guessed it) more poi and juggling fun with close friends and small boys with water. Also Shaun and Linda's son, Tom.

"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.

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.