Well thats the end of that. UK finished tomorrow and I shall then be (hopefully) resident in Canada! Had a lovely lunch on Friday with my colleagues, dinner with the family on Saturday and finished it off by flying my old 'Orbit' kite (See Right) with John B. Not sure how quick I shall be able to get a computer to kick off the Torono blog. But shouldn't be too long I hope! See you all on the other side!

Took the day to go to London to get a new passport. I decided to take the train and was surprised to see that the door handle is still on the outside only. Its been a while since I had to lean out of the window to open the door - it does seem stupid. Its a bit like us Brits having a hot and cold tap when all you really want is warm water. The passport office queried my photos of course - my head was wonky apparantly. Not much you can say to that really. My new passport has embedded technology that probably makes me visible to Inland Revenue satellite surveillance anywhere on the surface of the globe.

Once again as in every year all plans fell through. It was looking like a quite night in until village life comes through good once more. At 11pm I get a call inviting me to a party in someones 'playroom' above a garage - sounds alluring. Turns out of course to be a larger and more finely decorated apartment than I have ever lived in. Full of lovely people doing the usual drunk stuff - I returned the favour with some Russian dancing. This morning tis village tradition to do a long walk around the rolling Cotswolds countryside (See Right) where a dog called 'Jeeves' chased deer and 'Poppy' got stuck inside a bee hive.

Thought I might watch a film tonight - but couldn't decide which. So I just watched the best - 'The Godfather' ;)

Was in London for the Birthday party of Rebecca (See right with her sisters). We went to a nice bar in Soho where I had the chance to meet a good mix of 'fielders and Andy - an old uni friend. The next morning I took the train to London Bridge and walked the river to Victoria. This included a brief tour up St Pauls, Tate Modern, The Eye, Westminster (Big Ben), St James Park and finally Buckingham Palace.

Today I did the very last of my Xmas shopping and joined the Carol Singers of Stonesfield (I am well known for my angelic voice). As I write my father and his other Jazz minded fellows are jammin' downstairs.

It was my last day at work today for 2006 :) For the rest of this year the 'mornings' are somebody elses problem.

In a vain attempt to fix my telephone I have taken it apart. A piece of circuit board fell out the likes of which I have never seen before. I find that wedging a scredriver up the ass tends to make it charge now.

Taking it easy at the moment as I have a big night tomorrow at a party in Soho. So just exchanging Lily Allen songs with a Peruvian in Paris.

This weekend I finally decided to go and do some Xmas shopping in Oxford. To make the experience less difficult I took JB with me. Managed to get just about what I wanted and to make things more interesting JB used his University influence to get us into the 'Divinity Room'. Oxford is full of lovely little places like this that are largely off limits.

On Sunday Lydia kindly took me for a little walk about with her horse (Stanley I think his name was?) - See Right.. I have never ridden before and found it to be 1)Very High 2) Cool to see the ears from behind 3) Bouncy. A few weeks back Ian explained to me how to bounce with the horse when trotting so you don't look like an idiot - I should have listened a bit harder!

This morning the neighbours car rolled down the hill and parked itself accross the entrance to the driveway as I was reversing my car out. As I was sizing this up in my rear view mirror he knocked on my window to apologise (He left the handbrake off). I thanked his wife for feeding my cat. Village life!

Filled the car with 99 octane gas and spent the evening trying to get the back out in deepest darkest Oxfordshire. Watched another crap film The Amityville Horror. Yet another remake of 'The Shining'. This time 03:15 was the 'spooky time'. It was 02:06 in 'Hide and Seek'. In the good old days it was just midnight (Glemlins and the Candyman).

My Dj friend lends me a great album called 'Electric Calm'. Excellent ambience.

Today it seems my last and only mobile phone is falling apart - leaving me with nothing. The 'Smartphone' that I purchased 6 months ago to replace my higher brain functions is performing just like my conventional mind. It is now stuck in 'Flight Mode' (See Right) and refuses to remember anyones name or number. Worse, it makes no calls. My remaining phone has only a French charger which I have desperately wedged into a shaver socket in the hope of picking up that all essential 240V~. It appears to work (Top tip for all you returning expats)

At least the Bimmer is proving more reliable as once again it scrapes through the MOT cleaverly using mud and roadkill to conceal the lesser functioning aspects to the mechanic.

Completed the first of what I hope will be three visits to London before Xmas. This time was to see Gavin and Sam in the lovely Eastend. This is the first time I visited and felt I would like to live there - before I never really saw the attraction. Bobbed into the British Mueseum to see the reading room (Right) and lots of Egyption stuff, then Soho and Trafalgar square. Thanks guys - enjoyed that!

Tomorrow the car goes in for the MOT - I'm sure I look after my motor more than I look after myself.

So now I have my first taste of my new home for the next year or so - Toronto. It was a business visit but I still managed a little excursion downtown to see the CN Tower. Didn't go right to the top but stopped on the observation tower to get a long exposure of the city lights (See Right). My god is this place cold when the wind blows (and it always blows). I confidently left the hotel lobby to wait for a taxi in the morning sun. Minus 7 and a stiff breeze sent me back inside pretty quick. Going to need some serious winter ware I think.

I was very happy with my Limo driver who met me at arrivals. I don't know how but he spotted me - smiled, screwed up his little sign and said 'lets roll' - fellow Essex boy!

Well another of my dreams will come true. I always wanted to be greeted at airport arrivals by someone holding a sign with my name on it - this should happen next friday morning. My other dream was to walk along the Thames to work and I achieved this a few years ago. This pretty much completes my immediate career asperations.

Watching 'Miami Vice' the movie at the moment and think its such a shame that they missed the whole point of the film. Thumping soundtrack, fast cars and chics everywhere is all you need. Convoluted storylines are not necessary. However, as it features the new 3 series Coupé (my car just 10 years younger) I'll let it off!

Couldn't sleep last night owing to the combined sounds of high winds and my cat fighting the neighborhood beneath my window. A quick inspection of her this morning confirms to me once more she is still the daddy on my street.

Woke again at 6:00am to begin my trek to work. This morning was a mixture of wildlife dodging and crossing flooded roads to meet Andraz and Paul for the car share to work. Its my turn to drive this week - so no more sleeping in the back. Still - I get to inflict my music upon them.

Spent the weekend with an old friend. He is trying to sell his house and has recruited a house doctor to help him with the obvious and me to install a pelmet. In order to get a good price he must make everthing a kind a creamy colour and then hide when people come to visit. He took me for a ride on his motorbike (See Right) which I think is the first time I have done nearly a tonne whilst clinging to anyone.

Upgraded the graphics drivers for my PC on Friday and have spent most of Sunday fixing the untold damage this caused. Take heed my advice and remove existing display drivers before installing new ones. That is if you ever want to watch a DVD again.

I have been thinking a lot recently to a mathemtical puzzle from a book I read some time ago called "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time". Here is the puzzle (It took me a while to find it on the internet - its called the 'Monty Hall' problem)

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

For those of you clever enough to realise that it doesn't make a difference - your actually wrong. To find out why click here. The solution is fantastically complicated.

Just got back from the Engagement party of Roz and Simon (See Right) in Manchester. I must admit that I am warming to the North of England - its really nice! The party was great fun and I got to meet Simon and all of Roz's uni friends who are really cool people. I learned all about 'Bear Culture' and discussed the likeyhood of fish feeling pain with a lovely vegatarian girl (although she eats fish).

I got the chance to meet Lydia again too. I drove her home (she lives not far) in exchange for the promise of a horseride through Oxfordshire - so watch this space!