Sayonara Sydney, Bye Bye Brisbane and Hello UK

Sorry for the delay in making my next entry. Leaving Australia and arriving in the UK in a semi-organised fashion has been a full time job. It began on 2 September 2005 when I finished up at the PGA after 2.5 years in the Sydney headquarters. I was completely blown away by the generosity of my work mates in sending me off with a fine lunch and an assortment of gifts. In fact througout my last week in Sydney I was treated to lunches and dinners and special thanks goes to Toddy and Kristin for Sunday Roast, Hinesy and Shuri for a quality Japanese feed, Sanjib Morgan and the guys from Team America for Sanjib's 'wold' famous 'Donkey Ghosht'. All i can say is "Durka, Durka, Durka."

My last day at the PGA was followed by my 30th Birthday weekend. This involved watching my rugby team win the minor premiership (I was sidelined with injury) on Saturday, dinner for about twenty at Tre Scalini's in East Sydney and then yum cha at Sea Treasure in Crows Nest with my sister Jane and Dad's cousin Phil on Sunday.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of these activities, however, the personal highlight for me was beginning my weekend with a romantic dinner for two at Wildfire on circular quay on Friday night with the loveliest girl I have ever met. For the sake of privacy I will keep her name out of my diary, but she knows who she is and how much she means to me.

My last activity before leaving Sydney was to lunch at Bondi Icebergs before walking from Bondi to Coogee with my sister Jane. It was great to have a good long yarn to my sister who will be returning to live in Japan at the end of September. I wish her the best of luck and thank my brother Richard and his partner Stuart for ensuring that she could make it down from Brisbane for my 30th celebration.

My almost two week stay in Brisbane was extremely hectic to say the least: lunches with relatives, dinners with friends, physotheraphy appointments for a torn hamstring, wisdom teeth extractions, weddings, Gold Coast sanity visits all squeezed in and around as many catch ups with my lovely new girlfriend that I could possibly arrange.

I am very sorry I could not spend more time with my parents during this time. I know they were dissappointed but I could not have done any more in such a limited amount of time without offering myself as a radical experiment in human cloning. In any event, I hope that any short term dissappointment is soon overshadowed by pride in what what I am trying to achieve by studying for an MBA in the UK.

I arrived in London at 5.30am on Wednesday 21 September 2005 and made my way to Lavender Hill where I am staying with my old law firm mate, Phil Davis. It is very nice to be in a part of London that I am familiar with and it was quite easy for me to walk to Michael Bruderlin's Battersea pad for a great dinner with him and Michael Schmidt last night. Yesterday was spent cruising around Clapham including some sunning in Clapham Common. The weather has been very mild so far and it is still daylight saving here. I will savour it while it lasts.

That is enough from me. The next entry will be from my new home in Oxford from where I will be able to report on Niamh and Andy's wedding in Dunkeld, Scotland this weekend.