Sydeny Vancouver London Dublin Paris

I'm in Vancouver and I should be in London. It's been snowing in London and that doesn't seem to agree with Heathrow so my flight was canceled and I'm stuck in Vancouver.  NOTE: if you ever get stuck somewhere then this is the place to do it. It`s a very cool town and I`m fortunate to have some wonderful mates who live here. I`ve been staying with Judy and Denis in Yaletown and they are the perfect hosts and great friends and Den took me to see the Cannucks beat Columbus on Wed night which is always a blast. I`ve also had a chance to meet some new staff in our Vancouver office and hang out with Joe and Rich and Steve and Agnes all week while we work through the past and future of the business. So all good at work.

I enrolled in the Busselton Iron Man (south of Perth, Western Australia) this week which is a 3.8km ocean swim, followed by a 180km bike ride and finished with a 42.2km run. It`s my first Iron Man. The event takes place on 4th December 2011 and this is your invitation to make your way to Busso and cheer me and the other competitors along. I suspect I`m going to need a fair bit of encouragement as the event unfolds. It`s a personal goal which is going to take me all of 2011 to prepare. I know some folks who have done one (or more) and they`re all still standing . . . .

2010 has been fun. The kids are all growing up.  Jade married Bala and they`re living in London and loving it and each other. Yanni has moved out of home (well done mate) and we miss him but love the fact that he`s doing his thing.  Pascale has been to Japan and England and is now managing the cafe (Sejuiced) in the Pavilion at Bondi Beach where everyone loves her and Etienne is on a long, long summer break from University and no doubt enjoying having his parents out of his way for 6 weeks.

Genevieve is in London waiting for me to join her. We`re having a summer-winter adventure. I`m working in London this week (when I get there), then we head off to Ireland where we have 3 weeks visiting friends and family (my family not Gene`s) and driving around in the cold. While we`re there we going to Angela and Enda`s wedding (stay tuned for the Irish blog) on New Year`s Day in Cong in County Mayo, which is going to be a big deal for two reasons: 1. they`re great mates of ours and 2. neither of us has been to Ireland before. We`re spending Xmas with Angela`s family in Mullingar and then we`ll visit the Stankards in Mayo, before heading up to the wedding. So we`re both excited about that. We leave Ireland for London where I have a few meetings and then we head down to Paris to stay with Robert, Sylvie and Marina which again will be great fun.  From Paris it`s back to London for more work for a week, then off to 3 days in Singapore and finally back to summer in Bondi. Life and leisure aside our business (ProActive ReSolutions) has had a great year and the plans for 2011 and beyond are exciting and busy.

That`s about it for me on this short and largely uninteresting blog. From hereon in for the next few weeks it`s all about the travel.  I`ll stay alert and do my best to chronicle events as they unfold. Finally as a bonus I get to see Raine at lunch time tomorrow whom I haven`t seen for quite a while. The problem there is she lives on the other side of the planet, so more regular coffee is hard to do.  And Geoff tells me we won the cricket - always helpful before landing in England.   Till Ireland ... J