Postcard from London #18

Gday All

There's been a bit going on since last I wrote so I figured it was
time to get back in touch.

Well, as you heard from Hol, we had a good time in Munich for the
Oktoberfest from the 18th September. It was my first experience of
being in a country where English isn't the primary language and I
found it quite daunting to start with. I did cope better with it as
the trip went on although I never really did come to terms with them
driving on the wrong side of the road. All the sterotypes of the
Germans as being a very efficient, officious people were reinforced by
the trip. The train service there is very reliable and clean but I
managed to get honked at by a train for being too close to the edge of
the platform and was then shouted at in German by the grumpy little
lady who was monitoring things. Fortunately Hol also managed to get
told off by a shopkeeper for using the shop's toilets so I wasn't
alone in getting into trouble.

We went to a little shop in Dachau where there was a rather
unfortunate looking checkout chick (can you still call them that when
they're aged in their late 30s?). She had a bizarre haircut which
appeared to have originated in the early 80s and someone had stolen
her eyebrows. She'd try to draw them back on in the hope that no one
would notice they were missing but didn't do a very convincing job of
it. I figured she must have been an East German who didn't know any
better.

We went to the Dachau Concentration Camp only to find that it is
closed on a Monday so we couldn't get in. Munners managed to cut his
elbow on the barbed wire whilst trying to see over the wall.
Eventually we came across an open gate and wandered inside. We were
asked to leave and so all the others did rather promptly. Naturally
I'd wandered off a bit further than the others and I think they found
it disconcerting to see the gates shut behind them while I was still
in there.

Of course you've heard about Hol's adventures after I flew back. She'd
given me her big winter coat to carry with me to save her from having
to do it the next day but had forgotten that she'd put her passport in
the pocket. Considering I didn't see her wear the coat the whole time
we were there I'm not sure why it ended up in a pocket but that's
life. As I was leaving I said to Hol that it would be rather ironic if
the weather suddenly turned bad now that she'd sent her coat home with
me... and so it came to pass that the weather turned really cold and
she was stuck there for two extra days without a warm coat. Still,
she survived and managed to make it home ok in the end.

We did come across a couple of celebrities whilst in one of the beer
tents at the fest. Boris Becker was probably the most well known one
but there was also DJ Otzi (who was responsible for that awful 'Hey
Baby.. Ooh Ahh' song) and a local model called Verona.

All in all Germany was very nice and we had a fantastic time.

Then last weekend I got up at 4.45am (along with the other guys) to
get to the Walkabout Pub to watch the AFL grand final live. Bouncedown
was at 5.30 so it was a struggle to get there in time to see it. It
was a great game with some good blues and the only downside was seeing
Port Arrogant win the game. From there we headed off to The Oval to
watch the final of the ICC Championships between England and the
Windies. It was a fairly ordinary game which became brilliant towards
the end as the Windies fought back to win a game which looked all
over. It was my first one day international so I was quite excited to
get there.

Back on the home front, we're getting towards the end of our lease and
will most likely have to move in the next few weeks. Of course, Hol is
back in November so it looks like she'll return to a new abode.
Hopefully we'll be able to find something close to the standard to
what we have at the moment.

Probably not much else to tell at the moment so it's hoo roo for now.

Take care all
Love
Dave