everything is as it should be

So, I've caved and spent US $20 on some extra storage space from Picassa, which means that I can now upload to Look out London again. Not so crucial for this blog as our time in London draws to an end, but quitting on this site would mean not being able to upload to Nate's site, and it was all getting a bit messy so I've upgraded and now have to wait 24 hours to get my 10 gig extra space. So, be patient, the photos and travel stories will follow, all in due time.

Today's adventures were at the Libyan Embassy where we went to simply pick up our visas which as you know, had already been approved. When we got there however we had to fill out three lengthy visa application forms (because we were applying for a visa which had already been approved - perfectly logical), submit more passport photos and of course, pay. So, our visas which have been approved are not ready today, but tomorrow, at 3pm where we will line up once again. Something we're going to have to get used to if we're going to and may be the difference between us sinking or swimming in Libya.

doctor benny saves the day

We are a family of bloggers, but definitely the most blog-savvy is my brother Ben who has come to my rescue and set up a new blog for me to post all the photos from our travels. So, from now on read on at www.pinchyourselfdaily.blogspot.com.

Phew! Life can resume as normal! Have a bit to catch up on but with 40 minutes until the internet cafe closes I'll do my best ... oh and we got our visas, but you'll read that later.

Aurevoir!

the end is nigh

Aaaagghhh! My world has come to an end! Blogger have told me that in order to continue uploading photos to my blog I have to buy image space though Picassa. Not sure how much this costs but Croatia wont even let me upload the program to check! I knew we shouldn't have come to Croatia!

So, until I can sort out the program we'll have to just upload text and then photos when we get home. Sigh ...

Trust us. It's spectacular here.

blog roll

Dear readers,
I've decided to include some links on our blog and thought I'd introduce each of them to you.

What strikes me with the personal blogs is that Woz or I have grown up with most of these people and yet if we look at their lives now they barely show a resemblance.

In alphabetical order ...

Doctor Benny's Rural Adventures - My not so baby brother's adventures in rural Victoria as he studies to become a Doctor. This boy leaves nothing unblogged!

Kiwis on Top - Friends and fellow Londoners, Andrew & Vicki are Kiwis who flew the nest to spend 5 years in Melbourne and are now living in London. Enviable photography.

Live the Dream - a site set up when we were selling our boat. Photos and some commonly asked questions if you want to get up to speed with our life on the water without reading the last three years posts on this site!

Oh Paky Day - A blog set up by our dear friend Claire to keep us informed of the goings on in Pakenham. Guaranteed to make us truly homesick with every post. (No doubt this blog is financed by my parents).

Top End Time - Probably the strongest contrast to our life so far, (and her own growing up), Woz's sister Michelle's adventures in Northern Australia. A constant source of inspiration to us to reinvent our life.

Right here, right now - The great British weather.

Weatherheads Online - Written by my Mum this blog gives the Irwins a run for their money and provides me with daily reminders of what my life was like growing up. Look out for the snakes (killed by Mum with her bare hands), goannas, echidnas, steam engines and sawmillers and join them on their caravaning escapades in the Australian bush.

google us

Since we created our live the dream site I have installed a hit counter on it, mainly so that we could monitor the site and see if anyone was looking at it and if we were getting any returning visitors.

On setting it up I thought I might as well do the same for our personal blogs, so tonight Woz and I decided to have a butchers (to use an English expression) at some of the statistics and found some very funny results.

Key word searches in Google which have led people to our site in the last month:

• banksy
• london snow march
• london weather in march 2006
• how to say st pancreas
• st pancras renovation
• st pancras international
• st pancras inside
• boring (how dare they!)
• bruges canal by narrowboat
• dishes prepared during christmas in london
• london fireworks display new years eve 2007
• boxing day going out london
• copenhagen fireworks video "new years eve"

and our favourite, 'romantic dinner london' in which we made it to number 2 of 263,000!

Who says that romance is dead after six years of marriage?!

life as we know it

We've been offline for several weeks now and tonight for the first time are back on. I'm like a kid at Christmas time, not knowing which site to look up first or which e-mail to read. My mood has lifted 100% and Woz and I can now breathe a sigh of relief that life has once again returned to normal.

Over the last few weeks we've had to resort to such archaic methods of banking as queueing up and talking to an actual person, had to surf channels randomly on the TV and as a result ended up watching loads of rubbish because our online TV guide wasn't accessible, had absolutely no idea what was going on with our friends overseas as we realised that the way we kept in touch with their daily lives was to read their respective blogs of an evening and had to call or text friends in London rather than talk to them via messenger. Can you imagine?!

comment to your hearts content!

I have decided to change the settings on this blog to allow anyone to comment on the posts. Initially I set it up so that you had to be a registered member of blogger to make a comment thinking that it might help in filtering spam comments, but with all the millions of blogger users out there I don't really think this is an issue.

So ... if you happen to be reading this blog and have the time to comment please do so. We'll receive an e-mail in our inbox telling us you've left a comment and we'd love to hear from you!

7˚ C

Not sure if this story will make the headlines today in Oz but in tonight's news we learned that the Prince of Wales has joined the bloggers union and has started up his very own video blog. It shows a typical day for the Prince starting at 8.30am in his office, before heading off for a grueling schedule of meeting and greeting the commonfolk, sharing witty anecdotes and shaking hands. Not unlike my day really and I think the Prince will be surprised to learn he has some competition on his hands if he thinks the British public are going to warm to him and to his site. He may have millions of pounds and a team of professional web designers on his side but who could compare with the exciting lives we lead over here at Look out London, whose entries have become decidedly more lengthy since my becoming a desperate housewife and whose adventures are always entertaining? Take today for example; woke up absolutely freezing, lit the fire, made some porridge, got Nate ready to go out, waited ten minutes in the cold for my first bus, swapped buses 15 mins later, sat on the bus for another 45 minutes, then hung out with lots of mums and toddlers, back on the bus again in time to get home for 'Neighbours' before cooking dinner. What could be more exciting than that?!

Suffice to say, I love my new life ... work, who needs it?!