A Cold Day in July

This house selling lark is boring us rigid. We've been on the market for over a week now and we haven't had so much as a sniff. So, in an effort to generate some excitement into our lives, the wife and I set a date to leave for Australia - July 23rd 2007.

Whether the house has sold or not, we're leaving. If the house sells sooner than that, well, we'll cross that bridge if, and when, we come to it.

We decided on Thursday night. Cory told us last week that he is 'doing the Troop' this June. To the uninitiated this means that he, as part of the 1st Battalion The Welsh Guards, will be 'Trooping the Colour' in London, and we wouldn't miss that for the world. As we're staying for that, we may as well let the girls finish their school year. They 'break-up' on the 20th July. So the plan is - have our leaving do on the 21st, sober up on the 22nd and get the flock out of here on the 23rd!

We're booking the flights today. Manchester to Brisbane, four people (two big, two small) one-way with Singapore Airlines - £2,086. We'll spend some time with our good friends Hed and Annabel in Brissy, which ties in nicely with Heds 40th birthday celebrations. Hed's also going to assist us with various aspects of administration, medicare, buying some wheels, etc.

From there we'll head to Sydney and do the touristy thaang for a few days. I'll sneak off on my lonesome at some stage, probably a Friday arvo, and head off on my pilgrimage to the GarryOwen in Balmain.

Then onwards to the City of Albury, unless there are any other points of interest on the way that my reader/s (Jen!) think may be worthy of a toilet break.

We should arrive there sometime around the 7th or 8th of August but we're flexible on those dates at the moment.

We're leaving Britain at the height of its summertime for Australia in mid-winter, so at least we won't have to worry about a change in climate.