Holidaying in OZ

Well it was time to leave NZ ..... yes with a few tears .....but still with no firm signed contract.
We broke the long haul back to Doha with 10 days in Australia with stops in Sydney to visit the newlyweds Bob and Heather (after 20 years together) where copious fine foods and fluids were enjoyed and over to Tony and Wakako's ( great to meet you finally Wakako ). Leaving Sydney to drive up to the Dixon ranch at Kempsey for good food, music, coffee, wine and beer, then Hacienda Smith at Coffs Harbour for good food, music, more wine and beer and tea and finally the Sunshine coast to visit the McQuarrie family before flying out from Brisbane. Big thanks to all for the generous hospitality. It was fantastic catching up with you all, reliving old memories and making new ones.

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Holidaying in NZ

Greetings Blog followers – It’s been a while now so time for an update on what we have been doing during our travels back to N.Z on to Australia then back to Doha via Singapore.

We had such a great month in N.Z. catching up with many friends and enjoying the company of family again. Somehow we managed remarkably good weather considering reports of it being the worst winter for years. It was cold at times especially the -1 on the Napier Taupo road, but we decided that the weather had a fresh, clean and crisp quality absent here in Qatar. We enjoyed a few road trips; up to Okiato with the Moores, Napier to visit mum and Tauranga to visit dad. The sight of cows munching green grass and snow on the hills was a true reminder that we were back in kiwiland. We had a real family reunion with Rocky over from Geelong, Hannah also holidaying back from teaching in Sudan and Ez and Gabby up from Christchurch - it felt like Christmas. Nothing much had changed in Point Chevalier except that someone had painted their fence in our street and sand had been added to the beach. The pies from the Pasadena Bakery were just as delicious as I remember them and I was able to convert Geoffrey to the unique taste sensation - the pie sandwich... my own invention – don’t ever believe anyone who tells you that some bloke from Gisborne was the originator – he wasn’t it was me.

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Back in New Zealand

Hey we're back - in fact we've been in Auckland now for 4 days. The flight was not too bad, managed to get a few sleeps inbetween meals. Our arrival into Auckland was amazing because we flew over Pt Chev, the city and out to the Hauraki Gulf and Waiheke. The day was superb with sunny blue skies, deep green land and calm clear waters - what a welcome. Dan and Nita were there to meet us which was just neat....so much to talk about and catch up on. A deleicious home cooked meal by Jo and a glass or 2 of NZ red wine topped off a fantastic welcome home.
The next morning was warm and sunny, we enjoyed a walk down to the local shops to buy fresh fruit and veg, what a treat. Brian says it's not too cold - I disagree with this statement - I'm very cold most of the time (except when the sun's out and I'm sitting in it) and have been sitting over the heater or fire. I'm enjoying the electric blanket.
Okiato tomorrow with Phil and Linda - we need tennants.

Counting down - 10 days

Now that we're nearly ready to head home (only 8 more working days) I thought I would add a couple of photos to the blog of Brian and I - so you will recognise us when we next meet up somewhere in Auckland. We 've both put on weight and I haven't had a haircut since I left NZ!! - the hairdressers here can not be trusted, there have been a few horror stories.
We are still waiting to hear if we will be back in Doha for another contract for the 2009-2010 school year, so the packing has started. We seemed to have accumulated quite a few bits and peices and have been doing some last minute shopping because the sales are on.
We have an end of contract dinner coming up on Wednesday night - we're hoping the news of our next contract will be through by then to make it a real celebration for those who are keen to stay on in Qatar for another year. There are some who are heading off to jobs in schools in other countries (Abu Dhabi, China, Phillipines) and some who are off to live back in NZ. For those keen to stay on its uncertain times - not knowing whether to pack everything and send it home or sit and wait it out. I've got my sights set on the flight back on July 1st - looking forward to a bit of Kiwiland.

Things we're looking forward to

Well there are only 20 more days now till we get on the plane for NZ - I'm really looking forward to seeing family and friends.
We've all been starting to talking about what food are we going to have when we get back - what have we missed the most. Bacon seems to be high on the list, a meat pie!, fish and chips, vogels bread of course, water straight from the tap, some of Jos yummy deserts, a glass or 3 of New Zealand wine...ah the list can go on.
We still have no confirmed contract for the next school year here in Qatar, so everyone is feeling a bit unsure about their plans for the future but we've been told to remain optimistic - not easy.

Camping at Zekreet

We recently spent a night out camping, by the sea. Brian was once again trying to catch a fish with his fishing buddy Steve.
Lynley has written an excellent account of the expedition on her blog so I thought I would put a link to her post. Click here to have a read....

It's very hot here

I have to write a post on the weather at this time of year. July is supposed to be the hottest month but we're now at the end of May and the temperature has hit 50. I took a screen shot of my google weather widget at 47 last week. It's 9.30 at night and the temp is 38!
We went for a night swim and the water was divine - really warm. Mind you going for a swim during the heat of the day in the sea is strange and not at all refreshing - the sea water is actually hot especially at the waters edge. We spend most weekends at the Dip Club by the pool or beach - see previous post. It's been getting very hot - the other day we were offered a frozen small towels (flannel)to put on our faces! - it was heaven.
It's the wind that's incredibly hot, it burns your nostrils when you breath. The humidity isn't so high though. Brian has not been so lucky - no air con where he is.
The other weird thing we have to do is turn off the hot water. Usually the cold water comes from the tanks that sit on the roof top, but at this time of year they give us hot water. So now when you turn on the hot tap we get cold water from inside the apartment because we have turned off the hot water cylinder and when we turn on the cold tap we get hot water from the roof!

Counting down

Only 6 more weeks till the end of our first contract and we'll be flying back to NZ. I'm getting very excited about seeing everyone again. I remember back to when I was making that hard decision to come up to Qatar and thinking that an 8 month contract wasn't that long and the time will fly - well I have to say a lot has happened in those 8 months and it seems like a long time ago since we were in NZ.
Today we woke up to a dust storm. Here is a before and after shot.
At 6.30 in the morning yesterday it was 38 degrees rising to an unofficial 45 during the day. It was hot but generally I'm working in air con so it's not too bad. When we leave the school, walking to the car the heat is OK because you feel like you need a bit of warming up after being inside all morning. Then after 10 mins or so the air con in the car starts to kick in.

Last weekend we went on a fishing trip on a big old dhow. Here are a couple of photos

Doha Panorama

Hi Folks - here are some recent photos taken on a clear day from the top of Golden Tower - about 35 storeys up. Golden is on the edge of the West Bay Building Area where most of the tallest buildings are being built.
From the start of the pictures you can see towards the old part of Doha where many of the Governmental buildings are and all the Bank head offices and also all of the " Souks " ( markets ). The photos then progress through West Bay then over the water to the Pearl ( see earlier blog ) and the two zig-zag wiggly towers. Lastly you then get to see the residential areas - inland from the built up coast - starting from the north through the west and on to the south.
It would certainly be very interesting to see this place in ten years time when it will be mostly finished as at present we are in the fairly early stages - most of these buildings weren't here five years ago.
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There are plans for all sorts of tourist attractions where the old port is now. Also planned is to be the tallest building in the world at just over a kilometer high ...just to out do the Burj Dubai...someone has to I guess. Dubai has come to a bit of a standstill with the economic sitaution hitting pretty hard. Many buildings have stopped mid construction and many are barely occupied and many totally empty. Qatar however with it's huge reserves of gas continues at pace. Large scale road systems are still underway - hence the current congestion problems, and there are plans for an impressive above ground ( I think ) mono-rail system linking the whole city and most of the outer industrial, power and gas towns.

Qatar is establishing itself as a major destination point for tourism, conferences and a major world Airport stopover to rival or probably overtake that of Dubai. For such a small country they are stamping out their place as a major player in the Middle East. They certainly have an impressive record for initiating and hosting peace initiatives in this part of the world.
So all in all it is an interesting time to be here - Hey you could always come and visit!!!!

Dip Club

The Dip Club is a place we go to to swim. It also has a gym which I try to get to a couple of times a week, my only exercise apart from walking up flights of stairs in the apartment block!

Check out this link and zoom out using the side bar, you will see that the Dip Club is opposite The Pearl which is a huge off-shore development with large scale building going on. The Dip Club has its own private beach overlooking The Pearl. It's a great place to spend the weekend relaxing away from the eyes of muslim men as it's not really the done thing for women to swim at the local beaches. If we drive out of Doha we are able to find deserted beaches to swim in but when you are living and working in the city and the weather is starting to heat up the Dip Club is truly wonderful.

Rain in Qatar

It was a real downpour.
Last weekend a group of us decided we would head 'up north' to spend the day picnicing, swimming and fishing. We woke up to dark clouds and light rain but thought we would go anyway - it doesn't usually rain in Qatar for long - wrong! We drove in convoy up to Zekreet, which will be the main highway to Bahrain in the future. They will be building a massive bridge to join the two

countries (at present it is under construction - in parts it has 4 lanes). It rained on and off for most of the day - but we did mange to set up our picnic and eat, it did get quite cold though. We were all in raincoats and had pasminas or towels wrapped around us for warmth - hard to believe. Ever optimistic and always keen to throw a rod in the water Brian went fishing for a short time.

The drainage system here is not used to rain hence the puddle - the round abouts were fun! - Brian used them as an excuse to clean the car of wet sandy mud after our off road excursion into the desert. This photo is outside our apartment - usually a dry dusty road.

Kurdish National Day - New Year Celebrations

We had the most interesting day yesterday - we were invited to the Kurdish National Day. The Kurds don't actually have a recognised homeland - they were orginally part of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. You can read about Kurdistan here.
A social studies teacher at one of the schools I go to, who is Kurdish, invited the Cognition team that work at that school along for the day. The event was held in a 'zoo park' which actually was a very sad place - the animals were being kept in terrible small cages and the zoo itself was in disrepair. The park area was a large grassed area with trees for much needed shade.
They played music and we all eventually joined in dancing - Brian even got up and danced! There must have been over 500 people there - mainly men. They come to Doha without thier wives to earn the money. There were other nationalities there as well but we were the only westerners. We felt so wamrly welcomed that Joy, got up on stage and sang Pokarekareana. We joined her in song! They loved it.

Beetles

I thought I would show you this beetle that we stumbled upon out in the desert a week or so ago. I leapt in the air and screamed as I wasn't expecting to see something so big crawl out from under the rock! What do you think it is Ash - it was black with white dots on its back
We haven't seen many insects. There aren't even any cockroaches in this apartment building - thank goodness!!

Water, water, everywhere ...

......well not water that you can drink anyway. I thought I would show you our system for drinking water - we buy these large 25 litre water bottles for around $4NZ. We bought a pumping mechanism that we attach and voila fresh? drinking water. Not the same as just turning on the tap though. The tap water is desalinated and not so nice - full of things we're not sure about!
I'm drinking a lot of green tea and my favourite drink - lemon and mint blended with sugar and ice - divine. And of course one of us is keeping up their coffee intake......No points for guessing who that might be.

March already...

Golly it's about time I put something on my blog - it's been a while. Mr Brain seems to have had more time lately to spend composing ... hence the kiwi desserts entry.

Work has been progressing well - it's good to see some of the teachers putting into practice what you suggest and being happy to see you when you visit them again. A big step is getting schools using their 'grunty' IT infrastructure - they run around with flash drives infecting computers with their viruses! instead of saving onto the network to print etc. They're not really into sharing!! I have shown teachers how to record their student's talking (practising their English), with one making use of Voicethread, simple digital stories are being made, Activboards are starting to be used and two or three have had a play around with simple webquests. I love these two drawings - simple but cute, very Arabic.

I have been occupied organising my workshop at an ICT conference held last weekend. There were a few of us from work who presented which was good. It was only the second time that this particular conference has been run - the first time they have had hands-on workshops. They were very successful as it gave the teachers a chance to 'learn by doing'. There were a number of teachers from the schools we work in who were able to come - a great opportunity for them to hear the message about 21st century learners.
The food was excellent. They supplied breakfast as well as a huge lunch - lunch seems to be the main meal of the day here. It was free for teachers to attend. The presenters were invited to a meal at the Ritz, which was also a treat, the night before the conference. The overseas presenters were staying there - lucky them.

It's driving Jim ...but not as we know it

Driving continues to be a source of constant entertainment. Not an outing goes by without witnessing at least one act of total lunacy. I don’t know where some people obtain their licenses as there are no Woolworths here.
This photo shows an impatient driver in his LandCruiser driving up onto the traffic island to jump the cue (maybe a bit hard to see). I don't usually have my camera with me in the car...a classic shot!
The indicator seems to be something yet to be fathomed by most, yet all know where the horn is located. It is common to get headlight flashed from someone behind you to get out of their way. Often due to the inside lane being packed you can’t do anything about it and not being able move aside infuriates the flasher even more. At times like this, as you are most definitely not allowed to make any hand gestures ( or as it happens, flash your lights to make people get out of your way in the first place ) , I put on my hazard lights briefly as a visual substitute for a friendly hand gesture, hopefully infuriating the flasher even more. This practice requires utmost care as the flasher will more than likely cut dangerously in front of you, missing you by centimeters, if given the chance to get past you on the inside lane which he will do by pushing in and not using his indicators. On the open road however it is best to get out of the flashers way as he is very likely to be coming up behind you at well over the speed limit. Inevitably these drivers are locals in their huge 4 wheel drives. Extreme tail gating is common and you hear stories of them nudging the car in front from behind at 120+ kmph…..Not something you want to happen to you, having a big Land Cruiser right up your jacksy is bad enough..
Recently we saw a 4x4 get up onto two wheels and attain almost 45 degrees by attempting a roundabout at great speed. He was up for a good 2 seconds and quite how he didn’t flip over is beyond me, although it wouldn’t surprise me that this may have been an intentional stunt as there was a vehicle parked up that seemed to be waiting and watching. Tonight I was passed by someone doing at least 150kms in a 100 zone on a reasonably busy 3 lane road, he then proceeded to get sideways getting on to the roundabout and passing everyone on it.
You see crashed vehicles all too frequently on the side of the road and although I haven’t yet witnessed an accident happen I have come across plenty of very recent ones. A number of big trucks and tankers have overturned recently, apparently going too fast on roundabouts. There also appears to be a large boy racer fraternity judging by all the burn out marks on some of the roads. What else is a poor rich boy to do when he has Daddys ( or his own ) Maserati or Ferrari for the evening.
Luckily for everybody there is very little drinking, due largely to the limited availability of alcohol and the Koran which forbids partaking, else it would be carnage out there.
So far we have both managed to avoid any accidents although have had plenty of close calls. Roundabouts are a particular worry as many are 3 lanes and people just don’t keep to the lanes they should even though there are clear road markings. The trick is to avoid being next to anyone as they will more than likely be in the wrong lane and cut you and others off. Other important strategies are a. be prepared to go around again as you have just been cut off or forced away from your intended exit by someone in the wrong lane, b. be prepared to hit the brakes at any given moment, c. hope above all that you survive the roundabout unscathed and d. expect the unexpected as this is most likely to happen . A finely tuned mix of defensive and aggressive driving seems to be your best option if you want to get anywhere.

Weather

It’s the dust storm season now and instead of having the desert outside we now have it inside as well. The dust from the desert, and all the construction going on, is as fine as talc and finds its way everywhere. The nature of buildings here is that they are not especially well built and have many gaps, particularly around windows and doors, and that dust seems to find its way in. When a dust storm is in full swing you can hardly see more than 40-50 metres maximum. i.e. just being able to make a shape of a building out. Clarity ( if you can call it that ) is down to about 10 - 15 metres. On these occasions the wind is fair howling so the dust is coming at you more or less horizontally and can really sting. You also have to be mindful of not being hit by any airborne objects due to the unfortunate habit of people just dropping their rubbish wherever they happen to be. I saw a guys hard hat fly off and end up bouncing at least 100m down the road.

It is just starting to warm up a little after the last couple of months where it has been quite cool, ranging from around 6 – 10 degrees at night to the early 20’s during the day. Maybe because of this gradual warming we are also seeing a lot of heavy fog in the mornings. Makes for an interesting drive to work, more so for for Lynne, who, because she is going to many schools, and some in new locations, can get lost all too easily. It is very easy in thick fog to lose your bearings once you get away from any recognizable landmarks.

Arabian architecture

Thought I would have a go with a new way of sharing photos. Mostly old forts and mosques around Oman.

Camel facts

Some random facts found on the net....Did you know the camel has played such an important role in Arab culture that there are over 160 words for "camel" in the Arabic language. The Arabian camel has a single hump and the average life expectancy of a camel is forty to fifty years. Camels do not store water in their humps as is commonly believed; the humps are actually a reservoir of fatty tissue. Camels are able to withstand changes in body temperature and water content that would kill most other animals.
Photos courtesy of Panasonic Lumix....
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Man Oman

We had a fantastic time in Oman...What a stunning place it is. We arrived in the Capital city of Muscat which is a lovely city, quite different than here in Doha. No flashy highrise buildings to be seen but many beautiful older style buildings instead. The country is only about 30 years westernised if you can call it that, but they have opted by decree of the Sultan to not go in the Dubai/ Doha fashion of huge multi story buildings, rather they have opted for the more traditional Islamic style of architecture which is refreshingly pleasant.
Some friends of ours - Sue and Dave and Sues son Fraser arrived on the second day and travelled with us for three days which was great.
Muscat is a lovely city built on the coast amongst quite dramatic rocky terrain. On our second day we went to the Muscat Festival which was on at a large Nature park. Fantastic environment with thousands of Omani families out celebrating the festival. The Omanis are very friendly people and look stunning in their national dress. We spent a few hours there taking in the sights which included a traditional cultural area with song ,dance, food, traditional handcrafts and lifestyle. There was a large lake in the middle where a stunning water, fire and fireworks display was on. We were standing around at one point and a man approached us to say he was from a local radio station and would we like to be interviewed live on air. We said no problem and went through the interview with a very pleasant Omani woman interviewer asking us about our thoughts on the festival and Oman etc...after the interview she said would we like to go and stay at a desert resort for a night, which of course we said yes we would love to so the next day she dropped off a voucher for a one night stay ( worth approximately NZ$500 ). We were able to book a night with our friends Sue and Dave and Fraser.
On our way there we went to a place on the coast Called Ras al Hadd where nearby at Ras al Jinz there is a protected beach that Green Turtles come on to the beach every night to lay their eggs and also every night baby turtles emerge from the sand and make their way to the sea. We stayed at a lovely beach at Ras al Hadd in some traditional thatched style cottages and of course went one night to get the tour of the turtle beach. What an amazing experience to see them and such a beautiful relaxing place to stay right on the beach where the water was lovely and crystal clear and warm for swimming.
We then made our way to the desert camp which was an interesting drive. Luckily we had hired a four wheel drive Nissan otherwise wouldn't have been able to get there. Real sandy desert with sand hills and the most magical light especially evening and early morning.
After our one night free stay we headed back to Muscat via a city called Nizwa to see and visit the magnificent fort there. There are forts everywhere due to the occupation centuries ago by the Portuguese. Quite a long drive that day and after dropping Sue and Dave and Fraser off at the airport we then went up the coast and found a seaside resort at a place called Al Sawadi. Luck was with us and they had a special offer of two night accommodation for the price of one night at this fabulous and luxurious 4 star resort. Accommodation is very expensive with budget starting at about $200NZ a night. We spent much time by the pool and eating beautiful breakfasts and dinners and also driving around the local area.
We then decided to go to a place called Jabal Shams which is the highest point in Oman and also where they have what they call their own Grand Canyon. After asking directions from three separate sources we took advise on what was supposed to be the quickest way there. What a trip that was. I have never seen or driven on a road like it before. Lynne was beside herself with near panic as we made our way over huge mountainous hills on what would have been once a camel track and is now a one lane road. Unsealed and with the car in lo ratio 4 wheel drive we made our way zig zagging up and down for hours to cover about 40 kms. Imagine the old Napier Taupo road and multiply that by at least 10 times worse and you may have an idea what it was like. Crazily as we made it up to the top of the highest point there to our surprise was a brand new sealed road on the other side. We nearly got out and kissed the tarmac I can tell you. What a drive.
After that episode we visited some interesting caves on our way to Nizwa again.
At a restaurant in town we met a nice couple Michael and Sunok. He is Australian and she is from South Korea. We chatted for quite a while and they offered for us to stay the night at their place which was nice. He is teaching at the University there and she j hopes to get a job there also. Very nice people and lucky for us to have a night to stay without the expense of a hotel.
Then back to Muscat for two days where we stayed at a Dive Centre on the coast in lovely little beachside chalets.
We went back to the festival again as it was such good fun the first time and as Brian's pay had finally come through we were able to buy a few nice things at the Handicraft section where they had rooms of local crafts from many different Middle East countries...along with some very yummy preserves from the Croatia room.
So now it is holiday over and back to work in a couple of days.....that is always the problem with holidays .... they finish.....

A few random shots in no particular order Click on the slideshow to make the photos bigger
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Marhaba - hello

Hey Carlos - good to see you -now you'll have to send us an email as I've spied you following the blog. It's great to get those emails from you all - I love getting up in the morning, at the crack of dawn and checking my emails. It's always a nice surprise to start the day with a read of news back home.
Brian and I went for a walk to a local park not far from our apartment. It wasn't a big park but there was lots of green grass, tall trees, flowers, seats and a children's play area. We sat for a while to take in the scene and felt like we were back in NZ. Then the sound of the call to pray came loud and clear from the mosque next to the park - suddenly we were jolted back to reality. Not that it's an unpleasant sound but very much a muslim thing - 5 times a day starting at 5.00 (in the summer about 4.30) they sort of make this song/chant to encourage/remind all good people to come to the mosque to pray.
Only 3 more days before the end of semester one. The odd part is the kids are not at school, they are strangely missing. It seems that once the end of semester exams are finished they don't come to school. The teachers have to be around, planning for semester two with the help of Cognition advisors.
We're off to Oman for 10 days.

School life

I thought I would add an update about my work in the Qatar schools. We are coming to the end of Semester one and we will have a two week break. Semester two starts 8th Feb and goes through for 20 weeks without any breaks - no public holidays, no long weekends. It's going to be strange especially as the temperature will start to heat up.

My job has been about encouraging the ICT teachers to try out new software, adding projects as their focus rather than just skills and activity sheets. They are very positive and appreciative of new ideas and have commented that they have noticed student behaviour has changed. One said he felt like he was making the learning more relevant to the boys! (I love it!). Some are now keen to offer their support to the class teachers, working with the english, science and maths classes.
I ran a webquest workshop with teachers at one school in their ICT Lab- I need a translator for these sessions! Lots for them to learn and take in but it has meant that teachers are feeling a little more familiar with the Lab and are booking their classes in there, in curriculum class time. Some English teachers are making use of photos and movie footage to motivate writing - they were impressed with the boys ideas and said they had written more using this idea.
I have set up a wiki for use for all the Cognition teachers (Advisory Teachers - ATs) in Qatar -as a way to share online resources. The neat part is some of the ATs can see the usefulness of them and are setting up wikis for their schools and their particular curriculum area. A couple of local teachers have made themselves one as well. Yay - we're making a start with the Web 2.0!! - we are making progress.

The kids are great - they love it when you show an interest in what they are doing. They love it when you try to speak a little bit of Arabic. I get them to help me with new phrases.
Marhaba - hello or welcome or salam ali coom
Mumtaz - excellent (they laugh when you say their work is mumtaz!)
Kaif harlitch - how are you, to which the reply is - ahum dela la
Mar sa la ma - good bye
I'm getting over my shyness at speaking in Arabic - it's getting a little easier.

I had to take a photo of the classroom ruless.

2009

New years eve was a quiet affair. New Years Day was a work day. But we're off out to celebrate the start of the new year with a group of fellow apartment dwellers and colleagues from other apartment blocks tonight (day 2, 2009) We've booked for 30+ - not the easiest of tasks to book a place for that number. We'll raise a glass of lemon and mint to family and frinds back home.

I got my first parking ticket last week - I didn't think they did parking tickets over here - you don't see any parking meters or ticket wardens wondering around. I came back to my car to find a bl----y yellow sticker on my window, written in arabic. I went into the Cognition office after work and asked if anyone knew what these yellow stickers were!! They all laughed....$NZ150 for parking in the wrong place - not like back home - $20.
One of the teacher consultants here got a $NZ3,000 ticket for going through a red light - that's serious money.

It is a very weird day here today - very windy and cloudy - no blue sky. I have even got my Kathmandu jacket on inside cause it's a little chilly. It feels like there is going to be a big sand storm.
Yesterday I had to drive to work in very thick fog - that was a slow trip. It lifted at about 9.00.

A thought .... you don't see spiders or spider webs here. In fact I haven't seen many insects apart from large ants sometimes- no more cockroaches either (touch wood). There was a scorpion at one of the schools last week - a teacher showed me the photos - large and black - yuck.
I'm enjoying cooking - I made a pav for xmas dinner, we had a couple over for a curry the other night which was delish and I've just made some cheese scones for me and Brian - I'm off to eat them