http://www.abodeacrobat.net Dan's Big Holiday Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:56:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The immigration authorities at Heathrow could at least have made more of a fuss. They acted like it was entirely routine to snub one's country for nine months, then return as though nothing had happened. "Wow, that was an unusally long absence!" they might have said. "Was there something you ... http://www.abodeacrobat.net/2007/12/31/back-home-and-im-still-me/ Almost exactly ten years ago I last featured in a major news article, when reporter Sean Kirby of the Nottingham Evening Post described my A-level results as "a barnstorming performance". This time round, the on-line journals of Silicon Valley have plenty to report about my semi-professional japes during my time here. ... http://www.abodeacrobat.net/2007/12/01/google-hq/ To save plodding around with a backpack, on my way home for Christmas I am staying for an extended period of time in San Francisco (people who call it Frisco are so sad). Anyway, I am living in a perfectly ordinary flat and I am a normal fully-functioning member of ... http://www.abodeacrobat.net/2007/10/19/san-francisco-encore/ Home to some of the most expensive internet on the planet, I was in Fiji last week. I took a tour around the main island, Viti Levu. Team-mates included Liam who toured part of New Zealand with me, although he is suspected of trying to change the dates of his ... http://www.abodeacrobat.net/2007/09/19/fiji/ It turns out that Auckland could easily be the capital of New Zealand - it's a mistake made frequently. In fact, I've read up on the details, and it was the capital for 25 years in the 19th century. I have also travelled to a small town called Russell in ... http://www.abodeacrobat.net/2007/09/12/auckland/ "What's the capital of New Zealand, then?" I asked. It was a timely question since we had just arrived in Wellington, one of my two candidate cities for the answer. Of course I know the answer to this question really, but ever since the Auckland Commonwealth Games, I have intermittently ... http://www.abodeacrobat.net/2007/09/08/wellington/ At university, there was an extraordinarily tall chap called Gordon who used to insist that the college authorities should purchase an extra-long bed to follow him around the various college rooms he inhabited throughout his degree. Anyway, when I told him I would be visiting New Zealand, he said I ... http://www.abodeacrobat.net/2007/09/01/queenstown/ Some people - although surprisingly few - have expressed their disappointment that there have been only a small number of bulletins from my time in Australia. Well, let's be clear, you don't go to Australia on holiday per se; instead you travel in the capacity of emissary to the Queen. ... http://www.abodeacrobat.net/2007/08/16/melbourne/ Condemned to stay in an uncomfortable hostel, our peers looked on jealously as Auntie Pauline drove us away to enjoy her extraordinary hospitality. She lives with Uncle Martin in a suburb south of Brisbane called Three Mile Island. It's not really called that of course, but its real name is ... http://www.abodeacrobat.net/2007/08/10/brisbane/ Flying into Sydney overnight, I was fairly tired as I queued to pass Australia's stringent entry checks. They were ostensibly concerned about introducing new apple diseases into the continent, but it turned out that the x-rays and bag searches were just an excuse to have a bloody good chat to ... http://www.abodeacrobat.net/2007/08/02/sydney/