Actually I am counting the days until I can go home again - presently 15! This is probably a good thing, in the light of the airline chaos, I am hoping it will have cleared up by then. I keep hearing from my friends in Europe, who are either stuck somewhere, or paying exorbitant amounts to cross the English Channel. If you can get a Eurostar ticket, it is a minimum of 250 euros one way. There's also a few people in my hotel in Hobart who are stuck, as they should be taking planes home to Europe from Melbourne, but cannot until at least Monday.

But why count the days? Well, partly I am quite bored by what I am doing here, and partly I am homesick. I think Hobart is a very nice place for a couple of days of holiday and sightseeing, but five weeks of it is a big ask when home is Paris, or probably anywhere so far away. Today I wanted to buy some conditioner for my hair, I had run out - and I knew I certainly wouldn't be able to get what I had been using, which was Kiehl's, but I didn't think it would be so hard to get something that I would like. I spent an hour in the city centre and finally got some Greek Apivita from a rather exclusive-looking shop - the price was exclusive-looking as well. Hobart is like Nicosia as far as shops are concerned, I think, with many small expensive shops that I can't see how they make any money. Plus a selection of the usual chain stores. In fact, in my opinion, Hobart and Nicosia have a lot in common, although I am sure the respective citizens would be horrified to think this, so I won't say it aloud in front of any Tasmanians or Cypriots. And if my readers are either, well, reading is at your own risk.

What do I do here? Well, every morning, I wake up, have breakfast etc, and walk up a steep hill to be at work about 8:30am. I have meetings every day at 9am and 1pm, so at 12 noon, I walk down the hill to get lunch, then back up again, and then finally I walk down again at about 6 or 6:30pm, depending upon what I am doing. Then I walk down to get some dinner and back up again. At weekends I walk up and down many hills in order to explore a bit of the centre of Hobart - I've walked all over the centre, Battery Point (where I am staying) and Sandy Bay.

I have visited some nice shops, there is one called "A Stitch in Time" in Sandy Bay Road, a convenient half hour walk from my hotel. I was there last Saturday, and managed to buy some things on sale, a couple of magazines I didn't have, plus a Just Nan kit, also some things that were not on sale, some green "Stitches and Spice" linen, and the Just Nan winter humbug. There is also the Needlewoman shop in Liverpool St in the centre, which is more for patchwork, but has some nice things, and there is another patchwork shop, "Quilted Crow" further up the same street, and that is very nice, lovely wool felt for emboridery, as well as lots of nice fabrics that I can use for finishing.

But let's hope the skies clear up soon and it is safe for flying again - I'm not sure how our expenses people would take a trans-continental taxi ride!