Bad, bad blogger, Ally!!! And it is not as though I have any excuse, life here is rather slow, so much so that I am just sort of catatonic all the time. I get up at 6:45, go out for breakfast and get to work at about 8:15, then work until 5:30, come back to the hotel and vegetate. I've even stopped watching tv, as all there is is the election campaign and that just bores me. Worthy though the candidates may be, I just cannot stand the way the two main ones talk. I got told off by my colleagues the other day for saying they both needed interpreters, but I do think that was only a slight exaggeration...

I'm looking forward more than ever to getting off this island next Friday - even the packing doesn't seem so frightful, although I'm not looking forward to the whole airport thing, as I have to negotiate Hobart, Melbourne (twice), Auckland and Napier before I get to my mother's place at about 8pm on Saturday. I've started collecting 2 dollar coins for the trolleys at airports -memo to unsuspecting foreigners, they are only free at international arrivals - for domestic arrivals and all departures, you pay $4 in coins and you don't get it back when you return the trolley. Plus it says on the machine that you can use a visa card, but clearly not a French one, from my experience. I'm hoping the same system does not prevail in NZ, I cannot remember.

Only one more weekend to go in Hobart, let's hope it's a good one - last weekend was wet, and I was depressed, wandering around the museum looking at Antarctic exhibits. They were actually well done, but perhaps not the thing for a wet day. Fortunately the museum has one of the nicest cafes I've seen here, with perfect lemon tarts and extremely nice coffee.

And in three week's time I'll be back in Paris, I think I've spent about forty days at home this year, so it's fairly obvious why I am longing to get back.