Iain M Banks

Just got hold of his new book, "The Algebraist". Great cover art (the first bite is with the eye, and all that....) and I'm enjoying the imagination and story so far. But. I am pedantic enough to have found 2 aspects of his writing style that are niggling me:

1) He has repeatedly used "and/or" in free-flowing text. Now, I'm no traditionalist, but that's an abbreviation born out of email, surely. I'm surprised and a little irritated to see it in a book written by such a highly reputed author.
2) He also keeps on using "-" to denote subclauses in sentences. I'm pretty sure that he should be using "," for that. I find that I use a lot of hyphens for similar purpose, but only in email.

In past books he has played around with language very inventively to succesfully put the reader in an altered state of mind while they're submerged in his imagined worlds, but these 2 grammatical changes don't seem to be aimed at doing anything like that. I'm quite sensitive to this kind of thing (although I do know people who are a *lot* more sensitive!) and it's annoying me. He's also using some *very* long sentences, some of which with subclauses denoted with "-" as well, none of which is lightening the load of reading the book.

Ho hum - plenty of the book left to go, and it's giving me that feeling of almost looking forward to the tube ride home just so that I can get my nose back into it :)

Engagement party

After I started off a whirlwind of events by asking that famous 4 word question, there's been ups and downs a-plenty for the engagement party - but it all went off a treat on Saturday, with everyone having a memorably enjoyable time. There'll be photos a-plenty too, once I get through sorting the good ones out (there was quite a lot of paparazzi-style snapping with the new dSLR.... gotta love that 3fps motor drive mode!)

Although the day was packed with remarkable moments, a couple of particularly notable events were:

• having extended family members from Scotland, Brisbane and Surrey (and Leicester!) all together in London
• baby Annabel was incredibly well-behaved, to everyone's enjoyment
• we accidentally bought 2 chocolate and cream cakes after I mixed up whether or not dessert was included in the lunch
• 2 work colleagues arrived at the party wearing bodices, causing all sorts of drunken dancing rumpus by the end of the night

If it weren't a once in a lifetime event, I'd do it all over again tomorrow!

Time to start planning for the even bigger day, now. I like the look of the Brisbane Powerhouse for a wedding venue - it's kind of like a cross between the Tate Modern and Sadlers Wells. It's in New Farm, which is very central, and we might even end up living in that area when we get to Brissy.

How it is in London at the moment

Quite frightening, actually. After the first bombs on 7th July, it seemed that the security would be heightened, and the tube would be safer than ever. But after yesterday's mirrored events, it seems that the tube is in fact still a viable target.

It's very true that Londoners, as a group, should stand up to these tactics, vote with their feet and get on with their daily business. It's also true that as an individual travelling on the tube daily, it's not worth the risk just to get to work.

Who was it who said "May you live in interesting times"....?

Test shots from the new dSLR

Took a few test shots with the new camera over the last couple of evenings - the 8MP sensor picks up *so* much detail, it's incredible. We're going to have a lot of fun with this kit!

Finally....

....we've bought one of these! And what a lovely piece of kit it is - not too weighty or bulky, very rich feature set, and best of all Jessops matched the best Internet price. As if we didn't take thousands of photos already, with this beast there'll be a sharp upturn in volume (and hopefully quality too).

I've been watching this market segment carefully for over a year now, waiting for the affordable dSLRs to come into reach. We'll keep a hold of the Ixus for movies and pocketability - it still takes lovely photos. It also seems that it's not worth selling the film SLR, as they're going on eBay for around the £40 mark. So we are now a 3 camera family :)

In other news, my visa application has been both sent off and acknowledged - that puts us on the home straight. Just have to pass a medical examination, then wait to see if they send us a request for any additional info. We're still cutting it fine for our intended departure date, but if everything goes to plan we're on course.

Had a great holiday in France last week, enjoying lots of sunshine, wine and cheese. Also found myself doing more excercise than I normally would on a holiday (or while at work for that matter!) - played lots of badminton, and some frisbee and beach volleyball, and spent an afternoon cycling. I actually felt in better shape at the end of the holiday, despite all the alcohol and big meals.

It's all go for the engagement parties this weekend - restaurant is booked up for our family lunch, and the bar for our party in the evening is all set. Should be a great weekend!

plans, plans, plans.....

My future's taking over my present! And that doesn't mean that I'm wearing a tin-foil suit and my robot butler has driven me to work in a gyrocopter, more's the pity.

No, what I mean is that with all the plans for exciting developments, it seems as though todays are being filled with tasks for tomorrows. Now let me be clear here - this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is remarkable in itself. So what are we plannning? Oh, nothing much - just migrating to Australia, having guests for a month, an engagement celebration, a wedding, and refurbishing our flat. All good stuff, most of it happening in parallel, and we're both working full-time jobs. Still.

Update on the job front - I've resigned! My days of squeezing onto the tube for 2 hours a day are numbered. Obviously, I'm going to miss the comforting familiarity of being pressed full-body into a group of complete strangers, and of standing mere inches from the edge of a platform as a train roars in, the crowd of commuters behind edging me forwards. But somehow, I think I'll cope with the loss.

But the biggest question currently on my mind (and let's be honest - it's a biggy) is whether to buy a digital SLR. I want one, but should I get one? Decisions, decision....

First post

Now that I'm leaving AOL, I'd better move my blogging from their service to something independent. So here it is! Right - that's some text entered, now for a picture and then a link

I intend to use this blog to post messages about our preparations for moving to Oz, and once we get there, what we get up to. No doubt, there'll be a huge number of incredible things to post here :)