Evening All

Nah, I haven't been arrested....just it is the evening here. Well it has been a while, and also today marks the first anniversary, in weekly terms, of our arrival in Brisbane. It has been interesting - in a good way. Have completed my first week in the office - just. Information overload has been the oft used phrase this week. The company are certainly a good bunch - which is nice, just lots to get to grips with: new processes, new language, new way of doing things around here. No room for complacency and still much to learn. However things are possibly looking up and I may have my first client based assignment. Not counting ones chickens so more about it should it come off. Other news: Brisbane is a great city. I really cannot say much more than that. Compact enough to get around and yet big enough to really feel like a city. Folks here are friendly (couldn't imagine a Londoner offering you directions, then again I couldn't imagine a Londoner accepting them - as I did!). No hoodies - nice, just plenty of Emo/ Goth dudes (why you would cake your face in make up in temperatures of 20+ degrees I do not know (considering this is Autumn I wouldn't like to consider whether they do this in summer. Many of the restaurants here have a BYO policy so you can take a decent bottle of wine in with you and only get charged $1.50 (yes I have to think in dollars now) or so corkage. That segues nicely into the subject of my earlier blogs: the noble rot. I came here not necessarily expecting to see some of the same Aussie producers that you get in the UK - how wrong was I as were those who had informed me of this. Recent samples: Kangarilla Road Shiraz but not enough jam and fruit for Em (I quite liked its understated approach , so obviously a Shiraz yet smoother than others). Another wine, although not sampled, that I was pleasantly surprised to see was d'Arenberg's Feral Fox Pinot Noir a wine that I had the fortune to sample in the UK, but was rather difficult to get hold of - not so here: three cases just sitting unopened in a little bottle shop we went to last night. Tonight's wares: Battle of Bosworth Shiraz, lovingly being decanted in a plastic jug (all we have before I am branded a philistine!) I'll try and let you know how it is soon.