Looking back at this year, I’ve been pretty slack at blogging however it’s been rather busy. Since the last blog, I saw the Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil courtesy of tickets purchased for me by my sister. It was a great show in the O2 centre, although there was definitely a lot more music dance, than the circus acts. As I say, it was definitely a more Soleil show than the Cirque and could have used a bit more balance. I think I also fit in a short weekend break to Dusseldorf where I met some friends and practiced a bit more of my German.

I also visited Turin again for the Salone de Gusto, the slow food festival that I went to four years ago. I went with the same Italian friends (and my American friend Ajit) that I went before and we had a fantastic weekend despite the heavy, wet weather. Lots of cheese, wine and meats were consumed along with plenty of espresso and just chilling out.

A quick trip to Berlin for a conference (although technically it was in Potsdam) and a fantastic Christmas meal at St John’s restaurant where we tucked into a very festive Christmas pig. One Christmas/farewell part at the newly opened ping-pong bar/restaurant called Bounce that also happens to be the place where the British invented the sport. We also had a company Christmas party that left me with a bit of a sore head on a Saturday.