No Armada Here

 Clovelly Lawn Bowls Club has a location that easily rivals Plymouth Hoe. It sits on the headland between Waverley Cemetery and Clovelly Bay along Sydney's Eastern Beaches path. When we passed, on a hot summer's day in 2012, the greens were being well used.

The Club appears to have a very relaxed and friendly approach. Many (most?) of the players were barefoot, which struck me as fairly practical. I can remember accompanying my grandfather to his bowls club in the 1970s, and what a stuffy lot they were with regard to what you wore on the greens. Clovelly obviously take the view that so long you don't wear heels or something that will damage the green, it is fine.

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I'm Back: I've been away visiting my family in Australia for the past 3 weeks. Simon caught the TGV with me. I got off at Charles de Gaulle, he took Eurostar to London for a few days, but then came back to Preuilly and lived the batchelor life for a couple of weeks. The temperature in Australia when I arrived was 34°C and stayed in the mid-30s for a few days. After that it settled into 16° minimum, 26° maximum every day. It is the driest start to the year that anyone can remember. I caught up with many friends and acquaintances, supported my parents while my mother had the first of her cataract operations, swam most days and did some wildlife watching. I flew with Etihad, who do a route that is divided into three 7 hour hops, stopping for a couple of hours in Abu Dhabi and Singapour. When I returned I met Simon in Paris and we did a couple of museums, lunched with friends and stayed for Rétromobile, before arriving home at midnight on Friday.