Man, this whole blog delay is getting way out of hand. Here's June in a nutshell:

I flew to Cologne on Thursday 2nd, caught a train to Düsseldorf, had lunch with Lorna, then we flew to Prague, had dinner, wandered the streets of the old town by night, and finally headed back to our plush central hotel after a cheeky martini.

The next morning we flew to Odessa to marvel at the differentness-yet-sameness of it all (it feels like another universe, but then you keep being reminded that you're in Europe after all) as we were transferred to our plush central apartment. We wandered about the streets of this giant but crumbling but rapidly refurbishing pastel-coloured jewel of 19th-century urban grandeur, adrift in a non-English-speaking universe of impressions, stopping for blini and vodka near the exquisite opera house, and later drinking delicious Crimean champagne all evening.

Saturday was to be our beach day. We walked through Odessa's Shevchenko park to the beach and lay among what sounded like almost solely locals to cook in the Black Sea sun all afternoon. Dinner by the beach was accompanied by more Crimean champagne, before we walked back into town for more drinks along Deribasovskaya Street, the bars-and-restaurants drag.

On Sunday morning we had one last walk through the old town, this time heading a little further north to take in some faded-glory inner suburbs, before having lunch on the terrace of a pretty restaurant serving Georgian food (I had khachapuri - yum!) and then heading to the airport. Back in Prague, we checked in to the airport hotel, then headed into the old town for a wander (including a Mediterranean food and wine festival) and some dinner in a rip-off restaurant right on the main square.

Monday morning saw us rising at a distinctly ungodly hour to head back to Düsseldorf. Lorna headed straight to work; I headed to Cologne and lay idly in the (much weaker) sun in a park in town, before making my way to the airport - only to be held on the tarmac for an hour and a half while a monster thunderstorm closed Munich airport - and we were simultaneously battered by an only slightly less ferocious storm ourselves. Finally, back in Munich, I rounded off my day with a drinkie with my Stammtisch friends at our usual haunt, the Kloster in Haidhausen.

The second June weekend saw me cooking paella for Fritz & Bénédicte, having lunch with Andreas & Christian, then coffee with them at Michaela's, watching the musical Hair at the Deutsches Theater with Michaela, Vera & Stephanie, and then having dinner with Andreas & Christian at Mama, my all-time favourite crazy Vietnamese.

The next week I was in Stuttgart on business, so I managed to visit Dieter again while I was there. Back in Munich, I managed a mini tour of beeergardens, including the Augustiner on Thursday, the courtyard of the Hofbräuhaus on Friday (with Jezza, who was over hosting a conference), and the Nockherberg on Sunday for Michaela's birthday (where we managed to eat stacks of food outdoors despite the hideous weather). On Saturday night I had a most satisfying game of Monopoly with Ryan, Charlie, Dan & Dave. It was really nice to spend quality time with the kids!

During the final week of June I took Dan & Dave to Bar Teatro for quality tapas, had lunch with Béné at my favourite coffee place Vits, and went to the theatre with Christian, Sabine & Rudi (who were freshly married!), before flying to London for a long weekend with Rainnie & Kat and then with Hugh & Lee. It was fantastic! Lots of beers in pubs around Old Compton Street and a delicious Chinese meal at HK Diner on the Thursday, then lunch with Steve at Bishopsgate & coffee with Chris at Broadgate & drinks in the Southwark Tavern with Kat & Rainnie before a slap-up tapas dinner at Brindisa near London Bridge on Friday, rounded off with too many alcoholic ginger beers at a dodgy pub in Leyton near Rainnie's house.

On Saturday Rainnie & I met Hugh at Borough Market, where we had a delicious coffee at Monmouth (truly the best I've ever drunk in London) before wandering through the market and buying too much cheese at Neal's Yard Dairy, then having a drink at the National Trust-owned George pub. After that Hugh & I headed to Lee's place for dinner before going out for a boogie and a gawp at XXL (from which club I returned home at 5am - and yes, the sun was already up!). Sunday was a relaxing one, with a quick coffee at Look Mum No Hands (wow! another excellent coffee in as many days!) and then a quick swim in the pool at Hampstead Heath with Hugh, before a lazy game of backgammon on the lawn outside Lee's place and then dinner at his. What a relaxed weekend!!

The last week of June was a chance for more beergarden touring on my part: first the Hirschgarten with my choir crowd on Monday, then Wiener Platz with Fritz on Tuesday (which was HEAVING!), and then the EPO summer party (which sort of counts as a beergarden since we were sitting on trestle tables) on Friday. With the most incredible roast pork dinner I've ever had the honour of eating on Wednesday at lunchtime with Christiane at "Maria". I am SO going to go back there.

I'll end this rather long nutshell of an account with two things that I've been meaning to mention in my blog for a long time. The first is that something I thought physically impossible happeneed on the Isar river one afternoon, as I was lying there soaking up some lunchtime rays (well, it IS opposite my office, after all): a mother was blowing giant soap bubbles for her child, and these were drifting off upstream. Then there was this one bubble that floated down onto the water. I watched it and fully assumed it would burst on impact. But no! It actually not only survived contact with the water, but actually threw up a bow wave as it ploughed into the river, fighting the current for some two or three whole seconds before its eventual demise!!

And the second thing I want to write about is one of the beautiful and precious luxuries of living in Munich, namely its seeming lack of crime. This story is based on multiple stupidity on my part, which is balanced by the multiple loveliness of people here. Three times I did something silly, and three times I was spared the potentially disastrous consequences.

First, I left my iPod resting on my bike saddle during a whole two hours of badminton, only to find it NOT stolen upon my return. Second, I left my house keys stuck in my bike lock during a whole choir rehearsal, only to find neither they nor indeed my bike had been stolen when I finished singing.

And third, I was cycling along at speed up the Giesinger hill when an even faster cyclist managed to catch up with me and flag me down. It transpired that I had dropped my keys out of my pocket (or out of my bag on the back of the bike; I'm not sure), he had seen it happen, had stopped to pick them up, and then chased after me up the hill to return them. I was lucky he was such a sporty type (you know, lycra shorts, racing bike, not an ounce of fat on him) because not many people would have had the power to catch up with me on that stretch of bike path (which sounds arrogant, but I actually cycle quite fast).

So there you go: three reasons to love Munich even more than I already did.