D'you know what? I'm on a roll here. I think I'll quickly write about July too.

Mmm tapas with family! Italian food with choir people! Grilled sausages by the river! Afghan food with dear friends from Amsterdam! Beers with colleagues old & new! Brunch with the lovely Caro! Mediaeval capers with Brit friends at the Kaltenberger Ritterfest! More barbecuing on an island in the Isar! Giant Schnitzels in town! Refreshing beers after a two-hour bike ride to hear a big band play by a lake!

The big highlight of July was when Rasmus, Lene, Johan, Marie & Elias came to visit from Denmark. We ate in town, we ate at home, we drove into the countryside and messed about on boats in the Schliersee and in the Kochelsee, we swam in the Walchensee, we ate pizza, we ate Vietnamese food, we played in the park, we reminisced, we caught up.

And the month ended with lots of visitors for Michaela, including Margit, Denis & their boys, then Selena, Neil & Christopher. I took them to the Flaucher and we had a right old time of it in the water, in the beergarden, and back in the water. I even ran into Bernd & Jo and a bunch of their friends whilst sitting under a waterfall! And then I went to a fabulous performance of Verdi's Requiem in the Wieskirch with Jo, where we heard Martin singing and had a huge slap-up Bavarian meal to celebrate on the way home.

The month ended on yet more culinary notes, as I went to the Auer Dult and then for yummy dinner with Paolo & Keith from Sydney, then went to the Forschungsbrauerei with Michaela & the boys. Summer was finally here. And I was making the most of it!

June was nice. I bought loads of Austrian wine. I had loads of people over for drinks and food. I got freebie drinks at a corporate do. I barbecued. I coffee & caked. I went to a winetasting. I went to France (for Pascale's birthday party). I got screwed about on the trains heading for France because of the huge flooding in northern Germany, which had washed away loads of bridges and caused massive delays.

I went to Michaela's birthday bash at Nockherberg; the weather was mercifully warm & lovely for HER do there! I went to a ball. I sang in a concert. I celebrated the twentieth anniversary of our company (along with about 35 other people - colleagues and freelancers and their partners) in a lovely little hotel on a hill overlooking Chiemsee. We went rafting, we ate, we drank, we made merry.

I bought strawberries. I walked up a hill just by the Tegernsee with Michaela & Sophie. I worked. I played. I slept. I enjoyed Munich and its environs. I even did a bit of sport now and then! Wicked.