Farewell to Pene and Mike

We said our sad farewells to Pene and Mike Grace from the New Zealand Embassy last night. They are off to set up a new Kiwi Embassy in Stockholm. As a result they've have had a whirl-wind last couple of months sorting out arrangements both in Sweden and Poland (not to mention New Zealand and Australia!).

They've been good friends to have in Warsaw, and it's been great knowing that they were (literally) living just down the road from us. We wish them the best of luck with their new venture and hopefully we'll catch up with them again before too long.

Who needs Pythagoras?

This was courtesy of 'Have I Got News for You' (amongst other sources). Made me laugh

Bob comes to visit

Bob, a friend and fellow blogger, visited us from the UK for a few days this week. It was nice to show him the bright lights of Warsaw!

He arrived on Tuesday night via Easyjet. Amusingly one of the passengers on Bob's flight mistook him for English referee Howard Webb (there is an uncanny resemblance). It was the worst possible case of mistaken identity, as after Poland's Euro 2008 debacle Howard Webb is currently No.1 on the country's 'most-wanted' list.

A few days earlier even usually level-headed Polish Premier Donald Tusk, issued a death threat against Mr Webb.

There are currently 588 'Kill Howard Webb' movies on You Tube.

As a result it put a bit of an edge on his visit as we were always watching for knife brandishing football thugs to jump out at every corner and slaughter Bob by mistake. I guess it didn't help that I took to calling him 'Howard' whenever there were groups of likely assassins around. Remarkably he managed to survive the trip without having to buy funny glasses and a fake moustache.

We went to Wilanow Palace on Tuesday and then walked down Nowy Swiat and the Old Town on Wednesday. The weather has been lovely in Warsaw for the past few days, so it made being outside even nicer.

We even took in the Euro 2008 semi-final between Germany and Turkey at the "Belfast", our local pub. Given the Howard Webb confusion, I thought it was brave of Bob to take up a seat at the front of the bar, but fortunately the place was quite dark so I don't think anyone really noticed us. The Poles were enthusiastically supporting Turkey and everyone trudged home sadly when Germany scored a last minute winner to win 3-2.


Bob headed back to the UK on Thursday morning - Audrey was especially sad to see him go as she had taken to giving him big smiles whenever she saw him. We all enjoyed seeing him and we hope he enjoyed his trip (despite the potential death threats hanging over him during his stay!)

Trip to England

Last week we were in England, which will be our last trip there for a while.

We travelled quite a bit of distance in our week there - visiting Newbury, Farnham Royal as well as Oxford and Wolverhampton.

We said a few farewells to some friends, and also had a family get together which was the first chance for Audrey to meet many of her cousins. Sadly time ran away with us in the end and there were a few people who we didn't get to catch up with who we would have loved to have seen before we headed 'down-under'.

We stayed with Garry and Kath in Newbury - whose kindness allowed us to stay in the posh surrounds of Donnington Square. We also said a sad farewell to Robin, Shan and their lovely family.

On Tuesday we journeyed up to Oxford to see Jon and Emma and their beautiful little boy Ben.

We spent the last part of the (somewhat rainy......it's supposed to be summer!!?!) week with Trevor's parents in Wolverhampton. While we were there we visited the Black Country Museum in Dudley which is definitely recommended if you ever find yourself in that part of the World.

Audrey also took part in a photo shoot for the forthcoming Wolves Merchandise Catalogue - which was very exciting - more of this in another post!

Unfortunately Audrey has returned from her holiday with a nasty cold and so we have been trying to comfort her and wipe her nose regularly (nice). We've been pretty lucky though really as it's the first cold she's had since she was a very little girl.

Here are some pics from our trip

The Hickman clan

David and Sam play Uncle Trevor's scalextric!

Alessio and Audrey enjoy a pasty!

Joe, Sam and Robin

Patrick, Shan and Audrey admire themselves on film

Garry and Kath in Kath's lovely flat

Trev's dad and mom with Amy enjoy a trolley bus ride in the Blackcountry museum

Audrey poses in the Molineux boardroom for the Wolves catalogueTrevor and his mom at Himley Hall

Audrey and her Grandma

Croatia 1 Poland 0

Poland slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Croatia, with only Artur Boruc the Polish goalkeeper saving them a heavier loss. It means that the Polish team return home with only one point from three games - a very poor outcome after they had qualified so easily for Euro 2008.

In the absence of any 'home-nations' taking part in the tournament Poland's campaign bore characteristic English hallmarks - they lost to the Germans, drew against a team they should have thrashed (Austria), found a fall-guy for their own shortcomings (in the shape of referee Howard Webb) and ultimately got dumped out by Croatia. All it lacked was some Baddeil and Skinner Polish anthem about 'Football coming home' (futbol wrocki do domu?) and it would have been complete.

Slaven Bilic, the Croatian manager again did his credentials no harm at all, and no doubt will appear as a well paid Premiership manager before too long. Poland are the hosts for the Euro 2012 tournament (once they get their act together and start building roads, hotels, stadiums etc)!

Austria 1 Poland 1

Poland suffered heartache in Euro 2008 when they conceded a 93rd minute equaliser against hosts Austria. Combined with Croatia's shock defeat of Germany the same evening, Poland will probably come home after just 3 games.

I watched the match in our nearby Multi-Kino cinema. It was packed with fans who provided a really good atmosphere. It was made especially pleasant as the cinema (unlike the bars and pubs) was no smoking and you could still drink (cheap) beer at your seat.

Austria dominated the early exchanges and Celtic's goalkeeper Artur Boruc kept them in the game until Poland's (Brazilian born) Guerreiro gave the Poles an unlikely lead.

In the second half Poland were much the stronger side and pressed hard for a second goal. It looked sewn up by Poland until the 93rd minute when the referee harshly awarded Austria a penalty. The fans despaired and hurled insults at the screen, then watched as (Croation born) Vastic scored past Boruc. It had been a confusing game with a Brazillian and Croation scoring for Poland and Austria respecively.

I crept out of the cinema along with the disappointed fans - anxious to make sure nobody realised I was English (the nationality of stupid referee Howard Webb)

Magiczny Koszyk

Carrefour our local supermarket are running a promotion at the moment where you receive a 'Magical Shopping Basket' ticket for every 20 złoty you spend.

This gives you the chance to win up to 100 zl by checking your numbers against a huge pillar displayed outside the shop.

I was excited (perhaps a little bit too much) by the promotion - especially given I didn't win anything. Audrey was excited as the tickets gave her something to chew on (with her now 5, teeth) during the walk back home from the shops. Amy was excited as she was impressively able to translate the word 'Koszyk' as shopping basket.

Here's a picture of Audrey with our (losing) ticket