January 2011

I'm looking forward to an exciting 2012 starting off with a trip to Barcelona in January 2012 - and also the launch of my new improved website. The talented Mark Bain has been working patiently on the New Look website and it should go live in January 2012. Yes, I will be a bit sad to see my old site go as I have nurtured it from very humble beginnings in 2002 to where it is today. But having seen what Mark is capable of, I am sure that people will appreciate the new site and perhaps even take me and my writing seriously.

December 2011

Germany was wonderful - thanks to all in Dillingen and Kempten. I am happy to report that the garden gate I made is hanging beautifully. I wonder if it will last the whole winter. My Crazy Ad libs have been getting a lot of attention. They're great fun and if you haven't tried one, why not give it a go?

November 2011

I made a batch of sauerkraut - grated 10 kilos of cabbage, packed into a wooden bucket with plenty of salt, stomped on it and then put the wooden cover on top of the sauerkraut. Unfortunately the lid expanded and has wedged itself in place and refuses to move. Any top tips on how to get it out again?

I'm off to Germany tomorrow - Kempten and Dillingen. Looking forward to a new trip and trying out some new material.

October 2011

A great apple harvest and 50 litres of apple juice in bottles or in the freezer. Finally finished the work for Cornelsen.

September 2011

Back from an exhausting 2 weeks in Norwich. Off to Sweden tomorrow

August 2011

Just back from a very pleasant cycle in the Beskydy mountains. Pictures to follow shortly.

June 2011

An incredible hailstorm flooded my garden and turned my strawberries to mush. I also had a great cycle to South Moravia. Vranov na d Dyji is the most attractive chateau in the Czech Republic.

May 2011

Isn't it amazing how nature bursts into life after the winter? Plenty to keep me busy in the garden as well as visits to England, Austria and Germany. I'm trying to work with Arabic script. If anyone has experience of this perhaps they can help me out.

April 2011

Back from a great trip to Stockholm - meeting co-authors and travelling out to Waxholm. Thanks to Eva for putting me up and to Anna for arranging the good weather.

I had a lovely weekend in Hannover.

March 2011

Back from a great trip to Barcelona. Lousy weather but lovely teachers and great food.

February 2011

I'm back from a trip to the Allgau in Germany and Dillingen for more teacher training. We had perfect weather for sitting inside and working all day.

January 2011

I had a wonderful trip to Stockholm for 3 days and hope to be back there again soon. I have just finished looking at the results of a survey about e.readers. Off to Kassel this afternoon. Should be there by Saturday!

December 2010

I had a fun trip to Stuttgart and the Allgau - hopefully I'll be back there again soon. I also had a visit from a German student who stayed with me for a week. Exhausting for both of us but very enjoyable as well. Xmas was spent in England visiting my parents and I am now home again where it is stunningly cold. My latest webpage - calculate how many books you have left to read.

October 2010

Back from the Frankfurt book fair and a visit to the beautiful castle at Krivoklat, 90 minutes from Prague. Well worth a visit.

September 2010

I had a lazy August with some work in the garden, some hikes, some cycling. To compensate for this, I hiked around Mont Blanc from the 4th to the 13th of September. I've started posting photos which you can see here

August 2010.

Back from 2 weeks in Norwich with the lovely trainers and teachers at NILE. I even survived the 21-hour bus journey home. Thanks to all for making it a pleasant two weeks.

June 2010

Incredible rain here - my garden is struggling to cope - but nothing like the many people in North and South Moravia who have been flooded out of their houses. I've added a new series on how to make pizza.

May 2010

Work on my house continues. By the end of this week I should have a new roof and new guttering. On the website front, I've decided to change the font. I hope you approve. Easier to read than before?

April 2010

After a long long time I have finally finished working on Key, the new adult English course for German learners. I hope they appreciate all the blood, sweat and tears...

Back from whistlestop tours of Dresden, Essen, Krefeld, Nurnberg and Stuttgart. Interesting people and places. Thanks to all that made it an enjoyable trip.

March 2010

Back from a pleasant conference in Hildesheim, Germany. Good to see Stephen Krashen perform. Today I went to Gyor in Hungary and was sunbathing outside! What a change.

I'm back from a week travelling around the Czech Republic in stupidly cold temperatures. Cesky Krumlov and Prague were wonderful.

My latest ebook is ready! For all Chinese speakers...

January 2010

Back from three days in Eastern Germany. Erfurt, Leipzig and Dresden. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the cities were.

My bag finally got back to me - via Istanbul!

Back from 3 days of skiing in the French Alps. Swiss(air) managed to lose my bag on the way back.

I have new page of my ten favourite books ever. My ten worst books ever will folllow shortly.

My Spanish e.book - Learn Spanish with Jokes, is now available for download! In its first week it reached number 7 in the e.book download charts! Read more about it here, or you can download it from here.

Some websites are written in the third person, others in the first person. This one started in the first person, changed to the third person but, roll on the drums, I have decided to go back to the first person. It will take a while so please be patient.

Back from a very pleasant week working in Barnstaple. Lovely teachers - and the weather wasn't too bad.

I had a wet yet wonderful week in Slovakia. It was even wetter in the Czech Republic where 14 people drowned in floods.

Lots of new work on e.books. Yes, the world isn't quite ready for them - but when it is, I am ready.

I have just returned from a second visit to Cyprus. This time the island was green following some very welcome showers. Pictures will follow shortly.

I resigned from TEFL Training after five years. I'm looking forward to an exciting 2009 with new challenges and adventures.

December 15th 2006: The time has come. I have been in France for five years and have decided it is time to move on. There are plenty of good things about France and there are certain aspects of life in France that I will miss. But I'm looking forward to working on my new house in a country far away...

June 6th 2006: I have just returned from doing 2 training courses. A short break for me before I set off for Lithuania. The first course I ran was in Bristol. I got to the station in Pau to find the following

My flight to Bristol was on time and things went well until over Bristol, the captain announced that there was too much fog at the airport and the plane couldn't land until it cleared - the alternative being diverted to Exeter. The plane circled for about 20 minutes before getting the green light to land. The plane descended, wheels came out, then went back in and the plane rose back up into the air. The fog had cleared but it was too windy to land in the little Fokker. (Insert your own joke here). Arriving in Exeter, I jumped on a bus to town and took a train to Bristol. The journey took one hour, was two minutes early and the man who sold me the ticket was wonderfully polite!

I'm putting together a collection of 'alternative English'. Have a look here at how both foreigners and native speakers can murder the English language.

* More French! I have put up a page of text called 'Quand je suis arrivé en France...'. If your French is good, or if you are French, you might enjoy the humour. Even French people might not know the word 'amict', it's the scarf thing priests wear around their neck and shoulders (thanks bjd). The pronunciation is the same as 'ami' according to a book on French homophones. Like to take a look? Click here.

* I did some work for Catherine Murphy's excellent website for learners of French. In her move towards taking over the world, she now has versions in French, German, Spanish and Welsh! Check out my work for Cath - an exercise on the subjunctive is here and one on whether to use etre or avoir in the past tense is here. If you think your French is not very good then try some simple reading in French here.