I`m so excited - I actually got tickets for the Ashes today! yay! After the first tickets went on sale a while ago for the 3rd test and there were no public tickets left after the members got them all i thought there would be no chance. However tickets for the 1st test in cardiff went on sale at 9am this morning. I was prepared and managed to snag tickets for day 3 & 4 (fri & sat) within about 10minutes of them going on sale. Now I just have to try and find some accommodation which I think is going to be easier said than done.

Otherwise things are just plodding along - very much the daily grind. There have been a few dramas with my visa and contract but I`m hopeful that everything will be sorted tomorrow - or at least I`ll have a better idea of what I`ll be doing when my contract expires this time next year. I still want to stay on for another year or two after that, but the economy has just gone down the toilet here and there`s no guarantee that my contract will be renewed.

I`ll be heading home for Christmas before you know it. I`m really looking forward to coming home, catching up with everyone and soaking up the sunshine. I`m heading to Budapest for a few days before I fly home and am also going to Nuremberg to the Christmas market for the day. Christmas markets are apparently huge in Europe so I`m looking forward to my first experience of one and the Nuremberg one is meant to be one of the biggest and best.