Waterpolo in Cambridge

In January my friend Alex from Germany invited Kate and I to come and meet her in Cambridge,
where she and her team mates were holding a water polo game.
We got there in the morning and the weather was a bit rainy but sometimes the sun came through. We did some sightseeing and went down the river in a punt, where I more than once lost the pole and almost fell in!

We had some coffee then went on to the first game. The team was a bit short of people, so they asked me if I could join and be goalie. I'd never played water polo before but how could I refuse six women in swimming costumes?

After a couple of games and being completely exhausted we went to a local pub, had some good English beer and lovely food.

It was good to catch up with Alex and her friends again. I'm looking forward to my next invitation to a game!

Christmas and New Year

Christmastime is a great time. The company I am working for, Actix, decided to have this year's Christmas party at the London zoo. Some of the people actually dressed up in animal themes costumes for the occasion.

Jarkko and Tina probably had the best costumes. They dressed up as wild cats.

We had a hypnotist, who didn't work on me, and lots of booze, which did a much better job, and we danced all night.

At the houseshare we also prepared for Christmas. We bought a wonderful seven foot Nordman tree, which just fit into the living room. We decorated it with real candles, ornaments and lights.

I went off to Germany to visit my parents for Christmas eve. It was a fun evening, I got a beautiful pocket watch and my mom made me a little fat angel, which I roasted over some candles.

I got a Photoshop book and a big pepper mill and a scuba diver bottle stop from Kate, who joined us in Germany on Boxing Day.

For New Year's we went up to Kuehlungsborn and visited some friends from Berlin(Alex, ...).
We walked along the shore of the Baltic Sea, drank lots of mulled wine, and when it got dark we started to set off fireworks for the children first, and for midnight we joined the locals on the beach setting off batteries of fireworks, drinking champagne, and wishing each other the best for the coming year. Fortunately, it didn't start raining until the fireworks subsided, and we finished the night with dancing away.

On the first of January, we followed an old tradition and decided to jump into the Baltic Sea in traditional swimming suits. My god, it was cold, brrrrr....