A Part

Rather fortunately, I still liked my new flat when I went to see it again! It's also quite a lot handier for work and the city than I thought - tram took less than 10 minutes from work to the flat, and a 2-minute walk and 10-minute train ride had me back in the city centre. Electricity isn't connected, though, so I can't move in just yet. I've used the address a few times already for various things (loyalty card at the big bookshop in town and for my new mobile phone).

On the topic of which - I've never owned a camera phone before, and I can now see the advantages of having one. I can see myself wandering round Melbourne spotting odd things I might want to take a photo of (the boards outside the nearby pub have had several choice phrases I could have shown a certain Welshman - "Avoid dehydration - drink beer!" and "Take time to savour your drink - the pub is not on fire.") So expect to see a few low-quality Flickr posts in the near future.

I've already started to meet a few expats. After being told off by the payroll department (for not having a working bank account yet!) I went to give them all the details I could, and found Jenny from Derby working there. She and her husband emigrated here (I need to get that phraseology right, as I'll likely be using it a lot - did they in fact immigrate here?) a couple of months ago and are really enjoying it, except for the lack of tea. So I've promised I'll pass them on a box once mine arrive on the ship! I also managed to get chatty with several people in the wider department when I accidentally found myself being the host of the Friday afternoon Finance quiz - it used to be held at my desk, so I had to take part in quite a central way.

Oh, and one final thing - any country where you can get takeaway sushi for lunch on every street corner is one where I'm happy to live.