Well Hello!

Hello all!

Not sure if BNP Paribas was misspelt for fear of some firewall believing this is related to the British National Party but it has taken me 9 years and 10 months in the UK to know what it's like to work for a French Bank. Whilst you English mother-tongued vipers still grace me with your Café Rouge or Pret-a-Manger jokes (you know who you are you flute-playing Kiwi Billy Connelly), this frog-infested French island on British soil considers me far too anglocized to be one of them ... So I am officially ....homeless (No Mike, not the Big Issue selling type)

1 January 2007 will be the end of my 10th year in this country and for those who are still praying for me to buy a one-way ticket to the land of phallic-shaped bread, I'm sorry to disappoint you!!! ;-) I am here to stay.

Some of you might remember me announcing in the lab in 2001 that Vicky was pregnant with our first child. Well Sophie is now nearly 5, enjoying school in her little uniform and playing with Emilie who is nearly 3. Yes, TWO girls, two weddings to pay for and lots of blokes to screen in a few years (Cravino is already lining up his boys ...).

Job-wise, after I left PwC, I prostituted myself to IT Audit for a couple of years at Prudential, IT Manager at Barclays for two years and am now contracting at least until April next year.

For those who attended the little TRS reunion this week, it was great to catch up and we have to thank Sandip Patel and Paul Cartwright for making it happen. I hope we can get the momentum going and this happens more regularly

Merry X-Mas and Happy New Year 2007