Posting has been a little sparse this past week, precisely because I'm out of the country.

My partner and I are in Wellington, New Zealand for the next few months. It's a very scenic coastal city (built upon hills), far far smaller than London with a much slower pace of life. The pace of life is similiar to that on the South coast of England, somewhat like Brighton. There is also plenty of greenery around, and I'm staying just by a nature reserve in an outer suburb (which is not very far from the city centre, a short bus ride in fact!). After just ten minutes in town Mr Contraire (he was born and grew up here) bumped into an old schoolfriend of his outside the city library (which by the way has a great selection of books, I found a few rare Emile Zola translations).

The pattern of my blogging will be pretty much the same (apart from late next week and the following fornight when I'll be touring the South island). Posts may focus more on international affairs and I will of course be commenting on politics here, as well as the occasional comment on Britain from what I can glean on the web and on BBC news.

I would upload a picture for you but I'm using an apple mac and am not sure how to save it yet.