On arrival I discovered that Ben’s house is rather unusual. It appears to be a converted church and even has one room where the organ continues to lurk in a corner. I’m told that there are a total of twenty people living in the building. There are four kitchens, six toilets and two balconies as well as a massive garden. I can’t really describe the place accurately. Just imagine it and assume that the reality is more quirky and outlandish.

Ben and I drank wine and ate potato chips on one balcony while discussing business in Free Software, science fiction and the Australian threat to French wine. Having consumed one bottle we made a strategic decision to relocate to the garden, where I spent some time playing with the rabbits while Ben slaved away in the kitchen.

On his reappearance he disturbed my friendship with the three small furry things, but at least he did bring interesting pasta, more wine and a massive bowl containing the pièce de résistance. The tiramisu was huge, rivalled only by oil tankers and freight trains in dimension. It tasted better than them too.

The end of our evening was spent in a blur of too much sweet, discussions about geopolitical strategy regarding production and economics, and something about Ben making a bigger dessert for all twenty people in the house soon.

Ah, French hospitality. You can’t beat it.

As I was leaving, Adriaan entrusted me with two bran muffins he had baked.  Naturally I was suspicious of foul play, but my inherently trusting and slightly greedy side got the better of me.

I took the muffins.  I ate the muffins.  I was impressed by the muffins.

Adriaan, as well as sailing, inspiring young people with Codeyard, looking after kids and being VP of a huge Free Software project, can cook.  Shocking, unfair and true.

I will see him again on the 19th of September.  I must compete.  My shufu (house husband) abilities have been challenged.  This is war…

The basic idea: make a theme with traditional Japanese colours.

The complex bit: try to ensure the theme is easy on the eye.

I eventually settled on two colours.  The background is called sakura-iro and uses the hex value #fef4f4.  The title background and menu title background is called namari-iro and uses the hex value #7b7c7d.  The black borders are plain black, hex code #000000.  In case you are wondering, ‘iro’ means colour in Japanese.

Reactions to the theme have been interesting.  Some people liked it, some people hated it.  There didn’t seem to be much of a middle ground.

I’m a controversial guy.

The legal project I run has been a big success.  FSFE now facilitates the largest Free Software legal network in the world and all types of interesting initiatives are under way.  Well, interesting is a relative term.  It depends on what you are interested in.  However, if you love processes, contractual language and management science, then what we do rocks.

Switzerland has also been an interesting place to live.  My house is in a peaceful suburb 12km from the centre of Zurich and on fine evenings it’s a nice walk home from the office alongside the Sihl river. The office itself is beside the main train station and is a short stroll from the old town or nearby parks.  Switzerland is easily one of the most comfortable and beautiful places to reside in Europe.

Working to make a big project and a bigger network grow has taken a lot my time and energy.  However, I have had the good fortune to experience a whirl of locations, languages and interesting foods. [1]  I will place photos and detailed stories on this site shortly, though as a teaser let me say that I’ve created wonderful memories of Germany, Italy, Austria, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Romania, Brazil and the USA as part of my travel.

[1] I think the most interesting food experience was finding out that the nice tofu in Romania was actually pig fat.  Note to self: in future ask “what is this?” before biting.

It’s been two years since this site was active.  This is mainly due to being busy founding a pan-European legal network and other stuff like that. Quite a lot has happened and from tomorrow I’ll play catch-up with this blog.  You can expect a mix of technology, politics and travel in my posts.

Here’s to the future…