Today is the day before Australia Day. Nothing exciting has happened to me today, but that's good in a way. I am back in the galleries at my museum today and tomorrow. It is nice to be able to deal with real people, as opposed to a disembodied voice on the phone! And I have Friday off and then it is in the galleries all weekend.

I must tell you about my news. I had an idea for an exhibition for my museum late last year. I went to see the curator Tom about my idea. He loved the idea. So the next step then was to put it to the director of the museum for his approval. I was a bit worried about this step as the director is a bit airy fairy and does not always seem to know what the museum is about (ie we visitor assistants think he approves exhibitions on inappropriate topics). I went to see Tom on Monday to ask him how things were progressing. He said that the Director was very keen on the idea. So, my idea is going ahead! My first exhibition! Well, I will hopefully get to work on it, but it makes we very happy to see one of my ideas being put into play and that everyone loves it. My idea is about having an exhibition on what childhood was like in the docklands area - what was different, health, education, leisure time. It ticks a lot of boxes in the museum world - access and learning possibilities with activities for families and outreach kids, immigrant groups, families (who we tend to aim exhibitions at) etc etc. So I am chuffed! The only downside is that the exhibition cannot be fitted in to the exhibitions schedule until January 2008. Who knows where I will be then, but I am keen to be involved as much as I can until then. I have a date with the museum catalogue on Friday (yes my day off!!) to see what we have. I will also talk to our archivist. Tom is keen for me to approach one of the local history groups who are very big on oral histories to see if they would like to be involved.

Sweden - the land of meatballs and mooses! And we ate both!! ;-) We arrived late on Friday night, to very cold temperatures and a heck of a lot of snow! It was lovely. Bit of a shock after London, but still!! London, even thoug it is quite a fair way north, does not get snow much, if at all. We had some last year, but it does not stick on the ground like it does elsewhere. We took a cab to the hotel we were staying in - very nice hotel, chosen by Scotty, and in a building that has been there since medieval times, well some of it anyway. We were hungry as it was late and we had not eaten dinner, so we went a wandering to see if we could find some food. We ended up in a pizza place with the best pizza I have ever eaten, and a cute waiter to boot! And the garlic bread had real garlic on it - shock horror!! Very tasty. And some local pear cider to accompany. I have taken quite a fancy to pear cider - it tastes lovely and not at all alcoholic, so it could be dangerous. :-)

Saturday we spent the day in Copenhagen. We caught the train there, which takes about an hour. It is a lovely city, cold as well, but it has a nice relaxed feel about it. Unlike London!!! The train goes over the longest bridge in the world for wheeled traffic, which is about 8km long. It was a great journey. We were there on the day that little Prince Christian was christened. We were going to flash our Australian passports at the palace and see what it would get us... We did see Princess Mary's husband drive past in a car though. Very exciting (could see anything though, but the policeman told us it was him!).

We found the Design Museum, as the Swedes and the Danes are quite well known for their good design. So that was my choice to see. They had an exhibition on extreme weather conditions, and the clothes that are made for them I learnt a lot about houses in Norway (they are all separate from the next one). They had a great shop with lots of funky stuff in there, none of which I bought.

After that it was off to the city centre to have a squizz at the shops etc. Found the museum that Scott wanted to go to - the Erotica Museum. It sounds worse than it is. It was very clinical, and quite interesting as well.

We bought some souvenirs for our parents/siblings (Scott's) on our way back to the train station. Caught the train back to Malmo to have dinner. We asked at the hotel where we could find meatballs as that's what I really wanted. We find out that meatballs are a lunch time thing but we were recommended a restaurant around the corner from the hotel. We ended up having a moose burger each - their specialty, and really tasty. So i have now eaten moose! :-)

Sunday we went to the museum - which is a collection of museums in the one building. So there was an aquarium, a natural history museum, an art gallery, a museum of general history. Basically each museum was a gallery inside the complex. I enjoyed myself, but Scott got a little bored after a while. I have a higher tolerance level when it comes to museums I think. :-) We did spend quite a bit of time on the way to the museum and on the way out again throwing large chunks of ice in to the frozen moat around the museum building, which was an old fortress. It was so much fun hearing the plop! when the ice broke the surface of the ice and splashed into the water below the top layer.

The flight back was uneventful. Crammed in again, which was to be expected, and we arrived back 10 mins early, only to wait 45 mins in the arrivals/visa queue. By the time we got home it was 2.30am.

Back to work the following day. Work is going well. I am getting more excited about my exhibition project. But I can't get too excited, as reaslitically it is ages and ages away! But I have started to do some reseach. I spent the weekend in the galleries of the museum and I read for some of the time. I was reading about matchmaking, and the often subsequent illness "phossy jaw", in which the jaw bone disintergrates. Shocking what people had to go thru just to make a little cash really.

I am back in the call centre this week. I am happy enough here, but I feel a little isolated from the other people in the museum who I talk to a great deal. But I think I am down here another week or so and then back upstairs.

Please forgive the date of this post, it is when I started it, so it will give you a clue on how long it has taken me to write it!