Welcome to the First Blog from Slovenia!

As you may know I flew to Slovenia via Singapore and Zurich arriving on the 7 August. Not surprisingly there were issues on the way:

• Seats. It didn't start well as I couldn't get any window seats and I thought I was going to be trapped in awful seats. It in fact turned at well for a change as I sat next to normal people and on the second flight I was in the middle but with two spare seats next to me.
• Croatians. What can I say - I think I was targeted. First the two older women didn't know which queue to check in at Melbourne so they were blocking me while they were dithering. Then they didn't know where to sit at the gate, then they moved right behind me at the gate and proceeded to deafen me. It turns out at the older of the two, the mother?, needed to board first because of her disability. I am not sure what the disability was as she was carrying 4 bags while her daughter carried 2.
• Swiss brats. When I got to Bangkok for the flight to Zurich what was obvious was the number of Swiss brats (around 12 years old), loud and full of themselves. Must have been on holiday in Thailand, as you do.
• Babies. Didn't have too many issues - even though they did move a child a few rows before me on the flight to Zurich. There was a bit of crying but it was more the weird noise the child made from time to time that concerned me. It wasn't crying or laughing but more a disturbing sound like seagulls make out of the back of their throats when they are fighting.
• Swiss generalisations. The flight to Zurich was with Swiss Air and the Swiss crew (the men anyway) get the award as the most unenthusiastic and curt group I have come across. It's as if they were thinking:I shouldn't be working here but instead in some bank in Zurich where I would be paid a lot more and working during daylight hours. But the food was good. It seems that Swiss are either friendly or curt: customs was curt but the check in woman was very friendly and talkative.

Now to Piran. This is where it starts to go downhill:

• How do get in? First I couldn't get into the apartment. I blame the person who left the front entrance door open. As it turns out I was trying to open the door of apartment with the front door key - in my defence the bigger key looked like it should have been the key to the front door. Lucky I asked my cousin where the bathroom key was (in the apartment) or that would have been another disaster.
• Maintenance issues. A few problems with the apartment. First something had leaked in the bedroom, plaster had fallen off and mould had formed. Got that cleaned up but will need some plastering to be done. Then the daughter of the resident downstairs came and told me that my bathroom was leaking downstairs. Got on to a plumber eventually and he sealed the shower (hopefully problem solved). Then there was also a leak in the kitchen and that meant the tap needing replacement - after the plumber broke the pipe while trying to fit the new tap. Then there were problems with getting the cable TV sorted but that was fixed. Still a few issues left: one of the lights doesn't work - hopefully it is a bulb but that is a two man job; the toilet seat needs replacing and the shower pipe leaks so I have to buy a new one and replace it. After all that am I already to give up, was it all a mistake? No - all the work (and the cleaning) I have had to do has only made me appreciate how lucky I am and has made the apartment even more my own (I am slowly winning it over!) and at the rate I am going it will be a brand new apartment in a year
• Weather. Since I came the temperature has been around 35 degrees. Too hot and I am sweating like a pig. Today, Sunday, it has poured (and I of course got caught out and was soaked) and is in the 20s (but humid)

Finally, some general observations....

• Skin Cancer Doesn't Exist Here. Europeans seem to be immune to skin cancer - they are cooking themselves all around me on the beaches here, even lying on concrete and rocks! It's like roasting chicken. And some of them have no shame.

• Language skills. My Slovenian has been up and down - at times I pass off as a local (sort off) and at times - particularly when I am under pressure - I sound like I have some sort of speech impediment. I had a good conversation with the plumber - I always seem to get on well with plumbers although I know nothing about plumbing - he was not happy that the government introduced a reduced pension system 16 days before he was about to retire. Can you imagine that happening in Australia?

And really finally some photos.....