Scenes on a summer afternoon in Sofia, Bulgaria - old and new

A Clive James moment

This is from a parking station in Sofia. It is the kind of thing that Clive James would have had on his TV show, followed by something witty. You can make up your own witty comment to go with it.

Some darling lambs

On the drive from Belgrade in Serbia to Sofia in Bulgaria (4 1/2 hours), we stopped for a coffee along the way. Just as we were leaving, a truck full of darling lambs appeared, and I could not resist a picture. As you can see, I have been shorn myself - all the best looking people in Serbia seem to have this "haircut". Sadly, Gavin tells me I have no chance of passing as a soccer holigan.

Not all hard work

Belgrade has some great restaurants and beautiful locations, so here we are making the most of one of them during this hot weather. There is me, Angelo from Roma (in orange), Dragan from Belgrade (in maroon) and Gavin (in red). In the background is Belgrade. (I might get a flash on my next phone.)

Our trip out of Belgrade

We had a fun trip to the western part of Serbia - the town of Sabac, which is sort of on the way to Bosnia. We visited the new office (lots of mirror glass), which is in serious contrast to its neighbouring buildings (anything but).

Party animals

This is Jen from the US embassy - a party animal, and her dog, Kikiriki (Macedonian for peanut) - a real party animal. Their place in Skopje is the venue for some wild cocktail parties. This is Kikiriki's second appearance on the internet, and definitely not her last.

Working hard in Macedonia

Here we are on a field trip to inspect some land offices - Victoria and Mika and me. A quick stop for coffee, then it is back to work again.

I think the photo says it all

Farewell Dushanbe

I have finished up in Tajikistan now, but just before left, Eric (the team leader for the project, shown here with me) had a farewell dinner in his garden. He invited the officials who we have been working with (also shown here). Lots of food, lots of toasts.