Please remember I wrote this in the early days of the internet. WordPress may not have existed and broadband certainly didn’t exist. I probably wrote it in Notepad offline and then uploaded via my 56k modem. The noise of those things still haunt me.

However none of that is an excuse for the shockingly bad grammar!

Update 2nd December 2000 - Boy hasn't it been a long time since I have added something to here? It's been a pretty hectic last couple of months.

We've had my best friend Mandy over for the last 7 weeks so have made the most of it and got as much travelling in as possible. Have been to Copenhagen, Venice, Barcelona (again), Nice, Monte Carlo, Milan, Geneva, Chamonix,  Amsterdam (again),  Paris (again and NEVER again), Copenhagen (again), Reykjavik and finally Boston!

It has been the most amazing 7 weeks. We have seen some really really kewl and amazing stuff! From the Swiss Alps to the Blue Lagoon in Iceland to the casino in Monte Carlo. It has just been outta this world!! Still don't like flying though :-)

Mandys gone home now *wipes tear*. It's really weird around here today. The place is soooooo quiet! You get so used to have someone around and then with a *hug* and a *wave* there gone. 

Anyways Greg and I are home in Adelaide for Christmas. We leave next Saturday. Can't wait for the long haul flight *yippees*. I have to dash but if I don't write anything before Christmas... MERRY CHRISTMAS to all :-)

Update 9th June 2000 - Well another chapter in the life of Greg and Matty has now closed. After 6 months of constant visitors we finally have the house to ourselves, well at least for a couple of months *grins*. I'm sort of looking forward to it and I'm sort of not. There have been times when it's all got just too much but there have also been some really good times. In a way I will sort of miss Gregs parents. I have spent soooooo much time with them and have got too know them really well. It's been good :-) It will be weird..... just Greg and me again. The privacy and quietness of the house I have missed... just being able to spend time with Greg without having anyone else to bother us. Being able to do what we want to do on the weekends and not having to worry about whether we have to take our guests to the next *tourist* destination. Don't get me wrong, I have loved having the company of other people but it will be good to have sometime to ourselves again like we did when we first moved here.

You know, there is one thing I hate about Scotland and that's the weather.... Everyone warned me and I knew deep down that it was absolute crap but I still convinced myself that it would be fine! I just really really wish it would stop raining and start being *summer*. If anything makes me want to go back to Australia, I thinks it's going to be the weather. Goodness knows what *winter* will be like *sighs*.

Update 27th May 2000 - Hiya all.... Well, it's this time of month again when I start to feel bad that I have't written anything on the website for weeks. If I say I've been really really busy does that make up for it???

So what have I been up to, I hear you ask....?? Greg and I are now fully settled in Edinburgh. I'm extremely pleased to be out of London and to be in a city where the people are reasonable friendly and the pubs are fantastic. The house we ended up getting is about 5 minutes walk from Princes Street in the WestEnd. Nice and Big with a huge lounge room which should come in handy for having people stay.

As for work... Greg started with Halifax the other day but the environment just wasn't what he was looking for and has ended up taking a position with what used to be Scottish Telecom. As far as work and Matty goes, I will be starting in the net division of an online travel agency on the 5th of June.

Update 27th April 2000 - G'Day Mate :-) Well I'm officially old now. Greg and I have just returned from Australia after spending 2 weeks in the sun for my birthday. I had an absolute ball. Getting *pissed* five nights in a row, getting lots of pressies and in general just partying and catching up with everyone.

The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty hectic with the move up to Scotland. I'm going up there next week to look for a house while Greg stays back in London finishing off his contract with MicroSoft.

Update 7th March 2000 - Huwos there everyone! Well, not much is happening in my life at the moment. Mum is just about to leave and Todd (my net buddy) left on Friday morning, so the house has become all of a sudden, very very quite :-( I'm looking forward to having the house to myself just for a couple of weeks before I go back to Adelaide. I've been sharing my house with people now since the 10th of December and it's sort of starting to drive me a wee bit *batty*.

Work is okies but I am starting to find it a wee bit boring (hence all the emails everyone is getting while I am at, ohhhhhh, and also ICQ) so I'm not really sure how much longer I am going to hang around. I really like the people and for the majority of the time enjoy what I do but there is just no room for me to move in the company!

Well, Mafoo has to go and get ready for work, I'll talk to you all soon, okies :-)

P.S. If none of this 'update' makes sense it's because it 0656 in the morning here and I have no idea of what motivated me to update this here and now but I did and I'm still half asleep!!!

Update 27th February 2000 - Boy it's been a long time since I have written something up here. Where do I start?? Well Kelly (my sister) reluctantly left on Friday to go back to Adelaide after spending 4.5 weeks here. I was actually really dreading her coming but it all ended up turning out okies and we got along fine which was good. In fact, I think we may now be closer because of it. I had to work most the time she was here but I did take them to Barcelona which was fabby and I also met up with them  in Glasgow for a couple of nights.

Mum extended her stay by 2 weeks which is good. I have really enjoyed having her company. She's doing really well which is good. I'm enjoying the home cooked meals as well, which was another good reason to keep her for a little bit longer *grins*.

Todd, my net buddy, is back again as well! It's only been about 6 weeks since he left but it is good to have him back again. I think he's here till Friday, so hopefully I can get a couple of days off to spend with him.

It's only 4 and a half weeks till I go home now and I'm starting to get very excited! I haven't seen any of my friends (apart from the ones that came over at Christmas) since August and Greg hasn't seen any of his since June. We're in Adelaide for 2 weeks and I'm doing a overnight trip Sydney to catch up with my cousin.

I better get back to work now :-)

Update 9th January 2000 - Happy New Year to everyone :-)  Well's it has been ages since I last updated this page and I thought it was about time it was done.

For those of you that don't know I have been working for a company called HotelSelect for the past 2 months as a hotels reservations consultant. The company is brand new and the people are great which is even better. I'm really enjoying it as well  which makes things a lot easier.

At the moment we have about 5 people staying with us but this peaked over new year when we had 7. I finally got to meet Todd which was great as well. Todd and I met on the net 18 months ago and he finally made it over for NYE and spent 10 days with us which was absolutely fabby. Sunny and Georgi are here at the moment, MattyB and Kimbo have just left, Chicken is here and so is Jensy baby. Mum and my sister are over in just over a week as well which I am really looking forward too.

Oh well everyone, I'm off to bed! I'm sorry it was so short but I have a mega hangover from last night and I have to go to work again tomorrow *doh* I'll try and write more soons, take care :-)

Update 26th October 1999 - Well :-) My course finished on Friday and I just found 
out I got full marks for my BA2 exam which is good. Not really sure what to do with myself now. I'm madly looking for work but its a catch 22 situation. I now have the training but I don't have the experience :-( Hopefully something will come through soon. 

Marco is arriving in Frankfurt next week which I'm looking forward to. Greg and I haven't seen him since the night of our going away party. It will be good to see another European city as well. What I'm really looking forward to is Prague in 3 weeks time. I don't know much about the place but I have been told it's like a living museum. 

Everything is going well over here. I'm feeling a bit lost at the moment and don't really know what to do with myself. I've sort of gone off email and chatting as well. The cam seems to be on a lot more now though :-)

Well, I'm off for now, hope you are all well and I'll talk to you soons *hugz* :-)

London Update 5th October 1999 -  Hiya all..... well it's 4 months today since Greg and I both left Adelaide. It's been a bit of an up and down day really. With the train accident at Paddington and all the phone calls we've had to make sure we were OK, it's made me sort of want to be at home. Mum's in hospital as well and I'm feeling really useless here :-( Thankfully Greg had already caught his train to work and missed the accident by about 10 minutes. Looking forward to him getting home tonight :-)

Weather wise, it's starting to get really cold here. 13*C during the day today and about 1*C tonight *shivering* Hopefully Rome will be warmer on the weekend. Goodness how I am going to get through winter might have to resort to a beanie and gloves *grin*

Had my first 2 exams on Friday the 1st of October. Got 99% for BA1 but have to wait for 2 weeks for my Galileo results. Started BA2 yesterday but not finding it as enjoyable and as interesting as BA1. Hopefully when I have finished it in 3 weeks time it will all have been worth it when I get a job doing something I very much want to do.

Just like to thank everyone for the phone calls today, has been great talking to you all and know that you have all been thinking about us over here. Hope you have a great day *hugz*

London Update 19th September 1999 - I didn't realise it had been that long since I had written an update for this page. So much has happened since the 6th of August. 

On August 16th I got on my QF flight to Singapore, extremely upset not knowing whether I wanted to go or not. Within minutes of walking through the departure gate I was missing Greg and rang him and left about 5 messages (well I wasn't going to be able to talk to him for at least another 13 hours). Thankfully the flight to SIN was trouble free, nice and smooth and in a nice new aircraft with a pilot that seemed to know what he was doing. Flying time was 11hrs52mins much better than the expected 13hrs30mins that it normally is. On arrival in Singapore I caught the train to the other terminal and found the net cafe, sent a couple of emails and then it was the train back to my transit terminal to find the hotel so I could have a shower. Before I knew it I was sitting on another plane next to a lovely old polish lady. I arrived in Adelaide at about 5am, walked through customs and my Mum was there to meet me, gave her a big *hug* and off it was to the car. It was a great feeling, seeing someone familiar after 3 months and I think what made it even better was the fact it was my Mum. I didn't realise I had missed her so much.

The next couple of days in ADL were really weird, I sort of realised why people like Chicken had moved away to MEL. It really is a ghost town. The people are great and it was great spending time with the family and Mandy (who took the week of work so we could spend it together) but my heart was in London. I wont dribble anymore about my trip back home but I enjoyed it and still consider Adelaide home but it not right for me just now.

On Tuesday morning, I packed my stuff, took Mandy to work and drove down to Dads house. From there Dad drove me too the airport, I checked in , Sarah came down to see me off, we talked for about an hour and then I went through customs. Reasonable uneventful trip back to LON, met some great people on the plane, walked through customs to be greeted by my loving bf.

Since returning to London not much has been happening, well that's not true. I decided not to take the job that I had been offered and started studying full-time. I'm currently about half way through BA 1 and Galileo and will be siting my first exams in just under 2 weeks. 

Greg and I also did a weekend trip to Bath with Tanya and Andrea the 2 girls we met on the train to Paris. Had an absolute ball. Bit too  much to drink and we all suffered on the Sunday but it was good fun.

As for future travel the Mafoo, Greg, Tanya and Andrea monthly trip itinerary has been drafted and is in the finally processes of getting approved by the board. Travel for the next 6 weeks include a night in Glasgow, 2 nights in Rome and a weekend in Frankfurt to catch up with Chicken Spice.

Well, I better sign off now. Everything over here is going really well and I'm really sorry to all of you who haven't been able to view my website over the past month or  2. I will be doing something about it this afternoon, so hopefully it will be working in the near future. Take care :-)

London update 6th August 1999 - Another month has passed. I think this is week 10 away from home. Not really homesick but not really thoroughly enjoying myself either. What I do know, is that this has definatley been a learning and growing experience for both me and Greg.

If you didn't know I am leaving for Adelaide in just over a week for 6 days. Goodness knows why, I guess it was the right thing at the time. Mum was ill and couldn't come to the airport and a number of other things. As for Greg and me, I'm sure we'll cope, fuck nows how but we will.

Amsterdam was absolutely amazing, a real eye opener! Paris on the other hand was a bit of a disappointment. Amsterdam is definatley worth the trip if you ever get the opportunity to see Europe. In the next couple of days I will start adding pics from Amsterdam. 

Well, I'm off to Ben and Jerrys for some ice cream, hope you are all well *hugz*

Another Update 19th July 1999 - Well, it's been 7 weeks now since we left home and I am really enjoying myself. All those thoughts about getting really home sick, were me just worrying (as per usual). Sure I miss my family and friends, but hey, whats the net for? I talk to them all the time, whether it be by phone, email or ICQ. I just don't have time to miss them.

I'm loving life, especially since we have moved into the house. I'm looking for work currently but aren't overally worried about it right now. It's the first real chance I've had to relax and work out the direction of my life since leaving school. It's' great having all this free time! I don't consider my self as unemployed, my occupation is 'Traveller', which is probably true to a certain extent. After saying all that though, I do have a job interview with a large retailer in  London on Friday! It's not a long term thing, just something until the right job turns up. Apart from that, I'm returning to Australia for my Mums birthday next month, so getting a job now would probably be a bad idea :-)

What else can i tell you *thinking*, Ben (my cousin) is coming over on Sunday, which will be great. Good to see someone I know and be able to talk to them face to face :-) Oh well, it's tea time, so I'll check in again in a couple of weeks. Until then, enjoy the new site, any comments, feel free to email me :-)

News from London - London has lived up to all my expectations. Dirty, smoggy, busy, people are rude, bloody expensive and no-one but tourists will talk to you. Nothing like Scotland where you get sweet ladies in BnB's leaving a key under the door mat because you are arriving late or they have to go out before you get in :-) London is a nice city, well parts, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey are all beautiful, but I do understand why people come here on holidays and leave again.

We have finally got a house and will be out of this hotel in 1 more night which I will be ecstatic about. The room is really small, on a slope, smells of stale cigarette smoke and the furnintire is so old that most of it is falling apart. The house we are moving into though is really, really nice. It's just above Hyde Park in a place called Marble Arch. It's bloody expensive and you cold say a $10000AUD bond is a bit OTT but if you want to live in London these are the things you have to put up with.

Since leaving Australia 3 and a bit weeks ago we have been to Kuala Lumpur (which was great by the way), Scotland (which was FANTASTIC) but have spent most our time doing the touristy thing in London. Today we are going to Cambridge which will be good :-) Next weekend we are going to Scotland again but going up further in the highlands.

Just before I leave for London - Hey all of you out there :-) I just thought I'd drop a wee line to you all before I leave to London.This is probably the last time I am going to get the chance to update this site before I go. So too all of you guys in Adelaide that I have already said 'goodbye' too, have a great and very safe year. Don't forget that I will always have email and you are all more than welcome to email (email address isn't changing) me.

This is one of the  biggest things I have ever done. I have left a really good job (with great people as well), packed up a house that I really enjoyed living in and probably the thing that is going to be the hardest is leaving all my friends and family, that  I love so much. On the other hand, I have a year of excitement and unknown ahead of me.

Just a special little note  for Mum, Kelly, Mandy, Dave and Carly:

I am going to miss you guys most of all. I spend the mojarity of my time with you. 

Dave, you have been the greatest house buddy in the world. Easy to get along with, funny, loving and caring. I am going to miss you so much buddy, it hurts to think about.

Mandy, hold up strong babe, I'll be back in a year. You are the most caring and  loving person I know and you will never ever be forgotton.

Carls, keep taking those photos and make sure you email them to me. Lots of *hugz*

Kelly,  Make sure you go and visit Grant and don't forget coffee with Mandy once a week. Kels, look after yourself. Most importantly Kelly, If you ever want to talk or you're having a bad day, I'm only a phone call away (whatever time, it doesn't matter, your my sister). Just promise me one thing Kels,  that you will look after mum and if there is ever a problem, let me know, I might be able to help.

Mum, now you are the most important person in my life. Make sure you look after yourself and don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Although I'm going to miss you, so very very much, it is something I have wanted to do for ages. If I don't take the opportunty while I have it, it might never come around again.   It wouldn't matter when I did it though, because saying 'goodbye' would always be the hardest part of the trip. One thing I do guarantee though, is that you'll be over at Christmas meeting the family I know you will love so much. No-one has ever understood the connection I have with them, but hopefully by you meeting them someone else may understand. Mum, if you ever need to chat, don't ever hesitate to call me. You have been a great Mum and if I can do anything too help you, I will. Now, most importantly, you look after yourself,  keep healthy and have fun. I Love You MUM :-)

Background Information - Well where do I start? Well my names Matthew Evan Fopp and I was born on the 12th of April 1979, which makes me 19 years old. I am currently living in Adelaide, Australia but hope to be moving to London in the next couple of months with Greg. I think I will always consider Adelaide home, but right now I want to travel and experience the world and I think that London will be the perfect location for me and greg to base ourselves.

Well, I'm working for another ice cream store in Adelaide as store manager. I am enjoying myself and it is keeping me amuzed which is good. As for London, Greg and I leave on the 5th of June. We are spending 2 days in KL on the way, which should be an experience. Goodness knows what we are going to do for accomodation and work when we get there but we should be able to work it out!

I have many different interest which include travelling, drinking, roller blading and I could dribble on for days but I will stop there. I love the beach as well. I have travelled through a fair bit of England and Scotland and hope to branch out to Europe and the States within the next 12 months eg: one of the reasons for moving to London. I also forever seem to be gallivanting around Australia but are starting to get over it these days! 60 flights in two and a half years is just too much!!!

I wont really go into my family and friends in this section because I think they need a section to themselves... I know the information I have given you here isn't much, but it is just supposed to  give you a little idea of what goes on inside my head -well, not much normally-.