Here's my friend Tom Jeppe showing me one of his paintings about to be in the exhibition Exercise In Sophistication at Utopian Slumps (October 2011). 

www.thomasjeppe.com

 And here's his door in the gallery, surrounded by his co-exhibitor Caleb Shea's sculptures.

       More Caleb Shea.
       http://calebshea.blogspot.com
   

       This guy was out the front of mine and Sheena's place holding a tissue to his
       forehead. I thought it may have been sweat from his brow he was attending to.
       The next morning I realised he must have been bleeding.

       An amazing thing about coming back was being able to see big changes
       in my friends' lives. One of my best and oldest friends Bim had a baby girl
       with her man Jason. This is little Leo with Bimmy on Gertrude Street.

       Traffic.

       September 23, 2011, back in Melbourne.

       Back to my mum's place.

       Saw this car on my way to getting a haircut.

       Visited my pal Dan Price in his studio.

       Went for a walk with him and saw this abandoned place.

       And finally took a photograph of this great painting by Mike Brown,
       which I had seen and enjoyed for years.

       London.

       Before heading back to Australia, we decided to spend a couple of days in London,

       visiting sweet Marawa, who showed us a wonderful time.

       Bless you, Maz. 

 Marawa was also heading to Melbourne, about twelve hours prior to us. 

Here she is wrapping her hoops for transportation.

One of the hardest working women in showbiz.

www.marawatheamazing.com

 I stared at these bricks for ages.

       We recycled Marawa's busted hoops by playing large scale hookey.
       Thanks Sheenie for the photos.

       Doing my best.

       Someone else's success.

       Being a huge Harry Potter fan, Sheens had to track down this infamous platform.

       And then sadly, it was time to go.

       September 18, 2011. This was our final evening in Berlin. We had takeaway
       Thai food at Pat and Murray's house and watched Jurassic Park.

Mikey Kutschbach.

Mikey is an Australian artist who has been living and working in Berlin for the better part of a decade. He's also a genuine gentleman. I didn't know him prior to coming, but a mutual friend put us in touch. He arranged a trial for me at the picture framers where he worked. I arrived in Berlin on the 15th of September 2010, and on Friday the 17th I was employed. Mikey also lent me a bike to ride for a whole year. And he and his wife Tine made me feel so welcome. Thanks so much for everything mate. All the best for baby number two, and beyond.

www.michaelkutschbach.com

       Assorted images.

       Here are a variety of photos from September '10 to September '11.

       For one reason or another they didn't make it in regular posts.

       These are the flowers I jammed into my neighbour's letterbox in Friedenau,
       to say thank you for letting me use her wireless internet.

       James, bathed in the beautiful light of the early evening on the balcony
       at mine and Sheena's last apartment in Berlin, in Prenzlauer Berg.

       Sheena on the same balcony on a different day.

       Nearing the end of my trip, I gathered all my loose change and tried
       as best I could to spend it around town. Not everyone was happy about it.

       Entrance to Frankfurter Tor U-Bhf in winter.

       Snowflakes falling.

 The above two buildings brightened my day every time I'd walk past them near work.

 View from a couch.

       Schönleinstraße U-Bhf, New Year's Day 2011.

       A souvenir from my New Year's Eve partying.

 A view from the inside of my flat in Friedrichshain.

 Religious discrimination in Charlottenburg.

       What a beautiful window. This in the bedroom of my friend Henrike Meyer's
       place in Neukölln.

       The future, in a pipe.

       Sheena,  in front of a pipe.

       The cinema in Friedenau.

       A portion of the side of a truck.

       Kreuzberg, near Anhalter Bahnhof.

       Vox pop on Kotti.

       Summer rain.

       Electrelane. A comeback, and such an awesome gig.

 Hairdresser's in Friedenau.

       A suspect looking Dan Moynihan.
       www.dan-moynihan.com

       A lesbian wedding. When, oh when, will Australia get with the times?

 Two tapestries at the flea market at Rathaus Schöneberg.

My sweet friend from Japan, Yu Ishikawa.

 Guerilla gardening in Friedrichshain. 

I came back two days later and the plant was gone.

       Nice and colourful semi-trailer on Frankfurter Allee.

       Nice set of lights at Humboldt Universität.

       Guido W. Baudach Gallery.

 Winter on the Ringbahn.

 Two paintings I really like from the artist Franziska Goes, 

shown at Kunstlerhaus Bethanien.

www.franziskagoes.com

       The best thing about winter, blood oranges. And cheap too.

       The incandescent Laila Sakini and James Eisen.

       An awesome video by Canadian artist Mark Soo at Johann König Berlin.

       Adidas Copa Mundial. Berlin: €85; Melbourne: $220.

 Mikey Kutschbach introducing his son Pelle to the other beautiful game.

       Sheena outside the place for buddies.