Back to Blighty

It feels very strange. I have been away for a year, and nothing really changes. I am sleeping in the same room that I slept in when I was 6 years old, driving the same car I have owned for the last 5 years, same dentist, same optician, back in the first city I ever really got to know, back to the same job I had before I left. And you know what? It actually feels good. Well, I need to move to some place of my own soon, but as a whole... yeah, it feels good.

I can't believe I have only been home for a week. Not even. I feel like I have done way too much for so little time. Catching up with old friends, watching movies (note: watching a 3D movie with your mam is SO much fun!), going to gigs, being mauled by the dentist (okay, so maybe that is a tiny bit of an exaggeration), making plans, going climbing, getting back into the gym. My feet haven't really touched the ground. I'm enjoying my last few days off work (back to the grind in the old job on Monday) and continuing my mastering of the art of procrastination, which means I haven't yet finished sorting out my stuff, or started the A Level Biology course I was supposed to be starting... Everything in good time.

I made a big decision at the end of my time in Australia. To go back to uni next year to study Speech and Language Therapy (hence the A Level Biology). So, I have 18 months to work and save, and prepare. Oh, and decide where to apply to. It feels good to have direction - even if I will be forced to stay in one place for longer than a year or so - and I'm really quite excited about using my brain again. I'm such a geek.

But first, I must cast my mind back a week or so. To my beloved Melbourne. I'm so glad for the opportunity to get to know it so well. As a whole, it was an awesome year. The summer particularly topped the awesome list of course. While I'll miss the quirky buildings, the atmosphere, shopping/drinking/eating/coffeeing on Brunswick Street, the warmth, the footy (yes, really! and yes, Cathy I do still have my scarf ;)), the music, the after work drinks with the Yellow crew, eating tofu at Yoyogi with Rom, the laneway bars, the art, the rooftop cinemas (and the ability to have them!); there's nothing I'll miss more than the people. A place is nothing without the people. You all know who you are, and hopefully you know what you mean to me. Thank you for an awesome one, and I'll see you again somewhere, somewhen. Stay in touch. Come visit :)

The whirlwind continues

[oh look! it's another backdated one - I actually wrote this last week, but never finished it]

It's my last full day in Melbourne and I'm sitting in Rom and Silver's house drinking Melbourne Breakfast tea (yummm, thanks Cathy :)) and eating peanut butter on toast. I woke up to Basil (the cat) puking next to my head. Thanks Basil. I hope that's not a sign of the day to come...

Summer appears to have deserted Melbourne early, which is probably a good thing for my acclimatisation, as it seems that winter has not deserted the UK early. It ended abruptly with golf ball sized hail stones on Saturday.

I haven't written anything for an age (again) so I must take a moment to try and work out where the last 6 weeks have gone. It's definitely been fun and didn't involve all that much sleep that's for sure. I've been working 6 day weeks and 9 and a half hour days but still managed to get some socialising time in - spending as much time with friends as possible before I have to leave.

I had a brief escape from the city in the form of a trip to Longwood with Sarah a couple of weekends ago. It's a tiny town in the bush about 2 hours North of Melbourne. It was so good to have a break from the busyness of the city, hang around on Mount Wombat (for the views) and take a walk along the rocks beside the waterfall and just generally breathe some non-city air!