Oh yes, I completely forgot to say, I updated my Flickr photos with the last of the Australia bunch (click on the title to view).
Flickr uploader wasn't working for me for an age. Lets blame the volcano shall we? Everyone else seems to be blaming it for everything...
Friday 30 April 2010
April Fool
Forget April Fool's Day. I've started to wonder whether April has just been one big 'fool'. It's certainly been a month of calamity. Let's just say I am incredibly thankful for the RAC, free medical care, the new low NHS dental prices, the patience of my colleagues with my hacking cough and generally being a flake. I'm a little scared I've spoken too soon... After all, it's still officially April. It mightn't be done with me yet.
Still, things could be worse. I'm still smiling. And not through gritted teeth either. Maybe things got so ridiculous there that I just had to laugh it off. Or maybe I'm just happy. Springtime definitely helps. It's my favourite time of year. Watching no less than seven men change the tyres on my car (thus probably solving a few jokes), and hearing the classic line "for emergency medical situations, please call back in an hour" (never get sick in Northumberland) also helped provide some amusement of course.
It's not all been sickness and gloom though: A reunion with some old uni friends involved a few lessons about wearing sunglasses/earrings whilst tickling 3 year olds, rather a lot of cocktails (not at the same time) and rather a lot of fun (though it did make me feel slightly old when we realised we hadn't all been together for nine years). Heading down to Oxford early for a work trip meant that I managed to catch up with some more of the guys down there too. Happy days.
I keep getting asked why on earth I came back from Australia. Aside from the fact that I HAD to come back of course. I can't believe how shocked people are that I'm happy to be home. Maybe it's a 'grass is greener' thing. I love Melbourne and miss it and the people in it dearly, but I also have no regrets about coming home. I WANT to be in England. More specifically, in Northern England. And you know what? In a very literal sense, the grass is actually greener HERE ;)
So what's in store for May? Hiking, climbing, the first wedding of the year, photography (it's about time I dusted off the old neglected camera), running (providing I actually get well at some point), catching up with friends, a little study, and - right at the end - moving back into the city. Bring it on.
Still, things could be worse. I'm still smiling. And not through gritted teeth either. Maybe things got so ridiculous there that I just had to laugh it off. Or maybe I'm just happy. Springtime definitely helps. It's my favourite time of year. Watching no less than seven men change the tyres on my car (thus probably solving a few jokes), and hearing the classic line "for emergency medical situations, please call back in an hour" (never get sick in Northumberland) also helped provide some amusement of course.
It's not all been sickness and gloom though: A reunion with some old uni friends involved a few lessons about wearing sunglasses/earrings whilst tickling 3 year olds, rather a lot of cocktails (not at the same time) and rather a lot of fun (though it did make me feel slightly old when we realised we hadn't all been together for nine years). Heading down to Oxford early for a work trip meant that I managed to catch up with some more of the guys down there too. Happy days.
I keep getting asked why on earth I came back from Australia. Aside from the fact that I HAD to come back of course. I can't believe how shocked people are that I'm happy to be home. Maybe it's a 'grass is greener' thing. I love Melbourne and miss it and the people in it dearly, but I also have no regrets about coming home. I WANT to be in England. More specifically, in Northern England. And you know what? In a very literal sense, the grass is actually greener HERE ;)
So what's in store for May? Hiking, climbing, the first wedding of the year, photography (it's about time I dusted off the old neglected camera), running (providing I actually get well at some point), catching up with friends, a little study, and - right at the end - moving back into the city. Bring it on.
Tuesday 13 April 2010
continuing madness
So Easter came and went and my waistline survived relatively unscathed. I think the fact that I have pretty much stopped drinking alcohol helps. Of course, the fact that I have merely switched the alcohol for junk food doesn’t. Sinusitis, a fairly gruesome chesty cough, tiredness, busyness and general laziness mean my fledgling exercise schedule has taken a hit. I struggle to believe that I used to have such an intense training regime when I find it hard to motivate myself to stay in the gym for more than 30 minutes these days. But I have discovered decongestants, accepted that sleep is unlikely, tried to become more organised in my busyness (including finally unpacking. More or less.), and given myself a good old kick up the butt. These things, accompanied by the extra hours of light which seem to have suddenly (and gladly) appeared in the day, will hopefully aide my cause.
Easter was largely a family affair, with visits from the brothers and their families. Fact: children are exhausting. I finished the long weekend by falling asleep straight after breakfast on Monday. The nephews are, as ever, delightful and it was good to have the family together as it really doesn’t happen very often. When it stopped raining, we made it out onto the beach. I got a little prolific with the photos as my new obsession with the hipstamatic app for the iPhone overruled all ordinary productiveness for the weekend. That, and playing bejewelled2. But that’s another story, and entirely my brother Chris’ fault.
Spring has sprung. Well, kind of. The daffs are out, the leaves are starting to bud, and it’s staying lighter for longer. It’s still cold, but weirdly that’s okay. Did Australia do something funny to my blood? I no longer seem to be the cold-blooded creature in constant need of a heat source that left the UK 13 months ago. The schools are finally on holiday, so I have been basking in the bliss of no traffic queues for a few weeks. And suddenly everything looks peachy. Or at least it will do when I get rid of this cough.
Gladly, Network Rail called off the impending rail strike that threatened to ruin my trip to Aberdeen and I took my sniffly self up for a weekend with the girls from Vancouver. The sun came out and we spent a day walking along the beach, having what was very nearly a vomitous trip on the galleon at the fun fair (was there really a time when that was actually fun? Judging by the small girl opposite us, perhaps not), eating fish and chips, and ice cream, and maybe just a little beer/wine consumption. Great fun and fantastic to see the girls again, but long train journeys, and I’m pretty glad to be in Newcastle for a couple of weekends now.
Easter was largely a family affair, with visits from the brothers and their families. Fact: children are exhausting. I finished the long weekend by falling asleep straight after breakfast on Monday. The nephews are, as ever, delightful and it was good to have the family together as it really doesn’t happen very often. When it stopped raining, we made it out onto the beach. I got a little prolific with the photos as my new obsession with the hipstamatic app for the iPhone overruled all ordinary productiveness for the weekend. That, and playing bejewelled2. But that’s another story, and entirely my brother Chris’ fault.
Spring has sprung. Well, kind of. The daffs are out, the leaves are starting to bud, and it’s staying lighter for longer. It’s still cold, but weirdly that’s okay. Did Australia do something funny to my blood? I no longer seem to be the cold-blooded creature in constant need of a heat source that left the UK 13 months ago. The schools are finally on holiday, so I have been basking in the bliss of no traffic queues for a few weeks. And suddenly everything looks peachy. Or at least it will do when I get rid of this cough.
Gladly, Network Rail called off the impending rail strike that threatened to ruin my trip to Aberdeen and I took my sniffly self up for a weekend with the girls from Vancouver. The sun came out and we spent a day walking along the beach, having what was very nearly a vomitous trip on the galleon at the fun fair (was there really a time when that was actually fun? Judging by the small girl opposite us, perhaps not), eating fish and chips, and ice cream, and maybe just a little beer/wine consumption. Great fun and fantastic to see the girls again, but long train journeys, and I’m pretty glad to be in Newcastle for a couple of weekends now.
Thursday 1 April 2010
The future’s bright, the future’s… erm… orange
The stealing of Orange’s tagline is not really intentional (and a little ironic since yesterday I switched from having Orange as my mobile service provider after 8 years), but really it’s kind of true – the future is bright and it is decidedly orange. That is, orange with a special reflective strip: cone after cone after cone on (seemingly) all the roadways of Britain.
I feel like I have been home for months. Australia feels like a distant dream. I have only been home for 20 days. I am dog-tired. Everything feels very ‘untidy’. I am not sure when I went from being organised and under-control, to being so chaotic. Maybe I should slow things down. But knowing me, that’s highly unlikely.
I’m not the only one. Something seems to have happened in the last few years and suddenly everyone is incredibly busy. Is that just the way life is? Is this just what happens as you get older? Or is it just a coincidence? One thing I have found interesting recently – from reading a few of my friends’ blogs and generally talking to people – is that I am definitely not the only one who is coming to conclusions about what I want to do with my life (or maybe just ‘next’ in my life), and feeling exhilarated by the freedom making those decisions/realisations brings, then being filled with doubt about the rightness of that decision because things are rarely what you expect them to be.
My decision to go back to university, and doing another A Level? Absolutely right. I am not wavering. In fact, my resolve grows every day. However, also growing every day is the niggling feeling that I may have gotten myself in for more than I bargained for. For some reason in my mind, starting an A Level at 29 seemed easy. After all, I already have 3, which I did at a time when I had no direction at all. Having begun to read the course material, I realise that working full time and studying a subject I have not looked at for 14 years is no small undertaking. I have no memory of the basics, and all that ‘life’ experience apparently didn’t necessitate use of my brain. Instead, it has been replaced with mush. A flippant comment I made about having completed my first degree whilst partying a lot, so “how hard could it be to go back to uni and do a degree when I am not partying (so much) and actually paying attention?” may well come back to haunt me. Still, this is all for the good. It is good for me. I’ll keep telling myself that.
Meanwhile, back in the whirlwind, it’s been a great few weeks of catching up with friends – some of whom I haven’t seen in years – in Nottingham and Oxford; getting back into climbing at the new Newcastle climbing wall; starting to catch up with my friends in the North; catching up with family; getting back into the gym; planning more trips; studying; getting back into work; and watching some great live music. Life is very different, but still good.
Next, I’m back on the house hunt…
I feel like I have been home for months. Australia feels like a distant dream. I have only been home for 20 days. I am dog-tired. Everything feels very ‘untidy’. I am not sure when I went from being organised and under-control, to being so chaotic. Maybe I should slow things down. But knowing me, that’s highly unlikely.
I’m not the only one. Something seems to have happened in the last few years and suddenly everyone is incredibly busy. Is that just the way life is? Is this just what happens as you get older? Or is it just a coincidence? One thing I have found interesting recently – from reading a few of my friends’ blogs and generally talking to people – is that I am definitely not the only one who is coming to conclusions about what I want to do with my life (or maybe just ‘next’ in my life), and feeling exhilarated by the freedom making those decisions/realisations brings, then being filled with doubt about the rightness of that decision because things are rarely what you expect them to be.
My decision to go back to university, and doing another A Level? Absolutely right. I am not wavering. In fact, my resolve grows every day. However, also growing every day is the niggling feeling that I may have gotten myself in for more than I bargained for. For some reason in my mind, starting an A Level at 29 seemed easy. After all, I already have 3, which I did at a time when I had no direction at all. Having begun to read the course material, I realise that working full time and studying a subject I have not looked at for 14 years is no small undertaking. I have no memory of the basics, and all that ‘life’ experience apparently didn’t necessitate use of my brain. Instead, it has been replaced with mush. A flippant comment I made about having completed my first degree whilst partying a lot, so “how hard could it be to go back to uni and do a degree when I am not partying (so much) and actually paying attention?” may well come back to haunt me. Still, this is all for the good. It is good for me. I’ll keep telling myself that.
Meanwhile, back in the whirlwind, it’s been a great few weeks of catching up with friends – some of whom I haven’t seen in years – in Nottingham and Oxford; getting back into climbing at the new Newcastle climbing wall; starting to catch up with my friends in the North; catching up with family; getting back into the gym; planning more trips; studying; getting back into work; and watching some great live music. Life is very different, but still good.
Next, I’m back on the house hunt…
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