Fun in Blighty

So having finished everything off, handed it over, packed up, shed a tear, said goodbye and got in the car I found myself at the airport. For once I got through the bag check and visa desk very easily and quickly, which was a surprise. I found the cafe airside - I say 'found', but there is only one. It was rather packed and a kind gent asked me to share his table, in true Namibian hospitality fashion within minutes he had kindly offered for me to stay with him and his wife should I ever pass by where they live in SA, who know a they might feature here in a few months!

"A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves." - Amelia Earhart 

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." - Tennessee Williams 

I hit Jo'berg the day after Mandela's memorial, expecting it to be busy or full of media and officials I was pleasantly surprised. I did however, share my plane row with a new york journalist covering the memorial and a young girl who had been working on cruise ships all over the world, if plane seats were given out by interest and how you would bond with other long haul passengers I would have been very lucky. We landed in the UK and had hugs before going our separate ways - how weird is that after a plane journey?!

Finally I was 'home', or rather sat at Heathrow looking out at grey skies, exhausted and wondering where the sun was. Luckily I had a cabin room booked in a hotel, small enough to swing a cat in, clean and functional, Yotel! provided a small room with shower, loo, bed and TV and there I slept for about 5 hours, the main relief being able to be able to lie down after around 21 hours sitting. I then headed out to stay with a friend who put me up for the majority of my time in London (thank you!) and a few friends came round for a curry and to see my exhausted self! The first few days were focussed around a few nice lunches and dinners, walks on the river and visits with friends, meeting new babies and seeing old faces.

On one day we went down to see the Christmas markets on the south bank, it was so packed, I think there were more people there in that hour that I have seen in the last two years!



I was really pleased to have made it back in time for a black tie dinner with loads of old friends. We booked in to an amazing Japanese Supper Club with about 30 of us there for a seven course dinner, gin and tonic and gyoza to start, with a scallop sushi, spaghetti and caviare, broth cooked at the table as a communal dish, marinaded white fish, chocolate torte and another starter I can't remember, all washed down with fizz and white wine(s). Amazing. Having missed the last tube catching a final drink in a local pub we hit the joys of the night bus and crashed out about 2am. A few of the others headed to Mahiki, but for me African veldt to one of London's 'top' celeb clubs was a little too much, both energy and difference wise!

"Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr. 

So good to see these people!!

The day after I caught up with more old faces and then headed back to watch (or rather talk over, as usual) a movie or two.

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson 


My last night in London on the first stint was spent with old faces from my last London job, great to catch up with them, see where they are at now and see how everyone has made such a success of themselves.

"Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally." - David Frost 

I headed back to Bolton on 17th to spend time with family. We cleaned and organised and shopped and put the tree up and decorated...

and cooked...

who's been eating those mince pies?!...

 and tracked santa via NASSA

and relaxed.

Oh and had lots of cat cuddles...

...and set the Christmas pudding on fire as is traditional (no eyebrows later!)

Apparently Kirsty Allsop asked for people to tweet in their Christmas trees and mum sent in ours expressing there was too much tinsel on it (my fault), Kirsty re tweeted us and shared the tree with the nation for their comments - mostly in my favour that there was not too much tinsel. So I share it with you now...

....no need to share your thoughts on tinsel levels, the nation has already judged it. Thank you.

Christmas was a quiet one at Grandmas, followed by a relaxing day at home, a singing gig of my cousins, a family party and birthday / new year at a local venue with a good dinner and a piper where (after a few babychams) mum was busting out the funky dance moves  - one in particular I had to query - upon which she announced that when she was at SHYC (pronounced 'shic' and short for "sacred heart youth club", the height of cool at 15) this is how she started a back drop in her youth, amazing what you find out after two glasses of champagne and half a bottle of cab sav.

"Time misspent in youth is sometimes all the freedom one ever has." - Anita Brookner 

It's a very strange thing being away in such a different environment for so long and then come back to all the things that have been familiar to you for so long and yet are slightly different now. Nothing changes, yet nothing is quite the same. People age, get new partners, have babies, get married, split up, buy houses, get sick, recover, but essentially, for the most part your relationships remain the same. Yet somehow its you that is different, not so much that it changes your relationships for the worse or even at all somehow (at least I hope not!), but something has to be said for that passage of time and the difference in experiences you have had. I am lucky enough that a lot of my friends have lived and worked or some from overseas, or have travelled to rich cultural places and do understand how you return home somehow changed. Your perspectives are different, you handle things in different ways, think and do odd things for where you currently reside (like have a brief moment of concern about not taking your phone on a walk in case of a snake) and swear in another language. It has been so nice to see family and friends and I feel so lucky that my relationships remain the same, there is a me shaped piece that I slot straight back into without much effort, but sadly at the moment I am not ready to take back that place, certainly not physically and will be off again shortly to see more of the world. It's amazing how you realise that in some ways living back in what I am used to as a 'normal' life might not be a bad thing - steady job, nice wage, friends, family, restaurants, bars, handy transport, commuter trains, weather, rent costs, red tape, day to day 9-5, rat race....then you start to realise that despite missing people, missing the familiar and the convenient I am in no way done with travel, new experience and new people. This in turn means living day to day out of a bag, missing home and missing you who read this now (that is unless you are one of the people in Russia who read this and think its something to do with Lady gaga), but before I have any serious commitments I must go, maybe you will come and visit me on the road somewhere.....

...So into 2014 we plunge, excited to have new plans, or rather to be about to make new plans to travel. For those who know me well you will be pleased to hear the full 2014 project planner has been drawn up and is in force (thanks for the book bestie :0) and yes they are project tabs!

Some pins are in a map and this is where we start...

(nb the ones clustered around S Georgia are ones that fell out of places and need replacing. There really aren't seven places in S Georgia I want to see).

So after a week of a bad cough and cold it was back to London for some final catch ups, more new babies, a bad hangover after too much sake, and lots of walking round London and seeing how the skyline had changed. 

People keep asking me what my next plan is, so far it looks like I will head back to Namibia to pick up some stuff as I already had flights booked back in there that I did not want to waste, then head to SA for a few weeks, Cape Town and Jo'berg, followed by a short stint back in the UK to make some proper plans and then more travels of Lady G. 

Watch this space....

"Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer." - William S. Burroughs 

"To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float." - Alan Watts