Perhaps it's something about being in England. I dunno, some sort of ubiquitous high-stress meme that has infiltrated my chilled traveller brain. But the time is just FLYING! No sooner have I spent an hour catching up with a friend, perhaps over a meal or a beer, than I find myself rushing to my next appointment. It's almost as if I had a job!
 
Or perhaps it's that I am lucky enough to have lots of people I want to see (and who hopefully don't mind seeing me again) while I'm back, and only limited time to do it. Well, I managed to get round quite a few people in the last week, starting with lots of Powergen people. I had lunch with Murray, dinner with Lee & Helen and dinner again with Frankie & Ramesh. Meeting Ramesh was a treat: I'd heard so much about him while going round SE Asia with Frankie, and now I could put a person to the legend!
 
I had an exciting trip into Birmingham (no, really!) on Monday for lunch with Ruth and her colleagues from the RNIB. I was shocked to discover that Brum isn't as hideous as it was the last time I was there. They've completely rebuilt the Bull Ring area (with the pleasing omission of the Rotunda, which from up close - there's no denying this - is a shoddy mound of execrable concrete prefab nastiness, but from a safe distance is actually a cool thing to have on a skyline) and made it all posh with shops. The star feature is a massive Selfridge's which looks like either it's wearing a 1980s dress made out of CDs or it's a Dalek that's ready for a night clubbing. Both of which comparisons I consider positive. It's cool! The only downer of the trip was the hour delay (on a half-hour journey) on the train. It made me late for my tea appointment with Iris!
 
This UK summer is dismal. Especially after last year's scorcher, I just can't get enthusiasm up for windy, cloudy, showery days and cool nights. I haven't even got my money's worth out of the aircon in my hire car! But it's been a good little vehicle, carrying me all over in a non-thirsty manner. Over the last fortnight I did some eight hundred miles, which isn't bad.
 
Right, I'm prattling on about nothing in particular, so I'd better focus. Now that I am back in the London area, I've seen a few people and arranged to see lots more over the next few days. The most exciting thing so far has been a day of ups and downs with Dan: we gambled on a break in the shitty weather and decided to go and see some open-air Shakespeare in Regent's Park. It was Henry IV. I was really impressed! I've never seen a Shakespeare play before, and it was gripping and entertaining too. Then we had some food at Little Bay which is a fab little restaurant on Belsize Road.

Then things took a turn for the worse, but hidden behind a happy event: being a bit thirsty, I popped into a newsagent and what should they have but Diet Irn Bru, which is really yummy! So I bought a can of this and Dan decided (oh how we rue the decision!) to buy a topup card for his mobile. It turns out that the card number has already been used, so the card is invalid. But Orange didn't want to credit him with £20 and neither did the shop. Many many hours of toing and froing on the phone to various call centre supervisors and shop managers ensued. Orange have suggested Dan contact the police and trading standards people. But it's all a big faff, isn't it.
 
It was entertaining in a funny kind of way to be involved in a potentially aggressive situation in a shop full of West Africans and with my ire directed at a large corporation. It's the sort of thing that doesn't happen to me every day, and is therefore to be relished. But I don't think I'd opt to do it a second time. But it beats updating my website, which is what I've spent all today doing!
 
Once again, thank you so much to everyone who has given me a bed for the night. Not least my dear brother Chris and his family - it's so nice to spend time with my nieces again! And I'm never left with an empty glass for long in Guildford. Thanks.
 
 

I've only been back from Spain for two weeks, and already I'm drowning in all the news that I haven't put on my blog since then! It's been a hectic couple of weeks, with two weddings and several catchings-up with people I haven't seen in ages.

In brief:

I have spent many hours finally adding to the photos section of my website. Yes, there for all to see are pictures from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand. But that's not all folks! There are more to come, from my diving exploits in Thailand & Malaysia and from my weddings in the UK.

I was in the Forest of Dean, just on the Welsh border near Bristol, staying in a country pub and being a guest at a wedding "up at the Castle" in Clearwell. Mike & Lindsey both looked fabulous, and the party was officially great. At least, that's what my sore head the next day is telling me. And as for the pub I was staying in, well let's just say that my lunch was the largest (and tasty!) portion of tasty chicken & leek pie I've ever known.

I was at a wedding in Lapworth, near Birmingham. Rob & Nonie are two friends of mine from my working days, and it was lovely to catch up not only with them but also with a host of people from Powergen (or should I say E.ON? Ah, the joys of rebranding!) who I haven't seen for some time. There was free booze, free cheese and groovy live music. All in all, a great wedding!

I was in Cheltenham, and had an outing to Malvern, with my old uni friend Rachel & her partner Aaron. The weather did its best to dampen our spirits, but thankfully Rachel had some home-brewed parsnip wine to counteract the wind & rain. And their local pub provided some very unexpected entertainment! I was warned that it was "usually a bit quiet on a Friday night" but in fact the sex, drugs & violence we witnessed were what I would call "definitely not quiet"; I might even go so far as to say it was "bloody loud" in there! Ah, madcap pubs.

I have been visiting various friends in the West Midlands and the South (including Gareth, Selena, Carolyn, Mike, and Iris), and will continue to do so over the next few days, before heading back to my brother's in Guildford and handing back the hire car. Many thanks go to Ruth & Andy, for putting me up and for giving me unrestricted access to some high-speed internet. Slowly but surely I am pulling my travel plans for the next few months together. Cheers, guys!

The least fun part of the last few weeks has been the ongoing stress with my letting agents in Leam. My flat is currently standing empty, and there has been a catalogue of errors which have tried my patience. Added to which, I have had to spend two whole days getting the garden into a habitable state. But at least I got a bit of sunshine on my back as, teetering on the top rung of the stepladder, I swung the chainsaw overhead and slowly brought my long hedge back down to an almost human scale.

But the happiest news I have is that two friends of mine have recently given birth: Dawn has brought home Ethan, and Sam has had Grace. Hooray! May they live long and prosper.