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.