Not a huge amount to report over the weekend. Dinner with Leah’s folks on Friday night (thank you to them!), then off to see 30 Days of Night which wasn’t too bad. Well filmed, poorly ended and otherwise nothing spectacular.

Dinner with my folks on Saturday night, with Sylvia and Tony – two very long-standing family friends who I’ve not seen in maybe seven years. Lovely to catch up with them and a long night was had chatting away and watching the dogs run rampant like spoiled children.

Sunday saw me back in TX Maxx buying the salopettes I was after, plus a new pair of trousers. Shame I can’t seem to find anywhere selling decent 3/4-length skateboarding shorts as I had to ditch my pair. They had gone past “funkily well-worn” to “trashed”.

I’m typing this up far too late in the evening having swapped my rucksack for a large Samsonite bag which will hold more stuff. Were I heading to Asia again, I’d have no problem fitting what I need into one day/laptop bag and one rucksack as I could dress light. Unfortunately, padded warm clothing plus light indoor wear and three changes of footwear does require something a little heftier than my trusty backpack.

Once again, I am leaving far too much stuff in my parents’ cellar, but it gives my dad an excuse for not doing the insulation. He’s not desparate enough to have the work done as to allow me to do it. I did volunteer. Mind, you’d have to be really desparate to concede to let me do any DIY.

So off to bed. I’ll be up at 6:45am, in the car half an hour later and checking in by – hopefully – half eight or thereabouts. Next update whenever I get the chance and hopefully regularly afterwards.