Another short visit, this time to see Chris and Ali near Aintree. Since I left, they’ve inherited a beautiful laborador called Ashley who’s about as soft and daft as his breed are allowed to be. As ever with C&A, this was a complete chill-out of a visit.
Beer drunk, pie and chips eaten (yum), Top Gear watched (yay!) and bed crashed in.
This evening I was supposed to meet up with Anni, SFG, Mat and Andy in Stoke. Sadly, Anni couldn’t manage it. This was a little awkward as I desparately needed to get my laptop back from her, but she had the best of excuses – Ed is ill.
Ed’s one of the cats she adopted off me before I left and once again, Anni’s proven that I couldn’t have picked a better home for them. He’s had a problem with his tail and is going to have a section of it amputated on Monday. In the meantime, he has one of those collar baffles on and it very miserable. As a result, he’s clingy which means that KK is sulking as she’s not getting any attention.
So, I took a long trip round. Leeds to Cardiff and then up to Stoke. In Cardiff, I chatted to Anni’s neighbour who’s been considering travelling for some time. I may have attempted to talk her into it… Well, she’s not happy at work and has always wanted to do it so why not? I know I’ve enjoyed it.
Up in Stoke, I was hosted by Mike and his lovely wife. Andy (known under a gazillion aliases online) turned up as well – great to be meeting up with so many people after so long. We played with Borris the insane dog for some time before taxi-ing in to Stoke and meeting Mat, who I’ve known since my first year at uni. Or second. Something like that.
We just “did” the two pubs – a Wetherspoons where we watched the rugby and drank beer, then a smaller bar round the corner where we listened to very bad karaoke and drank beer. Somehow I made it “home” where I collapsed in a very comfortable bed and slept for far too long.
A few days in London for various reasons. Primarily (at the time I organised the trip) was the visit of Noa, the lovely Israeli I met in Goa and caught up with again in Jerusalem. She was staying with friends and I managed to find myelf yet another couchsurfer (Lynne) and a friend of a friend (Kate) to camp with over my 4-night stay.
On the journey down I was sat next to a lovely girl who had just finished a recording session in Lincolnshire. She’s working on a new musical and – courtesy of her shift on We Will Rock You – this will be checked over by Brian May! I sat next to someone who knows Brian May. That is pretty cool.
I won’t bore you with too many details, but I did get to see the British Museum for the first time and really enjoyed it, though I still prefer the Natural History Museum. I caught up with Dewi in the London Stone near Cannon Street, a lovely bar decorated with coffins and so on. Cool place. KFC and cinnamon rolls from a great Danish bakery round the back of Soho were eaten that afternoon.
I’d hoped to visit the Houses of Parliament, but my invitation for Wednesday arrived at my folks’ in Perth. On Thursday.
Dewi helped me move my stuff from Lynne’s to Kate’s on the Wednesday night. Lynne had been yet another wonderful CS host. To repay her kindness, I set up her wireless network for her. While there I met another two couchsurfers and a friend of hers from New Zealand who’s off to the Tiger Temple to work in December! Good luck, Sarah. You’ll love it 🙂
Kate was incredibly kind to host me given that she only knows me through a mutual friend who I’ve never actually met! She and Guinness the cat took good care of me, and didn’t laugh at me in my monkey suit when I went for my job interview on Thursday.
Yes.
Job interview.
For a job.
It’s OK. I’ve not gone soft. It’s not a “real” job. I applied for a rep’s position over winter so that I could snowboard for a few months, but landed a position as a driver instead. Essentially ferrying holidaymakers from airport to resort and vice versa for a small amount of cash each month, but with my accommodation, food, lift pass, kit hire, lessons, insurance and transfers included. Not a bad package in all. Only a shame it’s France rather than Canada, but it’s snow and that’s all that matters!
I caught up with Sami (some may know her as BB) after my interview. The journey to her place was tortuous. Anyone who knows London will get this – try plotting a route using train and tube only from Kingston to Woolwich… avoiding zone 1. Yeah, I did that. On the way back I thought “stuff it” and just cheated via London Bridge. I am an evil lawbreaker. But one who got back to Kate’s in a third of the time.
On the Friday, I caught up with Noa and Lynne for a quick brunch then jumped on my train back to Leeds. In the evening, I met up with another friend – Vee – for dinner and some serious drinking. Definitely a good evening, though I think I OD’d on Haribo.
After a night out with Tony and June, who kindly put me up for yet another night, I drove down to Leeds to see Gosia, Robert and Magda for dinner. We ate a pretty decent pizza in the city centre before Gosia gave me a bed for the night in her “under construction” home.
My mum’s car only has a tape deck, but this is ideal as meant I could pick up a tape adapter and listen to my MP3s. Something that would have been tricky to say the least had she had a CD player. Six years, she’s had that car and the odometer was barely over 2000 miles. That wouldn’t last…
If you divide the UK into parts, then Scotland makes 35 countries since I departed (I flew out of Cardiff airport to get to Barcelona in June). I popped up by train to get my mum’s car which was kindly donated to me to save me buying a clunker for a few weeks.
This also gave me a chance to get to know the two new additions to the family – Pepper and Taffy, the schitzus. Our previous pooch had passed away just before I left the UK in 2006 and I’d got the usual “I’m not having any more pets again ever” speech from my mother. At the time I gave her 12 months before she got another dog. It took her eleven.
It was only a short visit – train up, drive down the next afternoon – but I got to spend some time with my pop and the pooches. And I got a car out of it!
Thanks, folks 🙂