Hello again my lovelies!

Well after all the excitement of leaving parties and lovely presents, in which I got given an amazing model fishing boat which is now my pride and joy, AND an umbrella hat which is the most awesome thing ever, I have now left the Philippines, and am at home, back in the UK.

The flight was fine, and I even had enough space to spread out and lie down across the empty seats. The excess baggage was expensive but in the end I only had 29 kilos, which frankly after being in the Philippines for 1 year, was not too shabby at all really!

Since being back home in the UK, I’ve had a lovely time hanging out with my mum, sister, and niblings, getting lots of cuddles, trips to the spa, arranging to see friends and other such lovely things.

I have organised all of my life admin, so I’ve been to the dentist, doctor, and optician, and I now feel well and truly poked and prodded! I’ve booked my boiler in for a service, had the electrician round to sort out my dodgy light fittings, and the cats have been to the vet to be wormed, vaccinated and generally checked out. The poor cats are very wary of me now, as the last time I was home, I took them to the vet and then to the boarding kennels for a few days while I was getting my floors done, so they now view me as the evil one and are quite suspicious of me! Poor Tiggy still has a very sore tail, so we’re trying some new medicine and will hope for the best.

I am now the proud owner of an incredibly shiny and exciting iphone, and a wireless speaker, and an ipod nano that I can actually change the music on – all very exciting! I’ve had an electronics splurge, which is very unlike me, but loads of fun!

My lovely mum lent me her awesome and very tiny car to whizz about in, which has been very useful! I’d forgotten how much I miss driving, so I’ve been really enjoying zipping around in it, singing along to cheesy tunes at top volume and enjoying the views of the British countryside. I love whizzing about in my tiny little car, which I can park ANYWHERE cos it’s so minuscule, and I’d forgotten all about the fun and joys of driving. Like the hilariously British moment when three people all arrive at a mini-roundabout at once and we all sit there politely waiting for someone else to go, then we all try and go at once, and stop, apologising to each other silently through the windscreen, and wait all over again for someone to go first.

Brilliant.

Of course, I’d also forgotten about that strange and magical time of day, right around 5pm, when all the perfectly nice, normal humans turn into dickheads because it’s rush hour. But I didn’t really mind, because I’ve got the time to sit quietly in a queue and sing along to Kelly Clarkson, loudly, and out of tune, free from shame and embarassment, because there’s no-one else there to witness it.

I went home last weekend to see some old friends, and even though I’ve lived in Oxford now for 4 years, it still feels like home when I hit Suffolk, and all the familiar roads and villages and shops. It made me feel ever so nostalgic, and it was LUSH to see so many great friends and family again! I haven’t enjoyed myself, or laughed that much for ages!

I have also developed a new and peculiar love of Christmas jumpers. I don’t know why, I’ve always thought they were tacky and naff, but suddenly this year, coming home and feeling all nostalgic and Christmassy, I keep seeing all these fantastic jumpers, and have already purchased one with a very tasteful reindeer on it. I’m not sure if it’s just one of those things that people just start to do when they get older, or if it’s a sign of a mild stroke, but for the first time in my life I am overwhelmed by the desire to buy seriously tacky Christmas jumpers…. I’ll keep you posted if it develops into anything worse, although I’ve already bought a large quantity of comedy Christmas socks, and I’ve always had a penchant for silly hats, so I’m not sure how to tell if it starts getting any worse….

On the work front, I have already got another job lined up, starting asap, so my trip home will be somewhat brief! I’m going to be heading to Iraq (well Kurdistan specifically), for a short contract of about 2-3 months.

All a bit scary, daunting, exciting, and interesting!

So my lovely fun holidays have come to an end already, and I’m heading to a Scout Camp in Kettering for a 4-day security training course, not unlike the one I did many years ago in France!