So.
I moved to Australia three years ago, with a suitcase full of hopes and plans. There’s been a number of significant events, and any number of photo opportunities.
But in a surprising - to me, at least - turn of events, I’m changing direction and leaving the bench. Tomorrow, my two week holiday in NZ ends and I’m getting on a plane to return to the UK: on 6th April I’ll be starting work at the Faculty of 1000, based in the centre of London.
In a strange kind of symmetry, I’m feeling just as apprehensive and excited as I did three years ago, with the same feeling of the ending of one era and the beginning of another. I will, as ever, keep you posted.
Good luck, Squiffy. By God, I wish I was going with you.
“There’s been a number of significant events”
I am shocked, shocked I say, by the grammar in this sentence.
Good luck with the move (finally). Don’t forget to take both daughters with you – you seem to have lost one in that photo. ;)
Oh, and I think you should continue to wear your Crocodile Dundee hat at all times while in London.*
*this may not actually be a good idea
No… both daughters are in that photo.
“There has been a significant number…”
Mmm?
We’ll try. Nice photos!
Mmm… is right. There has been a significant number… is correct, isn’t it? But somehow, when abbreviated to There’s, it sounds wrong.
Your elder daughter is much taller than I’d imagined, or the perspective is a little different in this photo than it appears at first glance. So I shall revise my statement – try not to forget Kate in Oz. ;)
I’m slightly crouched and she is closer to the camera—she is also really tall.
And I am still the grammar king, even from Auckland airport. Which is where I am now, not when I said the previous, or something. I just love travelling.
Safe journey, Richard. Hope to see you in the pub on Wednesday night
Safe travels!
Good luck!
I can’t believe I haven’t commented on “ongoing”/“on going”. I am the worst geek ever. Also, you are in a plane now, and several (two) planes have crashed since you started your trip, and I find this most unsettling.
One in Australia, even. Let’s all think happy thoughts!
Wow.
I haven’t caught up with the news yet, so wasn’t—tell a lie, I saw there was a cargo plane in Japan. I’m in Dubai at the moment, looking forward to a short, seven hour flight. Thanks for the best wishes.
Which is the second plane crash then? There was an incident on our flight number a couple of days before we actually left NZ (EK407 goes Auckland→Melbourne→Dubai) but it doesn’t really count as a crash.
Private plane in Montana, FedEx plane in Japan (?). Look, I don’t want to talk about plane crashes until you’re safely in the UK. I’m superstitious about flying.
I’m in Dubai at the moment
You know, sometimes I just love living in the 21st Century.
me and my jetlag {waves}
Welcome home!
Thank you!
The A1 is in better state than when I left. And daffodils! They’re everywhere!
Welcome back, Richard!
Thank you!
Yay! iPhone \o/
Geek.
um, yeah?
Yay! Have fun! Did you see the link I left on Facebook?
Ooh, missed that.
What do you reckon, folks? The Immigrant Song?
Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner
I come from a land down under
My default is the intro from Sweet Child Of Mine, while a few people have been assigned custom ring tones (the intro to Step On by the Happy Mondays, the guitar solo at the end of Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes, and the intro to April, Come She Will by Simon and Garfunkel).
My (not an i)phone came with such stupid ring tones that I ended up paying $3 to download a ring tone that is the sound of a ringing telephone. I don’t like all the bleeping. I want phones to go “rrrrrrringgg rrrrrrrringggg”, just like the aliens on Sesame Street.
For almost a year now, mine has been the beginning of this piece… my son starts jigging when my phone goes off.
I bet!
Past favourites of mine are Bittersweet Symphony (intro strings) by the Verve, and Sympathy for the Devil (guitar solo and woo woos) by the Stones. My husband had Outkast’s Hey Ya for years, which was fun too. I still reach for my phone when I hear any of the above playing in a bar.