Reflection
on my time back in blighty!
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| My UK hosts Martin and Jean |
I had
a lovely time back in the UK, Martin and Jean going the extra mile
with their hospitality, visiting friends, my trip to Brighton and
Hove (actually) to see James and Andy, and my first anniversary of
retirement / great adventure / birthday dinner on my last night.
Martin
and Jean also kindly collected some personal possessions being held
in store for me by Jo (my late mothers best friend) including photos
I had long since thought destroyed.
But, I
did so feel like a "fish out of water" I could never afford
to live back in the UK and I think would struggle now to find a role
for myself, so it is more than just as well that I am enjoying my
nomadic life, with so many opportunities to experience life at the
"coal face" and join in much simpler pleasures.
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| My favourite teashop in Brighton - who's that in the window? |
I was
left with the impression of a country that, led by government policy,
is becoming "harder", less caring and for many less
hopeful! Everybody (well, except the rich) having less and needing
to be distracted from the daily grind , (happily [?] the jubilee and
the Olympics were on hand, to fill that particular vacuum).
But, I
admire people like Martin who have taken the opportunity to
re-appraise their situation and to adopt a different lifestyle, and
finding that actually many things thought necessary for existence turn
out to be illusory! Less can definitely be more!
I also
realised that even my now 3.5 bags of possessions are too much and on
my return to the UK en-route to Peru indulge in a further purge.
My
notebook computer, my artists materials (pencils now), a few clothes,
my camera and I think I am all set. I may indulge myself in a
Kindle, to save space on books and I need to keep a small case of
personal papers. Everything else is down to the intangibles of
experiences and friendships and the sharing of knowledge.
Happy,
happy, happy! Thanks to all those who commented on the fact that
pictures of me seem to show an increasingly big smile! I am not smug
as it is not all a bowl of roses but it is worth the effort!
So
here is a round-up of pictures taken during my 10 days in the UK!
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| James and I + Cheddarz |
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| James and Andy |
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| Mr Bird. |
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| So very true! |
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| At the Trout in Godstow |
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| A day of county cricket (Edgbaston Warsc v Middx) |
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