I've had a 'wheely' good idea...

Firstly, let me apologise for the appalling pun, I just couldn't resist it!

After my trip on the Belfast wheel I did some internet research and found that there are Wheels at the following locations

• Belfast
• Manchester
• York
• Royal Windsor
• Greenwich
• Hyde Park

I have therefore set myself a challenge for my summer in the UK. I am going to 'fly'n each of these Wheels. I am already half way there having flown on the first three in the list, the Yorkshire Wheel being added to my collection last Friday when thanks to the Daily Telegraph, Sian and I had a 2for1 flight on the Yorkshire Wheel, which is sited a the National Railway Museum, York.

I have booked myself a room in London for three days after SUbmerge, where I plan to fly the three London based wheels. I have already flown the London Eye which is not technically part of the set as it is owned by British Airways, rather than World Tourist Attractions. WTA do have moer wheels but these are in Australia so will have to wait for a while.

I have had a busy wheel since returning from Belfast, a process that took a surprisingly short time. I left Chez Guthrie at 7pm on Monday and after a 33 minute flight, I arrived back at the Music Box at 10pm.

On Tuesday I met up with my old boss, Ross, who is geography teacher and attempted to get my head around the AS geography specification so that I can teach it in September. We talked for just over 4 hours, without drawing breath and missing lunch completely! I have aslightly beter understanding of the geography now, but it was great to catch up with Ross, and it reminded me that I really do miss the chats we used have after school, when we would put the world to rights.

After this I headed over to Great Houghton, for tea with the Waggies and to get my instructions on how to get to Mother Ivey's Bay, so that I can join them for a few days in August.

Then on Wednesday I went up to Darlington to stay with Meg, so that we could go to Singalonga Sound of Music!!!!!! It was fantastic, there can't have been a nun's habit for hire in the whole of Darlington, 'not even for ready money'!

The theatre was full of SoM fans, who after a warm up and a fashion show, which included 100's of nuns, girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, brown paper packages tied up with string, and even a huge warm woollen mitten, sang along to the film, cheered for Maria, booed at the baroness and set of party poppers when Maria and the Captain kissed for the first time and all in all had a wonderful time.

Saturday saw me at Stalybridge Congregational Church (where I grew up and where my mother is still a member) to share with them my experiences over the last 10 months. They loved my presentation and where very complimentary, this was followed by a lovely supper including my mother's home made meat and potato pie!!

I was back there again this morning to take the service and was once again very well received.

This week is another busy one in which I have to complete the wedding cake ready for it to be transported to the reception venue on Wednesday. I also have various sessions to get ready for SUbmerge which starts on Sunday.

One slightly worrying thing is that I completely forgot that I should have been meeting Dan and then gone back to Derby this evening with him. It had completely slipped my mind until he contacted me at 5pm checking that I was alright. I could only put this to a 'senior moment' which does not bode well for the future as I am only 37...

If you go across the sea to Ireland...

I have headed over the Irish Sea to Belfast to visit my friends David and Katey Guthrie. I have known David and Katey now for many years having met through the One to One/One UP/now to be called SUbmerge Scripture Union holiday for 11-14 year olds, which I have helped on since 1991! Katey is head cook and David is in charge of shopping! The Guthries are also responsible for providing me with the General Knowledge Crossword from the The Telegraph on Saturday, which I do on a Sunday morning after church whilst eating brunch!

I have been keeping busy over the last week, but not done a great deal really! Last Saturday, Andrew, Tamkeen and I went into Manchester shopping. Andrew is determined to redesign my wardrobe and so I am now the proud owner of a linen shirt and some Lacosse shoes. Tamkeen also managed to buy two pairs of shoes at massive discounts and came home a very happy little lady!

Sunday was church followed by a quiet day at the flat watching the West Wing and Fraiser whilst getting on with my current cross stitch project.

The rest of the week was spent keeping Andrew entertain as he has been off school with 'flu. So I popped round for a couple of hours each day and had lunch with him and play Risk and Scrabble. Andrew held the upper hand in Risk and destroyed each time we played, however, the glories went to me!

Thursday I boarded a BMI flight from Manchester and 40 short minutes later touched down in Belfast and will be here until Monday evening.

Today we went into the city centre and had ago on the Belfast Wheel and saw all round the city. This now means I have 'flown' on the London Eye, the Manchester Wheel and the Belfast Wheel and I am hoping to add the Yorkshire Wheel in York next week. I'm not sure if there are anymore in the UK, but if there are I may have to see if I can get up on there!

After the Wheel we went shopping and now have a second linen shirt and some new polo shirts.

Today is the 11th July which is the day before the 12th July. Now this may seem like a 'statement of the bleeding obvious' as Basil Fawlty would say, but here in Belfast the 12th July is know as the Glorious 12th, and is a major celebration here. It celebrates the victory of William III over James II at the Battle of the Boyne. This anniversary is marked with bonfires on the 11th and the Orangemen marching on the 12th. This also means the city will be more or less closed for the next three days as Monday will be a Bank Holiday as the 12th has fallen on a Saturday.

I return to the Mainland (as it's called here) on Monday and then on Tuesday before heading off over to Great Houghton and then on to Darlington for the rest of the week, I am hoping to learn AS geography in an afternoon so that I will be ready to teach it in September!

I will be going to the theatre on Thursday to see my friend James in his show and then on Friday, Meg, Dot, Wendy, Sue, Roz and I are off to see Singalong the Sound of Music!!!! If you could see me now you would see me clapping like a demented seal!?!?!?!?

If you are not a close friend or associate of mine you, may not know about my love of the world's greatest musical! I love the Sound of Music and my party piece is to perform the whole of the of the SoM on my own singing all the parts and telling the story. This has even been a command performance before the Bishop of Doncaster!

I inherited this particularly party piece from Sylvia Stevens who was chaplain to the Clifton Site of the Nottingham Trent University during my time there in the late 80s and early 90s. I first saw her perform this at a CU weekend away and we even did a duo performance on a subsequent year.

Singalong TSoM is exactly what it says on the tin, you get to watch the film and aing a long with all the songs, and I am very very excited about going along. Apparently, dressing up in costume is almost a required part of going and I am sure the auditorium will be full of nuns and people dressed in curtains, my suggestion to Meg was that we all should go as the Alps...

It takes some getting used to...

It’s really strange, in many ways it feels like I have never been away from Stalybridge and its surroundings. It’s almost as if the last 10 months are just a dream that I have woken up from. Yet in another way I have been changed by the experience in many ways.

The main two ways that I have changed are one, in my ability to deal with the cold, and two my driving!!

Now it’s not that cold in the UK at the moment, its been in the early 20’s and yet it feels flipping freezing to me. When I left Karachi last week it was about 34 degrees and that was at 7am!! Then passing through Doha it was 42 degrees so I am finding a little difficult to adjust. So whilst everyone else is wandering around in short sleeves I have been out to buy a jumper!!

Now I am not claiming I would have won any prizes for my driving before I left for Karachi,but if I am not very careful I might win some more points on my UK license. I found myself going the wrong way down a one way street yesterday, and I over shot the lights at a major roundabout last Monday. I am yet to actually run a red light but it was very frustrating on Sunday morning going to church, I actually had to sit at half a dozen sets of traffic lights that were on red, something I would never have to do in Karachi.

I have had a fairly busy week, with some light retail therapy and a trip over to Darfield/Great Houghton and then on to Darlington. I went to Darfield to see my friends Neil and Catherine who are Rector and Rector’s wife of the parish of All Saints, Darfield with St Michael’s and All Angels, Great Houghton. He is also my old boss as I was previously Lay Assistant in the Parish before I left for Pakistan. It was good to catch up with them and show them all my photos. From there I went to Dave and Jayne’s in Great Houghton for tea and then to join my old house group for another run through my photos.

On Wednesday after catching up with Jayne’s parents I headed off to Darlington to stay with Meg. It was great to catch up with her and to show her all my pictures. We also spent time finalizing the programme for this year’s camp, SUbmerge 2008, which is the new incarnation for the Scripture Union holiday I have been doing for the last 17 years. The holiday starts on the 27th July and we are just about there with the programme.

This week I have to get on and marzipan the wedding cake I am making for my friends Gregg and Julie who get married on the 26th July. I also have to get my eyes tested and my car MOT, so its going to be a busy week. I am also trying to get ready for next term so I had better have a proper look at next year’s timetable and start working through the AS level Geography specification as I will teaching that in September, a teacher’s work is never done…