It's like I've never been away...

I have been back in the UK for 12 days and have not spent more than 3 days in any one bed!! It's been great being back and catching up with all my friends.

The flight from Abu Dhabi to Manchester was fantastic. After a delicious lunch I was able to put my chair in its flat position and have a well earn rest. After my nap I was able to order afternoon tea and enjoy that whilst watching my selection on the video screen.

On arrival at Manchester I was met by a driver with a nice car(no idea what it was, but was very comfortable with lots of gadgets) and he delivered me safely to the Music Box.

Since then I have been flying around the country seeing various friends and enjoying catching up. I have also been able to move my 34 boxes from Dave and Jayne's loft to Meg's garage! The boxes have been reduced in number considerably, mainly by dumping my video collection. I was a hard decision to make, but when I thought about, I don't have a video player and am unlikely ever to own one again. The number of boxes did come as a bit of a surprise as I had forgotten how many had been put up in the loft. It actually took me two trips to Darlington to effect transfer of the total number of boxes.

My time in Darlington was spent planning the programme for SUbmerge with Meg and we are now confident we have aworking document that will be altered and ammended as necessary throughout the week of the holiday.

I had a lovely weekend in Finningley with Neil and Catherine and the family. They all seem very settled and happy in their new parish which was great to see. Neil is throughly enjoying his role as chaplain to Robin Hood Airport which included 'playing' on the fire trucks on Monday helping to put out the practice fires.

Tomorrow is more planning for SUbmerge tomorrow with Andrew and then dinner out with Jonathan to celebrate his new job. Then Saturday morning I am flying off to Belfast for a few days to see David and Katey and whilst there one of the things we will do is go through the menu for SUbmerge. I will also be able to celebrate the glorious 12th once more in the Province remebering the victory of William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne.

It is really weird at the moment, as the last 10 months feel like a dream. I know that I have been in Karachi but it really doesn't seem real! Also I slipped back into life here without any problem at all, it really is like I have never been away...