London Life Reborn(e)

In the last couple of weeks one of the things I’ve missed about being on my trip in South America is sitting down and writing up a few lines about recent adventures… so I’ve decided to carry on and see what this blog develops into now I’m back home.

Otherwise, there is so much I miss about South America, (not altogether surprisingly a great number revolving around food), but here are a couple of things that I had to get used to arriving back at home in London after a year away:

Everyone looks a bit sick

Restaurant menus have flamboyant descriptions

People are more outwardly aggressive or they passively ignore what is going on around them

My clothes smell of cigarette smoke after spending any time in the pub

My clothes are actually clean to start off with however

Dogs don’t wear T-shirts

Drinks don’t come in bags

Receiving telephone calls felt weird at first

Toilet paper goes in the bowl not the bucket

People are wearing parkas again

"Carbon Footprint" is one bit of new jargon people are using

It’s all a bit too dark, cold and rainy

Christmas with the family, New Year with the Viking
Christmas passed relatively quietly, at home, with only a couple of disruptions. Firstly the disappearance of a pack of sausages wrapped in bacon, perhaps not something ordinarily worth worrying about, but it did lead to accusations of forgetfulness, senility and theft between all those present.

The second exciting event was the arrival of Tonnelle LaShonya, delivered of Elle and my brother in Brooklyn, and weighing in at a healthy 8lbs 2oz. Welcome to the clan you wrinkly beggar!

And then I managed to let slip to my other niece that there was no Father Christmas… look I’m the youngest, my brothers made sure I had no chance to believe in him, so it’s never been an issue not to talk about it….OK, OK, no excuses, I’m a terrible uncle.

New Year also passed off quite peacefully in the company of the Reverend and the CatInTheHat, AND Norwegian Chris, who made a flying visit to London (Hurrah!!), who I tried to make feel at home with a surfeit of sweet Norwegian brown cheese. So I’ve got to get myself over to Norway, the land of sheep head and mashed lung and other such treats, and home of my ancestors, possibly, although that might turn out to be Perros-Guirec after all.

As the New Year crept on I have been able to catch up spending time with many old friends, and it has been wonderful - although this has also included drinking too much beer in far too large quantities. I have also spent a lot of time re-assembling some kind of wardrobe, which has coincided with me having to start thinking about a return to work – more on that as it happens.

Not really sure how this will unfold, but come back and keep reading…