Holiday Inn Manchester-Central Park

... I can do without 30+ weeks when I am working. Now at the start of winter days are getting colder, it is dark before we finish work but the rain has been minimal. There is promise of worse weather to come. So far so good.

Food

Baked beans, mushy peas and puddings. The English love them all. Even offered “Pudding Wine” in a restaurant!

It has been a real advantage to have lunches supplied. Geoff has been having ...

... venue for next years Commonwealth Games - IF and I say this again IF they are ready for it..... Talk to some people and they say no chance, talk to thers and they say it will be ready, we have our reservations - certainly the most important part, the stadia etc will be complete but as for rail links, road infrastructure and everything else that goes with such a high profile event as the Commonwealth Games is concerned - not a chance.. But they don't seem too flustered - it is india after ...

... the gorge up the gorge” debacle followed by kilometres of what, bog? on top of a mountain?!! where the hell were we?!! Also, damn the reservoir where, having run out of water, Ryan requested that I wade in and try and get some water for boiling. Cold! Muddy! Undrinkable! Squidgy!

Boulder Paths

"Over the boulder, down the boulder, **** the boulder, **** THE BOULDER!!!"

There are some points where the paths are naturally made of boulders or large rocks, fine I'm on a mountain I get it. However one day we hit some hard going with a path covered in boulders which, after about twenty minutes, I noticed there weren’t any boulders OFF the path, only on it. A neat line of ******, leg-twisting boulders was ...

... and 3 final patients and was all done by 4pm but didn't get out the door till ten past after all the final farewells and well wishes. Headed home and did the final pack, said farewell to my land lady and the house I have called home since April and was off to Manchester.

Been hanging out at Amy and Dave's - catching up and packing. After girly chats of Fri night, Dave was at the pub with the boys. Amy and I did a quick shop in town ...

... control, security checks, a 'secure' bus ride from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1, more security checks... until we were spat out where BMI had left us waiting for our Air NZ flights a month ago. We swapped our Virgin-issued boarding cards for BMI-issued ones at the transfer desk and it wasn't long before we were down at gate 8, which seems to consist of multiple actual gates leading to various BMI aircraft. About 30 mins from flying ...

... but you should see the cost of travelling by train over here!) to Manchester to catch up with Sarah. On Saturday she took me to the Lakes District (very nice) and we stayed at her friend's place in a town called Keswick (don't pronounce the w, I told you they talk funny up here) then on Sunday saw some more of the local area before heading back to Manchester (well, Oldham to be more accurate, which ...

Thought we'd show you how much work we (or should I say Paul) put in to get Winnie ready for our big adventure - what a turnaround eh!!! Don't think we'd envisaged just how much work would need doing, and how much of our lives would revolve around it - it was all camper this, camper that - sure we must have bored you all!Also, weren't accounting for all the troubles ...

... as is traditional for Brits returning home from the continent. I did have time to spend the last of my Euros on a pain au chocolat and a cappuccino. Nothing special. I know that I'm only in a ferry terminal so shouldn't expect wonders but it struck me as funny that I could get frothy coffee and pastries in every country that I went through. I could email without hassle. It is interesting to see it...globalisation. It's not so insidious, destructive ...

WE SURRENDER On behalf of the united armies of Coldstream, BC, Canada, we surrender to the great nation of India. After an intense battle of 5 days and 5 nights, Colonels Childs and Childs surrender to the great Rogan Josh garlic nans, pilau rice and extra popadoms. We tried our very best to do two full weeks of curry but alas, it wasn't meant to be. We tried, god we tried. We thought we were ...