West Beach Brighton

Two days left - still can't really believe we're going. Excited and also a bit nervous - how will we get from place to place especially around Cambodia and China?<br><br>Working our way through our final to-do list and just hoping not to have any last minute panics!!<br><br>Suppose it won't sink in until we're on the plane:)<br><br>Viv xx

Camping in Barnes Green was good fun. We set out for the night to test the new tent, awning and cooking gear. It was very cold and we eneded up caught in a thunder storm, but I'm glad to report the tent was suberb. It was dry inside and our sleeping bags also did the job. We were nice and snug inside and we had a big fry up for breakfast, so all in all a success! <br><br>We got our carnet yesterday, so we're pretty much ready to go! Roll on December 24th!

Well, what can we say! What a send off from the villagefolk at Lindfield. It was coincidentally Guy Fawkes night which is also a pretty big deal in England.<br>A grand parade of burning torches and witches led up to a bonfire and fireworks extrordinaire.<br>To top it off, a display of Morris dancing by the local chaps outside the White Lion. Wow, the locals really love us. Tomorrow we depart for Queensland.

... bewildered face, I spied a man in a brightly coloured Zulu warrior's headdress laughing hard, pointing at me and shouting: 'Did you see that guy? That was brilliant!&#8217;<br><br>It&#8217;s not often a man wearing a Zulu warrior&#8217;s headdress gets to laugh and point, especially in East Sussex on a Thursday night. But then it&#8217;s not often a thirty-foot effigy of the Pope can be reduced to a puff of smoke by a devastating explosion that&#8217;s met not with gasps, tuts and liberal ...

... us, particularly the video installations. A short ride in a London Cab took us to Trafalgar Square, then to Oxford Street via Regent Street. Many classy shops for Jane to explore while John discovered a Cream Puff shop, so we were all happy campers.<br>We were almost tempted by the scents wafting from a Cornish Pastie shop on Oxford Street but we resisted knowing that Ann had cooked some delicious pasties and Rob personally decorated them for us.

... waving our arms like little kids. We wandered the board walk, avoiding dive bombing seagulls and stopped to play at an Antique Penny Arcade. Sure, it was a kitschy little trap, but it was fun. We all had our fortunes read by a coin operated machine - they were surprisingly accurate. Lunch was, of course, fish and chips on the pier proper. Mmmm... Deep fried. with brown sauce. Brown sauce confused me when I arrived, but tasted nice on my fish. It's brown. Slightly ...

Life is beginning to feel 'normal' here in England. I strut across Brighton's streets when the way is clear, not necessarily when the crosswalk tells me to, and I say 'cheers' instead of thank you to the bus driver. I know the routes to walk in order to avoid being attacked by the genetically enhanced, monstrous seagulls on-campus, and everywhere I go there are friendly, recognized faces. Though just like at home, I still wear shorts and sandals in the rain. It has been ...

... got lost in London, searching for the St. Paul's YHA. While all was fine until reaching the end of London Wall, I sort of rode further and deeper into bright darkness and further some more so that I got totally confused. I managed, somehow, to ...

... had been days of warnings about route closings for repair work this weekend, which was not the proximate cause of my current situation), I decided to backtrack and take a different, slower train from the Kings Cross station next to my starting point. Part of my decision was based on only needing to walk 20 feet to the other side of the platform, instead of the rats maze to get to different lines. Well, no sooner did I get on the reverse direction than it stopped, and the announcer ...

... will enrich your education" portion of my reading list. If I am never going to be tested on it then why should I need to do this other reading which is really just a waste of time (I like my education written out clearly in a syllabus which I am given on the first day of class which has exactly how many books I should read and which articles I should know for each seminar! haha - so at Holy Cross what would be a book a week per class give or take a few ...