Back in Blighty

Well I guess it should probably come as no surprise to many that after 4 months in the lovely Bris Vegas, surviving my first term at my new school (amazingly), I've taken off back to the UK to catch up with all my lovely friends, and feel a bit cultural again. Well, that's the plan anyway - but seeing as its the Easter holidays, and so many people are away at so many different times, I'm not sure that I will get to see everyone - but you can be sure I'll do my darndest! Anyway, I flew in two days ago and already, its been a mad dash. I flew for the first time with Malaysian Airlines, who really weren't all that bad - and at $1000 cheaper than the nearest competition, they were a real bargain. Surprisingly, the plane wasn't full, so I actually got a couple of seats to myself - allowing me to lie down and get a bit of a nap on the 2nd leg of the journey. On the first leg of the journey I took a Mersyndol as soon as I got on the plane, which just wiped me out - and woke up pretty much in Kuala Lumpur. The bad thing about Mersyndol though, is after taking one, you feel like you've been bashed in the head. Its stupid, this tablet is supposed to be for pain relief (and a bit of a calmative or something) but unfortunately whenever I take one, I always wake up with a headache worse than the one I took it for! Hence, I don't take them very often...

Anyway, I arrived in KL on Sunday morning and we had a couple of hours before the next leg. I walked around the airport, but at 5am there's nothing really open, so I decided, seeing as its 30 minutes by train to the city, and seeing as I have time to kill, I might as well go into town. This was a stupid move in the end, because it cost me about $30 for the return journey - and took an hour round trip - and being a Sunday morning, once I arrived at KL Sentral station, which was no where near anything interesting, everything was shut anyway! So I basically wandered around a little bit, then jumped back on the train to the airport. At least I got a Malaysian stamp in my passport - tick off another country then...

The posters all around the airport brag about how KLIA (the airport) is the best airport in the world. Clearly they haven't seen anywhere else! There's a handful of overpriced shops, a Burger King, a Starbucks and a Noodle bar, and that's pretty much it! It was crap...

Anyway, I eventually boarded the plane for the lengthy trip to the UK, and finally arrived late Sunday afternoon. From there it was a tube and a bus to Aga's place - and as I got out my oyster card, and jumped on the tube (balancing luggage precariously), it was as if I never left. Ah, bliss.

Had a lovely evening Sunday evening catching up, and then the next day it was off for a spot of shopping on the King's Road in the morning (oh I do love Chelsea - although to be fair, when I lived in London I rarely went there - its just too expensive!) and then a leisurely lunch catching up with Michelle and Steph. How lovely. Bit more shopping later on, then an early night (I do hate jet lag - and I do usually suffer more severely with it coming from Oz to the UK than vice versa, alas).

Tuesday was really the only day I got to spend with Aga on her own, as we caught the bus down to Winchester for the day. Had a lovely day wandering about the town, especially seeing the Cathedral again - we had a very informative tour from one bloke who showed us the library and the Triforium Gallery, and where we saw the lovely Winchester Bible - which had been handwritten by a single scribe. He was very knowledgeable, and really made the manuscript come to life. We also met one of the ladies there, who, upon learning I was from Australia, recounted an interesting story about how a piece of the stained glass has ended up in a pokey little museum in Gympie.

We had a lovely time - I especially enjoyed my West Cornwall Cornish Pasty which I had for lunch - SOOO my favourite food!

Anyway, that now leaves me getting ready for Wednesday... have a little bit of a thing to do at Lambeth Town Hall, then off to meet up with Erik and Mat later on- can't wait! It will be like old times again...