Sunday
A day of packing and doing final bits and pieces before my flight this evening. I'm pretty close to the limit on my luggage but should just scrape it. Had a lovey Sunday lunch with folks and spent an hour with Hazel and Peter in the afternoon.
I'm writing this before going to the airport and flight back to Australia this evening.
It's been superb being back in UK for a couple of weeks (it would have been perfect if Kate had been here too), good to catch up with family and friends. The goodbyes are always tricky but it wont be long before all the family are back together in Australia for our wedding in 5 months time.
Mondays blog will be done on Tuesday, but will basically be me on a plane travelling!
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Day Four Hundred and Sixty Three
Saturday
A lazy day around the folks place, followed by a family dinner at the following place
http://www.casadeicesari.co.uk/
The food was good but the restaurant is out of the 70's, was expecting Basil Fawlty to appear at any moment.
Back home and off to bed.
A lazy day around the folks place, followed by a family dinner at the following place
http://www.casadeicesari.co.uk/
The food was good but the restaurant is out of the 70's, was expecting Basil Fawlty to appear at any moment.
Back home and off to bed.
Day Four Hundred and Sixty Two
Friday
Took an early train up to London and had lunch with Pru at the Refinery Bar. This was a pub underneath our old office and it was great to catch up with Pru. It wont be long until she and Paul are in Oz doing the same as Kate and I did.
In the afternoon I swung down to Colliers Wood on the tube, forgotten how horrid the crowded tube can be. I went to see our friend who runs Rehab, alas it closed two weeks ago, it was very forlorn as people were collecting equipment from the place. it was nice to see Vincent but a shame the place has gone. Kate and I have many happy memories of the place, not least our leaving do, and hopefully someone will take it on and make it successful again.
I headed back up the Northern line and met the boys for an evening of drinks. Had a good chat with them all and ended up in a dive of a pub before heading home on a late train again. I call it the Burger king Express as its full of drunk people chomping on Chicken royales and alike.
thankfully Alv collected me and home to bed.
Took an early train up to London and had lunch with Pru at the Refinery Bar. This was a pub underneath our old office and it was great to catch up with Pru. It wont be long until she and Paul are in Oz doing the same as Kate and I did.
In the afternoon I swung down to Colliers Wood on the tube, forgotten how horrid the crowded tube can be. I went to see our friend who runs Rehab, alas it closed two weeks ago, it was very forlorn as people were collecting equipment from the place. it was nice to see Vincent but a shame the place has gone. Kate and I have many happy memories of the place, not least our leaving do, and hopefully someone will take it on and make it successful again.
I headed back up the Northern line and met the boys for an evening of drinks. Had a good chat with them all and ended up in a dive of a pub before heading home on a late train again. I call it the Burger king Express as its full of drunk people chomping on Chicken royales and alike.
thankfully Alv collected me and home to bed.
Day Four Hundred and Sixty One
Thursday
Drove back to Yateley in the morning and spent most of the day around the house. Late afternoon Alvin dropped me over top fleet and i caught the train up to London. I attended a leaving do for an ex colleague and caught up with a lot of the ex Symbian folk that i spent many years working with.
it was good to catch up but quite strange as many people seemed as down about the situations they found themselves in as they were when we left almost 18 months ago.
Seems everyone is now either working for Nokia, TomTom or Accenture.
Took a late train home and Alvin kindly picked me up.
Drove back to Yateley in the morning and spent most of the day around the house. Late afternoon Alvin dropped me over top fleet and i caught the train up to London. I attended a leaving do for an ex colleague and caught up with a lot of the ex Symbian folk that i spent many years working with.
it was good to catch up but quite strange as many people seemed as down about the situations they found themselves in as they were when we left almost 18 months ago.
Seems everyone is now either working for Nokia, TomTom or Accenture.
Took a late train home and Alvin kindly picked me up.
Day Four Hundred and Sixty
Wednesday
A quiet day around Yateley followed by a nice dinner at Hazel and Peters with Pat and Graham. Was nice to catch up with them. I stayed there over night as did Alvin and Crystal.
A quiet day around Yateley followed by a nice dinner at Hazel and Peters with Pat and Graham. Was nice to catch up with them. I stayed there over night as did Alvin and Crystal.
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Day Four Hundred and Fifty Nine
Tuesday
A quiet day doing jobs around the house with Alvin. Also made a quick trip over to Farnham to do some jobs in Hazels shop. In the evening I stayed in Old Basing, had a Thai takeaway and crashed in front of TV. Was good to spend some time with Hazel.
A quiet day doing jobs around the house with Alvin. Also made a quick trip over to Farnham to do some jobs in Hazels shop. In the evening I stayed in Old Basing, had a Thai takeaway and crashed in front of TV. Was good to spend some time with Hazel.
Monday, 13 September 2010
Day Four Hundred and Fifty Eight
And so to Monday
Woke up at about 9.30 and got myself up and spent time packing up everything. forgotten how much stuff I had dragged to Bestival with me.
I had heard nightmare tales from last year of it taking hours and hours to get off the island so after one final trek to the Oxbox and back I hit the road. Sods law meant I was at the ferry port 2 hours early and was turned away so decamped to the local pub for a full English breakfast brunch before heading back and hopping on the boat.
After a smooth sail back I was on the road and back to the folks.
A nice dinner and I'm off to bed after a Skype call to Kate.
Day Four Hundred and Fifty Seven
Sunday
After a few hours sleep I walked to the Oxbox just after 12am to start my shift. before even starting I was made aware of a drunken steward which I had to stand down from shift. The night shift passed fairly uneventfully and before long the sun was coming up.
Sunday's weather was fantastic, ironic when that's the one time I wanted it to be cold so I could sleep during the morning. I did sleep on and off between 9am and 2pm.
At about 5pm a few of us made our way into the arena, firstly to catch DJ Derek....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Derek
He is very funny, he looks like a pensioner with flat cap but speaks with a broad Jamaican accent and gets the crowd going. very funny! As you can see from vid below he got the crowd moving!
After that we hit the big top and caught some of Fat Freddys Drop, followed by the main stage to catch The Prodigy who were storming. At the end of the night Bestival sets light to the bonfire and there are fireworks. I've added a short video below.
We then went and caught the Arcadia show which was OK.
We all staggered back to the campsite, sat round the fire and I finally went to bed at about 3am.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Derek
He is very funny, he looks like a pensioner with flat cap but speaks with a broad Jamaican accent and gets the crowd going. very funny! As you can see from vid below he got the crowd moving!
After that we hit the big top and caught some of Fat Freddys Drop, followed by the main stage to catch The Prodigy who were storming. At the end of the night Bestival sets light to the bonfire and there are fireworks. I've added a short video below.
We then went and caught the Arcadia show which was OK.
We all staggered back to the campsite, sat round the fire and I finally went to bed at about 3am.
Day Four Hundred and Fifty Six
Saturday
A relaxed day around the festival site. Caught up on sleep and with a few people. heled evict 3 stewards too which was fun.
Couldnt do too much as had to start a shift at 00.45am the next day. Did get 3 hours sleep in advance bettween 9pm and 12am.
A relaxed day around the festival site. Caught up on sleep and with a few people. heled evict 3 stewards too which was fun.
Couldnt do too much as had to start a shift at 00.45am the next day. Did get 3 hours sleep in advance bettween 9pm and 12am.
Day Four Hundred and Fifty Five
Friday Another day at Bestival, today the main acts started. I was supposed to be deputy shift leading in Oxbox again but I swapped with Karo and ended up supervising the big top tent.
The big top tent is the second stage at Bestival with a capacity of about 10000 people.
All was going well until The XX were due to play. it felt like all 45000 punters wanted to be in that tent. We closed the access to it early on but this lead to a significant crowd build up. the organisers used inappropriate pedestrian barriers to restrict access (I've always hated the stuff from 2003 when I started stewarding with Oxfam) anyway we in my opinion had a 'near miss' with a crowd crush incident - it was very close and very scary for a short time.
After the XX things calmed down and it was uneventful. I signed off had a drink at the campsite and went to bed.
The Big Top
Inside the Big Top
The big top tent is the second stage at Bestival with a capacity of about 10000 people.
All was going well until The XX were due to play. it felt like all 45000 punters wanted to be in that tent. We closed the access to it early on but this lead to a significant crowd build up. the organisers used inappropriate pedestrian barriers to restrict access (I've always hated the stuff from 2003 when I started stewarding with Oxfam) anyway we in my opinion had a 'near miss' with a crowd crush incident - it was very close and very scary for a short time.
After the XX things calmed down and it was uneventful. I signed off had a drink at the campsite and went to bed.
The Big Top
Inside the Big Top
Day Four Hundred and Fifty Four
Thursday
Second day at Bestival. I did my first shift. I was deputy shift leader with the lovely Jules as Shift leader. Was good to be back in the saddle running things. We were running the first shift which meant it was our responsibility to get 260 odd people in the right places at the right times, with radios issued and supervisors doing their thing.
it all seemed to go off quite well.
In the later afternoon I spent more time catching up with old friends.
I have to say its not as much fun as it used to be sleeping in a damp tent!
Second day at Bestival. I did my first shift. I was deputy shift leader with the lovely Jules as Shift leader. Was good to be back in the saddle running things. We were running the first shift which meant it was our responsibility to get 260 odd people in the right places at the right times, with radios issued and supervisors doing their thing.
it all seemed to go off quite well.
In the later afternoon I spent more time catching up with old friends.
I have to say its not as much fun as it used to be sleeping in a damp tent!
Day Four Hundred and Fifty Three
Wednesday And so off to Bestival.
Took a leisurely drive down to Portsmouth to catch the ferry across to the Isle of Wight. it all went very smoothly. I caught a glimpse of the new Spinnaker tower in Portsmouth too and attached a pic below.
Drove to the Bestival festival site and registered. Caught up with Leigh and then made my way tot he campsite. Was great to see all the old Oxfam people again and there were many double takes as people clocked my arrival!
In the evening I hung out in the Oxfam camping field just catching up with people. Did take a short walk around the festival site too and I've added some pics below too.
Main Stage under construction
Arcadia Fire Set under construction
Took a leisurely drive down to Portsmouth to catch the ferry across to the Isle of Wight. it all went very smoothly. I caught a glimpse of the new Spinnaker tower in Portsmouth too and attached a pic below.
Drove to the Bestival festival site and registered. Caught up with Leigh and then made my way tot he campsite. Was great to see all the old Oxfam people again and there were many double takes as people clocked my arrival!
In the evening I hung out in the Oxfam camping field just catching up with people. Did take a short walk around the festival site too and I've added some pics below too.
Main Stage under construction
Arcadia Fire Set under construction
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Day Four Hundred and Fifty Two
Tuesday
A nice Skype to Kate this morning. I drove myself up to London briefly, failed to catch up with the estate agent, will do that next week. Did a drive by of the flat, looks OK from outside.
Did more shopping for Bestival in the afternoon and then had a lovely roast chicken dinner in the evening.
Tomorrow I go to the Isle of Wight for 5 nights to go to the Bestival festival and catch up with Oxfam GB friends. Blog will not be updated again til next week.
www.bestival.net
A nice Skype to Kate this morning. I drove myself up to London briefly, failed to catch up with the estate agent, will do that next week. Did a drive by of the flat, looks OK from outside.
Did more shopping for Bestival in the afternoon and then had a lovely roast chicken dinner in the evening.
Tomorrow I go to the Isle of Wight for 5 nights to go to the Bestival festival and catch up with Oxfam GB friends. Blog will not be updated again til next week.
www.bestival.net
Day Four Hundred and Fifty One
Monday
A family day to the beach today. I drove us all down to Highcliffe near Bournemouth. We walked along the beach and did the typical Steward family affair of sitting in the wind or rain having a picnic. The food was very nice.
More walking along the coast followed by a nice cuppa and then back home to North Hampshire.
Some pics above of the day as blogger wont allow me to copy them below for some reason!
Day Four Hundred and Fifty
Sunday
Rob and Jo very kindly hosted (what was meant to be a BBQ which got beaten by the weather) a gathering at their house. it was nice to surprise people when they arrived.
Was nice to catch up on all the news from back here too. In the evening chilled out with folks and again crashed at about 10 o clock.
Incidentally I should mention it is so good being able to talk/Skype kate every day from here, keep her close.
Rob and Jo very kindly hosted (what was meant to be a BBQ which got beaten by the weather) a gathering at their house. it was nice to surprise people when they arrived.
Was nice to catch up on all the news from back here too. In the evening chilled out with folks and again crashed at about 10 o clock.
Incidentally I should mention it is so good being able to talk/Skype kate every day from here, keep her close.
Day Four Hundred and Forty Nine
Saturday
Woke up at 6am which was great - I hadn't reset my phone clock and actually thought it was 3am for a while but thankfully not.
At lunchtime we went to Old Basing for a BBQ. Sam and Amanda were there with our old car we sold them. Was nice to see it but I didn't really feel any sentiment towards it. Was good to meet Hazel's new kitten Willow which is very cute! Was nice to catch up with Peter too.
In the afternoon I hit Basingstoke shopping centre and bought a few bits and pieces.
Back to Yateley and crashed at about 9.45pm
Woke up at 6am which was great - I hadn't reset my phone clock and actually thought it was 3am for a while but thankfully not.
At lunchtime we went to Old Basing for a BBQ. Sam and Amanda were there with our old car we sold them. Was nice to see it but I didn't really feel any sentiment towards it. Was good to meet Hazel's new kitten Willow which is very cute! Was nice to catch up with Peter too.
In the afternoon I hit Basingstoke shopping centre and bought a few bits and pieces.
Back to Yateley and crashed at about 9.45pm
Day Four Hundred and Forty Eight
Friday
Got up at 3.20am and shortly after made Kate get out of bed too. Kate drove me to the airport and I hopped on a plane to Blighty. I have had this trip planned for a while and it's an opportunity to use up some Time of In Lieu from the job and more importantly a chance to catch up with the folks.
I've kept it quite quiet and plan just to slip back into England unannounced for a couple of weeks. Saying goodbye to Kate was very difficult, she couldn't get the time off and it was also quite costly for us to both come over. I wish she could have come though.
The first leg of the flight was long, 14.5 hours. I did sleep some of the way. Had a very quick connection in Dubai and before I knew it was into second leg. That seemed to pass a bit quicker but still very mundane.
Before I knew it I was quickly through the airport (surprising as T3 at Heathrow is usually chaos) and hugging the folks and Hazel. Is great to see them again.
We swung by the chippie on the way home as I hadn't eaten much and at about 10pm (or 7am Sydney time) I hit the sack. A very long day but mentally I tried to think of it as one day and hopefully that will help the jet lag.
Got up at 3.20am and shortly after made Kate get out of bed too. Kate drove me to the airport and I hopped on a plane to Blighty. I have had this trip planned for a while and it's an opportunity to use up some Time of In Lieu from the job and more importantly a chance to catch up with the folks.
I've kept it quite quiet and plan just to slip back into England unannounced for a couple of weeks. Saying goodbye to Kate was very difficult, she couldn't get the time off and it was also quite costly for us to both come over. I wish she could have come though.
The first leg of the flight was long, 14.5 hours. I did sleep some of the way. Had a very quick connection in Dubai and before I knew it was into second leg. That seemed to pass a bit quicker but still very mundane.
Before I knew it I was quickly through the airport (surprising as T3 at Heathrow is usually chaos) and hugging the folks and Hazel. Is great to see them again.
We swung by the chippie on the way home as I hadn't eaten much and at about 10pm (or 7am Sydney time) I hit the sack. A very long day but mentally I tried to think of it as one day and hopefully that will help the jet lag.
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Day Four Hundred and Forty Seven
A day at work doing reviews and wrapping things up.
Spent the evening at home and with the help of Caroline and Michael we put together lots of things for the wedding.
My blog will be seeing some disruption to service in the next few days so updates may be infrequent.
Spent the evening at home and with the help of Caroline and Michael we put together lots of things for the wedding.
My blog will be seeing some disruption to service in the next few days so updates may be infrequent.
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Day Four Hundred and Forty Six
Wednesday
A day spent mostly in meetings, either telephone conferences about future things or all afternoon review meetings. Was good to get everythign written down about our event, my aim is to write a decent handover doc for whoever takes on the job next year.
Ran for the train after picking up soem dinner for kate and I in Surry Hills. Just made it in time to meet Kate at Central.
A day spent mostly in meetings, either telephone conferences about future things or all afternoon review meetings. Was good to get everythign written down about our event, my aim is to write a decent handover doc for whoever takes on the job next year.
Ran for the train after picking up soem dinner for kate and I in Surry Hills. Just made it in time to meet Kate at Central.
Day Four Hundred and Forty Five
Tuesday
Feeling more awake today. Spent the day wrting up feedback from the event and sending out my volunteer survey for people to give us feedback. In the evening came home and relaxed with Kate. Not a great deal to report really!
Feeling more awake today. Spent the day wrting up feedback from the event and sending out my volunteer survey for people to give us feedback. In the evening came home and relaxed with Kate. Not a great deal to report really!
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