Guess who’s back, back again!

No, not Shady… well, possibly him too. Isn’t he always back? But that’s irrelevant here. Nope… it is I, your very own Confuzzled Bev who is back! After two weeks of gallivanting around Britain (well, England and one town in Scotland – but I’m counting it as a Britain trip for the sake of my 35 Before 35), drinking gallons of tea, consuming mountains of proper bacon, scones, pies and fish and chips, walking on beaches and climbing up mountains, I am now back at work.

I will tell you all about our trip eventually… when I can be bothered to sort and resize the dozens of photos I took. In the meantime, here are two photos of bees on flowers in Cornwall – because bees are cool and deserve to have their photos shared whenever possible!

Hello readers! As fun as travel always is, it’s good to be home.

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The wanderer returns!

Photo credit: Rebecca Withers

I have my boyfriend back! Minus a little piece of him, but not looking any the worse for wear. He’ll have this week off work to recover (so I’ve taken the opportunity to order some things online while there will be someone hoe to open the door to the postman). I’m taking Friday off – just waiting to get my signed holiday for back but it’s already agreed – so we’ll have a long weekend together.

And now I’m going to eat my first meal with my boyfriend in over a week.

Off to the Motherland!

We’re flying to England today, where I shall not be visiting every man and his dog, but every woman and her baby! Seriously… it’s amazing how many of my friends have had babies this year who I’ve never even seen. We’re even going to York to see one of them! So I shall “see” you all when I return. Right now, I have 2 hours until our train to the airport leaves, a boyfriend who is still in bed and a kitchen full of dishes. Aarrghh!

It’s a record!

I have now been lving in Germany for six whole years! This is the longest time I’ve lived in a place in one stretch since we moved to Northern Ireland in 1989 – and seeing as I was, in fact, six years old in ’89 it’s fairly safe to assume I didn’t take in much of my life in the town I was born in (we actually moved back to said town after two years in Northern Ireland and pretty much all my memories of it are from that second stint there, which last 5 years). Amazingly, I haven’t got bored of Karlsruhe yet. One of the disadvantages of being a squaddie brat seems to be getting restless after spending too long in one place – despite the fact that I hate packing and the stress of actually moving somewhere new! A study in contradictions, I am. Of course, I haven’t actually lived in the same place within Karlsruhe for all of these six years (our current flat is my third home here), and the fact that I kept changing jobs has probably helped with the boredom. When I started my new job (which I’ve now had for 3 years!) in a new (to me) town it was actually quite nice to come home to somewhere familiar in the evenings. And for now there are enough places within day-tripping distance for me to able to get away for a change of scenery whenever I do start getting itchy feet. One day, however, I’m sure I’ll want to try somewhere new – whether elsewhere in Germany, back in the UK or somewhere else entirely (I would actually love to go back to Austria). For now, though, Karlsruhe is home… and I like it! 🙂

Return to Oz

I am back. Actually we got back last night but then I discovered my camera’s memory card had broken and destroyed all my pictures so Jan spent most of last night and this morning on the computer trying to rescue them. He saved about half, the rest are gone forever. Most irritating.

Anyway… we had a great time, despite having to rush around like loonies to fit everything in. We arrived on Wednesday morning after spending Tuesday night at Dublin airport. Strangely enough we were tired, so we went to bed for most of Wednesday afternoon. We were forced to get up again fairly early though when my Grandparents came over to see us. Then that night my dad took us out for curry. Thursday was spent in Edinburgh where Jan and I went sightseeing before meeting up with the others again to take my brother to a pub for his first legal drink. Later we went off on our own again and met a girl who I used to be an intern with before catching the train home. And Friday was the busiest day – a trip to Halifax in Morpeth to take out some money which then had to be paid into my other bank so that my uni can steal it for tuition fees (booo!) then we went to my Grandma’s for lunch before my dad drove us back to Bedlington where we popped across to see my friend Shell and her baby boy Dylan. He’s 7 months old now and gorgeous! After playing with the baby for a while and drinking a cup of tea it was time to dash back to my house and beg my dad for a lift down to the doctors. I had an appointment with the doc first then one with the nurse. The first appointment was fine – the doctir was running about 15 minutes late but that’s to be expected at a doctor’s surgery. But then we had to wait… and wait… and wait for me to see the nurse. It turns out the receptionist had only registered me as being there for the doctor’s appointment then when the nurse came out to see if I was there (while I was in with the doc) she was told I must have gone home!! Eventually I did get in to see the nurse though. By the time we finally got back home it was practically time to get ready to go out for my brother’s birthday celebration – a meal at a Mexican restaurant in Newcastle. In case anyone reading this is from the North-East of England and likes Mexican food you should definitely go to Blue Coyote in Newcastle. The food is excellent, massive portions, lots of choice and reasonably priced. Exactly what I like in a restaurant.

So much fun was had by all. It’s just a shame I have to be back at work tomorrow. I’m not ready to stop relaxing yet…