Defiance

Back in the UK and doing my stiff upper best to stand up to the bombers. WE will not let them divide us and as such I allowed a heavily bearded moslem to drive out of a petrol station the other DESPITE the fact that I missed the opportunity to pass straight through a set of green lights by doing so. We stand together, whatever the cost.

Otherwise I attended an interview and failed to win them over. I was trying to get a job as a teacher back in the UK but a better qualified, more, "enthusiastic", candidate has condemed me to further my career in the cheese industry.

My feelings about this are mixed as were I successful I'd have been worrying about the rights and wrongs of uprooting myself and my partner from the rural idyll in which we now reside for a self indulgent year of teacher training. I'm now faced with the prospect of returning to a life coated in sweat and whey but I hope to be able to spend some time searching for a path to follow.

A couple of friends came around for dinner last night, the youngest of them being Laura who is 22 and on the verge of finishing her dissertation allowing her a career as a consultant or a financial analyst. It felt odd to recall the relative certainties of youth when I now find myself approaching 40 and still clueless as to how I'd like to spend the remainder of my life. Oh yes, of course I've many years ahead of me but I've no reason to assume that the next 20 years will prove any more fruitful than the last 20 in terms of revealing a path I'd like or would be able to follow.

I know it's not cheese however.

On a more positive note my friend Peter and myself spent the last two days dismantling my Nana's shed and erecting a new one in its stead. It's a job I would have liked to do for her but one which I thought would be added to the list of things I regret not doing so it was very pleasing to achieve even something so relatively straight forward. Were it not for Peter's efforts the previous shed would still be standing as a testament to good intentions and poor time management so I'm once again indebted to my friend for sharing this minor victory with me.

Tomorrow I'm off to my friends wedding which was one of the other focal points of this trip, then I'm back to London for a day before heading off to a festival which will hopefully leave me at the end of my stay and with a spring in my step for the rigours which lie ahead.

Back in Red

I appear to have been a little remiss in my updates of late which is for a number of reasons too numerous to report at this time but which may trickle out if I manage to maintain some sort of renewed enthusiasm over the coming weeks.

Guess where I am?

I'm in New Zealand with me old mate Peter, travelling around in a campervan between Auckland and Wellington. The Lions also appear to be on tour over here and we saw them play Palmerstone North on Tuesday and will hopefully see them play The All Blacks on Saturday in Wellington. I say hopefully as we watched the first test on TV and didn't see them play there but are ever hopeful for an improved performance this time around.

I'm here until Tuesday when I fly back to Australia for five days before heading off to the UK for an interview two weeks today. Ideally I wouldn't fly half way around the world for just one interview but when a chap spends his life up to his elbows in whey and brie it can compell him to do all sorts of unlikely things. There's also the small matter of Tash's wedding at the beginning of August, Peter's 40th in July and my brother's and nephews thirty-something and first birthdays respectively.

It all feels a bit curious but I'm currently rolling with it and having a very pleasant and relaxing time thank you very much for asking.

Thanks also to the lovely fellow who wrote kind words of praise for my previous efforts. Much appreciated and apologies for not filling these lines with anything more informative than a promise of more to follow. How about a joke?

Why did the baker have dirty hands?













Because he kneaded a pooh!