Home Sweet Home

Well we made it back to the UK all in one piece, having survived yet another adventure in India. Did I have a good time? Yeah in parts, I enjoyed our stay at The Leela, the boat trip was fantastic and 3 days at Soul Vacation was peaceful. Phil certainly chilled out! I didn’t however, enjoy the heat and humidity and I certainly wouldn’t go at the end of the season again. The staff, at times were reluctant and appeared weary, which I suppose at the end of an 8 month stint, is only to be expected. The poverty in Goa has never sat comfortably with me and it was sad to see the desperate begging of the beach sellers and the shop owners on the streets. We feel sorry for ourselves in this country with talk of the recession but when you see how little the Goan people have, you realise we live like kings and queens. Both Phil and I feel like we have really done Goa and that if we have the opportunity, we shall travel elsewhere for our next adventure.

Both Phil and I expected the journey home to be horrendous but in fact it wasn’t too painful. Dablomin airport wasn’t as chaotic as it usually is, only one hour queuing to check-in and get through customs followed by seven million passport and bag checks and then straight on the plane which amazingly left on time. Phil and I got seats together and sat next to an Indian man who lived in Leicester. Halfway through Phil swapped me for the window seat and I got my head down for a few hours sleep.

Ten hours later we arrived in Gatwick, collected the bags and straight through customs without a hitch. We were booked on the 8.40pm coach back to MK but Phil managed to get us on the 7.50 coach thinking we would get home earlier. What we hadn’t realized was that the 7.50 coach detoured to Hemel town centre and also to Luton airport so it actually got in only 5 minutes before the later coach. Never mind, Swift Cars picked us up and we were back at the kebab flat just after 11pm. Every thing was fine; the flat ponged a bit but we hadn’t been burgled and there was no evidence of any fires. Phil went straight to bed but I opened the cases and got a wash going before turning off the lights.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get off and both Phil and I were up watching the Grand Prix recording at 5am. Well Phil was; yours truly was busy unpacking and cleaning up the flat. At 7.30am we were in Sainsbury’s buying supplies which is never good when you’re starving hungry. We went home for bacon and egg rolls and then went to collect my car from the garage and then dropped off Phil’s car at the land rover garage in Whaddon. On the way we picked up the PO Box mail and then it was back home to start on phone calls and paperwork. Only a few hours back and it was like we’d never been away. I defrosted a chilli from the freezer and after lunch we went to do a few jobs at the flat. Unfortunately the tiredness kicked in and we packed up tools and decided to call it a day after only an hour. Last night we caught up with some of the TV programmes we missed while we away then we just simply crashed. Hopefully today we should be well and truly back in UK time.

Holidays over and now its back to reality. Harriet phoned to say that she will be moving to the flat on Thursday which means we’ve only got 2 days to get everything done and dusted. It shouldn’t be a problem and even if we don’t everything done in time for move-in we can finish off over the weekend. But still, that said, it would be nice to have closure on this project and move on to the next one. Which first up, is the end of year accounts, urgently, so we can file our tax return on time without incurring a fine and then we need to stitch up the sale on kebab flat sale and last, but not least, we need to find us both a job. Well that is the plan anyway. It all sounds so easy but I bet your bottom dollar it won’t be, it never is, is it?