Well it has been a while since the final blog from Colombia and there has been a lot unfold since.
I started out in London, arriving on a chilly night in mid April and finding my way to a central backpackers in the city. There were a few immediate adjustments that had to be made - accepting that tap water was OK to drink and brush the teeth with, that loo paper went in the toilet and not in the bin, that one says 'thanks' after the cab ride and not 'gracias'... but all in all the transition was fairly smooth.
I had a day in London initially doing some odd jobs before heading out to see Dad's cousin Alastair and his wife Rosemary near Newmarket in Cambridgeshire. I had nearly a week of luxury there which, without a car or much to achieve, involved some relaxing sleep-ins, some catching up on world sport, cups of coffee and reading the paper. Despite what was apparently a beautiful March, April proved to be one of the wettest Aprils on record so there was no great inclination for exercise or tripping about. I did get in to Newmarket and had a look at Newmarket Equine Hospital, a quick squiz through the Grand National Stud and then a look at the Racing Museum in town but otherwise it was an extremely sedentary week!
I then headed back to London to meet up with Tish. We had a great time staying with one of Tish's classmates in South Hampstead and catching up with a few friends from around the place for a week or so. There were a few jobs in between, a fairly extensive time in shops and once again unfortunately the majority of the time was spent getting out of the miserable weather. The best blooper was going to see the changing of the guard - this time despite the rain and cold - as we thought we should at least see one tourist highlight while we were in the neighbourhood. We stood outside the palace for about 20 minutes in the rain whilst policemen moved people and traffic to and fro before everyone just kind of ambled off. We were a bit confused and thought (somehow) we had failed to see the event. Then we saw a very modest-sized sign in the front courtyard of the palace stating 'changing of the guard cancelled today'. What a let down that was then!
We also enjoyed another daytrip out to Cambridgeshire to catch up with the Tulloch connections (Gran's side of the family). It was nice to meet a few more faces - all were in good form, particularly Aunt Rosabel whom I have met a couple of times before.
Eventually we made our way out to what will be home for a couple of months now. Wisbech seems like a nice enough place - a smallish town but with plenty of supermarkets (the supermarkets here all have pretty good fresh produce and really cheap) and the flat is nice. There's a fair bit of riff-raff about, a lot of eastern Europeans - yesterday we saw a couple of cops chase a ruffian across the street outside our flat. It was just about perfect for a scene from 'The Bill' - the cops were... unathletic... and the youth managed to outjog them reasonably comfortably. I was pretty disappointed as we watched from our 2nd floor window, I was really hoping for a roadside tackle and the cop to yell out "Righ'! Your nicked!". With any sort of luck I'll see it happen within the next nine weeks.
We headed out to Norwich last weekend to have a bit of a wander. For all of you historians, Norwich is where William the Conquerer built his first castle after winning his invasion in 1066. So we had a look around the castle, which was a great museum, as well as a quick look at the Cathedral and some hidden gardens in the town.
There won't be all that much scope to travel about in the coming weeks - I've scored a roster of 4 out of the next 7 weekends on call so there will be some quality time spent at Dereham (the town I'm working in around 50 minutes drive away).
There's not too much else to report - the Sun has continued to be shy but is making small appearances each day now so I will wish it along and in the mean time it will be plenty of work and whatever we can fit in between!
Over and out.
