Family

I’d spent much of Wednesday playing around with the new hardware (a DVD-RW drive to back up my data – with so many photos and so much writing, I was terrified of losing my files if the hard-drive blew up or my laptop got stolen) and software on the computer. I had a couple of frustrating spins on the decks – 8 months of no practice on top of limited ability doesn’t make for good mixing…but it was nice to hear some of the older tunes that I don’t have on cd. In the evening, Sue, Jon, Charlotte, Andy, Katka and another clubbing buddy, Shivan came out for a meal at my other favourite Ealing establishment, Silom Village. The Thai food here is exquisite and extremely reasonably priced and we had a really pleasant evening chatting and discussing plans for the weekend. We didn’t return too late to Sue’s place in East Barnet as she had a busy day at school the next day.
On Thursday morning, enjoying a lazy lie-in after Sue had gone to school, I took the liberty of reacquainting myself with the good old English Breakfast. One thing I’d learnt on my travels through Asia is that you can’t get a decent sausage for love nor money and it was with some relish that I tucked into a big plate, including 3 prime pork sausages. I then packed up my kit and headed back to Andy and Katka’s to pack my stuff up to take to King’s Cross. My train up north wasn’t until 7.00ish but I wasn’t keen on the idea of lugging all my stuff (including the delicate artwork) on the tube during rush hour and had decided to leave the majority in left luggage for the afternoon.
I then caught the tube to Knightsbridge to meet a good friend, Sophie, and her mother for lunch. Sophie had been at Exeter with me and we’d become very close when a mutual friend of ours had died in a car-crash not long after graduating. It was Sophie’s brother, Ollie, who I’d visited in Montreal, way back at the start of my trip and, as well as getting to spend some time with Soph and Mrs. Lyttleton, I was also able to pick up some stuff that Ollie had brought back to the UK for me. I ate a delicious smoked salmon and scrambled eggs and chattered away excitedly about my adventures and future plans. The friend I was due to meet in Singapore, Ryan, was another close friend of Soph’s and she asked me to pass on her love as she hadn’t seen him in some time. Time was up all-too-quickly with Soph having to get back to work and we said hurried goodbyes before heading our separate ways. I met Don, once again, for a second lunch before heading back to Andy’s for a final spin on the decks and a lazy afternoon with a couple of beers. Before I knew it, it was time to leave for the train station and I said my goodbyes, in anticipation of an awesome night when I returned on Saturday.
The journey up to Leeds was surprisingly fast and smooth and I didn’t have a lot of time to work on the newly-upgraded laptop. The amusing highlight of the trip was seeing an advert in the buffet car, advertising the free-range, organic nature of the eggs used by GNER. The manager of the wholesome farm from which these superior eggs were obtained was none other than Adrian Potter – a former schoolmate of mine in Harrogate – and his beaming face shone down from the poster on the wall.
It was fortunate that the train was actually terminating in Leeds – I don’t think there’s any chance I’d have been able to get all my kit off in time, otherwise. My parents stood smiling at the platform entrance as I sidled up under my mountain of baggage.
As they say, there’s no place like home and we were soon there in my Dad’s slick new BMW 5-series (a vast improvement, in my eyes, on the slightly cramped 3 he’d had before). Paternal and maternal love gushed forth and I was plied with food (pork chops) and beer (Staropramen), whilst smothered in the warm welcome, always extended to a prodigal son. I’d been a ‘long-distance’ son for 10 years now – ever since my University days in Exeter – but this had only served to improve our relationship as the novelty of visiting had never been given the chance to wear off. I think there’s a natural instinct for parents and their offspring to separate once adult personalities are formed. It makes sense in both evolutionary and social terms…and with the headstrong little bugger I’d been at 18, it had probably saved our long-term relationship. Regardless of all that, I was certainly very pleased to see my folks and they made it perfectly plain that they were pleased to have me back, however briefly.
We stayed up a while as I filled them in on all my adventures in Nepal (at this point, appallingly, virtually unmentioned in the blog) and I showed them some of the gifts and souvenirs I’d brought from various corners of the globe. Upstairs in the spare room was my very own bed (truly a sight for sore eyes!) with a brand new mattress and it wasn’t long before I was sinking back into its warm embrace and snoring away to my hearts content.