Catchup

Catchup time. This might take a while.

First my trip to Bangladesh, and some photos and video I took there. I have to say I'm only posting these because I said I would. When I finally got to see the images on screen they were a massive disappointment. I've set it to music in an attempt to make it bearable, but basically you have some grainy foootage of takeoff and landing, a reasonable exciting boat trip, a boring car trip through Sylhet and some still photos of tea plantations. Watch it for the music, I would - by the way it's Nitin Sawhney "Prophecy".


Before leaving for blighty I managed to sell the bike to an English chap, after having it on Thai Visa (A bit like Loot) for only one day. I'm sorry to lose it but the justifications were wearing thin, since I will be living 200 metres from the office. Here it is on the last night of my ownership, looking clean and sleek. I hope he looks after it...



The Christmas break was as busy, fraught, enjoyable, frustrating, fun-filled and miserable as ever. In no particular order, here are some memories - recorded here before I commit them to the "Forget" pile.

I left Bangkok in 35 degrees and arrived home to blizzard conditions and sub-zero temperatures. Quite disconcerting. Over the two weeks we must have had that smug "I've got a 4*4 and you haven't" feeling a thousand times. In fact a round of applause please for the one good purchase we made 12 years ago - the Toyota Rav4 has done everything we asked of it and 150,000 miles later, after crossing Europe several times with an overloaded trailer, taking us on summer trips with the top down, climbing impossible hills with silky ease, getting us to hundreds of nearly-missed flights at illegal speeds, carrying unlikely bits of furniture and finally dealing with this year's snow-fest without missing a beat, it still has the original exhaust, has never broken down and drives like brand new. (Clap now please)

Here's a picture of said beloved vehicle, laughing off the snow on Christmas eve:
Anecdote 1: While I was home we undertook the two-man task of clipping and bathing the moggies. Cheese wan't too pleased to say the least. Here he is in a rare angry moment, looking, well, clipped and bathed:
Anecdote 2: One of my first gatherings of the season was a funeral for my cousin Graham, who died of cancer aged 51 - how tragic is that?. When we were kids we lived in the same street in Liverpool, and basically we grew up as brothers. People used to say we looked alike, but in fact he was the good-looking one. I lost touch with him after getting married and occasionally I'd consider contacting him and going out for a few, to share memories. That won't happen now and it goes to show the danger of losing touch. The funeral wasn't too sombre - we're a fairly pragmatic family. It was actually nice to see everyone again after all this time. I witnessed a historic conversation between two of my sisters, who haven't spoken for fifteen years, so that was nice. Here are all six siblings, with a couple of partners and a daughter for good measure:Clockwise from top left: Paul, Robert, Paul, Alex, Me, Viv, Chris, Jenny and Gay.
Here's Chris and Jenny making up, with me getting in the way:(History in the making - for the last 15 years I'd need arms 120 miles long to do this)

Lyn put her best Thai-made 50's style frock for Christmas day, and was just as pretty as a picture. In fact here is a picture:(Lyn does the 50's housewife thing - very domesticated)

As usual there was lots of driving around. Occasionally I would be struck by how different the climate is from here in Thailand. One guy here actually asked if I would bring back some snow because he's never seen it. I told him to stick his head in a freezer for five minutes and the effect would be the same. He didn't believe me. Anyway I settled for taking pictures of snowcapped hills.
A panorama from the road above New Mills:

..and the view of Kinder Plateau from my study window:

We did all our shopping in one day in Manchester. It snowed. Here are Lyn and Colin happily (ahem) posing for a snap in Piccadilly Gardens:

I'll soon be in my new apartment, which is visible from the office window. It's very exciting and a little bit sad because I've been in the old place for 15 months and I do tend to get attached to places I've lived in. I get all teary-eyed leaving hotel rooms if I spend more than one night in them so imagine how I feel now. Ihope the new place turns out to be as comfortable as this one. It's certainly cheaper and that counts for a lot... I suppose. (Sniff)

(Taken from the Office window)

Blimey, that's enough catching up for now. If I dredge up any more I'll be sure to post it. For now, be good.