King of the 2 year olds..

I'd planned to see as many friends as possible before I finally get on a plane and put a few miles between the UK and me so the last couple of weekends I've spent trying to catch up with as many of my friends that can't be arsed to come and see me in London. Granted most have them now have small children so that's a good enough excuse when I see how much effort and planning is required in the smallest of exercises. It makes having two cats look almost.., er like having cats actually.
It's been great fun having the time, energy and purpose to drive to the four corners of the country to go and see friends on their home turf. Over the last couple of weekends I've honed my nursery rhymes and ability to drink pretend tea to an absolute perfection. I really am the King of the 2 year olds as far as doing all the easy bits of turning up, smiling at the right time and putting the jigsaw pieces into the right places go. It has made the reality of what I'm actually undertaking hit home and it does go to show that we often take things for granted and that putting a bit of effort into going to see people in far away places, if nothing more than to do jigsaws really is worth is it.
The drive back to London from the North, South, East and West was ever more pleasant knowing that behind me were people that I cared about a lot and who were interested in my adventure which would help make the journey ahead somewhere new all the more exciting.

Thanks guys.

Bugger, Bollocks, Crap,..

OK - that's the angry words out of the way. Two bits of bad news today and I've not even packed the bags yet. Actually the first bit of bad news relates to bag packing, or at least the postponement of. I had an email this morning from one of the project team that I'll be reporting into saying that I'll need to be doing part of the London side of the project right at the start of the project, rather than doing it midway and giving me a good reason to come back to London in a few months. It's a bit disappointing for the soul as I was quite ready to head off and get stuck in. Secondly, it means I'm going to be in London for around another 6 weeks and I'm bored stupid of being cold now and a bit of exotic heat was up on the list of things I was looking forward to.

The other bit of bad news comes from the arse-wits at the LTA of Singapore. These are the muppets that decide you can only bring in a vehicle into Singapore that is less than 3 years old. So my grand plans to be scooting around Singapore on my red 996 Tom Cruise style form Top Gun have been put on hold. the only alternative I have to fix this is buy another in Singa or sell mine and get a newer one. Neither look like real possibilities. It's a shame as I've already made contact with the Ducati club of Singa and they seem like a good bunch who have some great rides along the coastal highways and into Malaysia.

I'll ponder this final one some more once I get out there, once it finally happens. It was part of the dream of going out there which has been pulled out from under me even before I've got on the damn plane.
At least I'll be able to tear up a few more miles in London once the thaw starts.

The wonders of IT.

Now, I've been told on good authority by my parents that there is this amazing new technology called VoIP. It's got something to do with a telephone and this thing called the InterWeb or something like that. Anyway, I can't really see it catching on personally, but if it does, it means that you can Skype me at whereintheworldisandy which in plain English means that you can talk to me for free through the medium of t'Interweb by speaking into that little hole in the front of your laptop. Now that's progress for you..

The first blog...

Well, here it is. The very first blog, of what I hope should be an interesting account of the adventure of the year or so ahead of my travels to Singapore.

So, on February 1st 2010 the call came through to say that my new company would like me to pack my bags, get on a plane with Singapore written on the side of it and jet off eastward to arrive just in time for cocktails.

I of course thought about this for about 10 seconds which was about 9 seconds longer than really required and tried to look moderately cool on the end of the telephone about the prospect ahead. I've now got until the end of the month to pack, sort out everything in life that I've been putting off and say a farewell to London after a 12 good long years.
Seeing some old friends this last couple of weeks has made me realise just what I'm leaving behind but knowing most quite well it won't be too long before the blow up bed starts to get an outing.

So, the final countdown begins. As of today it looks like I've got exactly two weeks left of cold, damp London in which to cram as much in as possible before it's goodbye London Pride and hello Singapore Sling. So what cultural and creative things am I going to be doing with my final two weeks??? Erm, I'll get back to you on that one.

I have been told on good authority that I should eat as much fish and chips as humanly possible before I go so it looks like it might be The Sea Horse Fish Bar chippy for lunch then.