back where it’s cold
…or not, really. It isn’t that cold here in Sydney - an average of 12 to 14°C during the daytime, dipping down to maybe 9°C or so during the night; significantly colder than currently-summery York but nowhere near the frigid depths of northern English winters, and nothing I can’t take (wait a couple of weeks and I’ll be complaining about not being able to type my dissertation because my fingers are freezing off).
The last couple of weeks in York were whirlwind - drinks, pub quizzing and suffering random harrassment from a creepy American chap with Mander; Red Chilli with Susanna, where we had to order fish to share because she doesn’t take any other meat and I discovered for the first time that York sometimes does have very decent fish indeed; Eleena’s visit and the first proper cooked breakfast I’ve had in York all year, with scrambled eggs, baked potato and bacon; a frenzy of Railway Children activity at the Theatre Royal which involved the filing of a million press clippings and reviews and 1.5 hours of standing at the National Railway Museum giving out flyers; yummy Garden of India takeout and plenty of random chitchat with Kevin and Rokey, thinking this might be the last time for a long time that I see either of them boys; lots and lots and lots of packing and moving, and of course the dissertation final draft (here a misleading term which actually means only about half the thing has been written, and mostly crappily).
All of that, plus passing through Singapore and meeting up with my lovely, lovely friends there, and finally touching down here after two solid days of travelling has stirred up in me that old feeling of being pulled in a million different directions, that question of… how do I balance all this? How do I portion out my time and myself for all these different places and people when I love them all, when I don’t want to leave any of them, when I just wish foolishly that I could pack everything and everyone with me in a bottomless suitcase, have it all in one place? Just when I thought I had it sorted, I find again that I haven’t a clue, I don’t have any answers. I know something’s got to
Now that I’m finally here with my family after nearly 10 months of being away, all I really want to do is catch a breather, sleep in for a week and recover properly from jetlag… but I know I’ve not done anything for a week, dissertation-wise, and if I want to knock out another 10,000 words before September 22nd I have to hustle soon.
breathe, just breathe, I keep telling myself.
3 comments
christie: i WAS looking for you guys! somehow i totally missed you all… twice, apparently?? i really was looking and i couldn’t see any of you! i must have been very sleepy (i concussed pretty much right after we got the hot towel… before the plane took off and before the safety demo started :P). good to know you all didn’t disappear the minute i went in though, i was a bit confused as to why i couldn’t find you all.
steffy: thanks! if only it were warmer 
how is it in perth?
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oh GRARGH CUI!!!! You looked back at the airport and totally missed the whole lot of us! We were standing right behind you at the gantry thingy, and you kept looking at the pool of kids!
So when it became obvious that you were going to miss us entirely, we ran to the other side of the glass thingamajig, when you stopped to look at the departures information!! And then promptly turned around, looked where we WERE standing (and missed us entirely AGAIN!), and tottered off!
It was such a zomg moment.