Getting Ready

I have been researching hostels in Brazil on the interweb- it is official, I have got through the denial stage and am on the excited about The Next Big Trip stage. I have never been to Brazil so that is pretty exciting. I was planning a Eurostar trip to Paris next month to help me get back into the swing of the travelling lark but I had a look at hostels there and had a bit of a crisis....

...I read one hostel's blurb on hostelworld dot com and it said that although it welcomed people of all ages, they asked anyone 35 or over to stay in a private room- huff! Well, I am only 34 but does that mean that I have less than 50 weeks of freewheeling travelling left before my very presence in a dorm room starts to freak others out enough that I have to hide myself away???

Hum, in the meantime, I went to Tooting Bec Common with Ben the other week- it is just a five minutes walk from the house but this is the first time that I have been there since I moved to Tooting. And very green it was too

And today me and Penny went on the new temporary mini-me London Eye in Greenwich. It is a lot smaller than the London Eye and goes a disturbing pace faster too- quite unnerved us at first. But it did go round three times before we were kicked out so that was nice









some nice views







But the days haven't always been that sunny in London recently so on Friday I had a picnic in the classroom with my students. I am getting used to the new school- I have been there for two months now and counting down the minutes until my second pay day on Friday.



and I am going to put this photo on, even though it is not flattering to me!



after the picnic I introduced my new students to my old stamping ground and took them to the White Horse- ah home away from home:)

Wherever I lay my....

...it may not look much to the untrained eye but this is the start of something big.

In fact, this humble towel is the first thing that I have bought for the Big Trip or rather The Next Big Trip.... those of you that have travelled (or just read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) will know that towels are an essential item when travelling- or maybe The Essential Item (damn this drinking before blogging bringing on capital letters all over the shop) .

As something of a veteran traveller I have still never got into those special travelling towels that feel like a chamois leather... I nearly bought one until I actually tried one and realised how horrible it was! So I just take a hand towel and a sarong- the towel does the initial drying and the sarong does the pampering.

Actually, so little am I willing to accept this immobile life, I just use a hand towel at home now- as any visiter of mine will tell you! They are probably still recovering from the shock of being handed a scarcely clean postage stamp to dry themselves on....

but this one is black! A first for me!

And so the preparations begin....

Long Time No See

It has been so long since I logged on here that I had forgotten all my passwords etc. Oops! Well, I am not going to write much today either, sorry to disappoint. I just want to post a couple of photos and let you know that there will be more coming in a few months when I hit the road again-- ah yes, the wide open road, or rather the cramped aeroplane cabin, beckons and it won't be long now until I am out of here..... but I am in London at the moment.

I had a birthday just under a month ago and given that it was the end of May in the UK, the day looked pretty much like this







It was a good day. In true British fashion, however, the weather changed and we have had some beautifully sunny days recently too. I went to a friend's baby's christianing recently with my friend, David, where we were the only two brave enough to sit in the sun, him because he is Colombian and swears to be immune to the effects of the rays and me because I am hoping to get my hair blonder naturally:)



And finally one of me



which would look better without the dishevellment at the back of my head but that is the train seats for you.

Well, short update over, see you in an airport somewhere soon!
xx