Blast from the distant relms of summery Britain

So I have been decidedly bad at updating my blog of late. To anyone out there who is still checking it regularly - if indeed there are any of you out there - I apologise.

So what is news? Simple - Summer! Yes she has hit Britain well and proper now. Things are brighter and lighter. The mood of the populace is decidedly more upbeat again - as it is every summer.

Work is going extremly well. I am moving into the delivery side of the RightNow business. I will be a professional services implementation consultant soon. They are taking some time to get me my offer letter to make it final and formal but it is to be expected in this place. The new job will see me working almost entirely from home and/or customer sites. I will be implementing our software to the customer's specifications - testing - some training - configuration and some enduser look and feel customisations. Hope that anybody reading that understood it and gained some valuable insight out of it as to what I do and why they pay me to do it. I am sure from what you have read above you realise that it is not exactly what you would deem a labour of love.

I have joined up to a social networking web community called facebook. I am quite impressed by it and what it does. I have managed to get in touch with a very old friend from WHPS, Edward Lewis, through the site. Hadn't spoken to him since we were 10 years old. He is living here in London according to his profile and I am hoping to meet up with him soon to cathc up over a beer.

The British summer brings with it many music festivals. This year I am hitting the big one - Glastonbury. Unfortunatly the rantscanting pete has now pulled out of this - generally regarded as the biggest music festival in the world. I have bought a two room, six sleeper tent for the festival and cannot wait the two months until it rolls around.

Also this year sees the tour de france starting in England - so I am really looking forward to watching the prologue as they race through central London. It will certainly be a highlight of my summer along with Glastonbury and hopefully the Foo Fighters. I don't know how I am going to get to see them this year but I am going to make a plan. I saw Bob Dylan last week and am still pinching myself that I have had that priviledge.

Unfortunatly my big plans for the summer have now fallen through. My friend Mat - who is a qualified skipper - has had to pull out of the summer sailing holiday. His withdrawl means that I would need to pay for a skipper to sail the boat - this drives the cost up and makes it impossible for the rest of my mates to join me on the holiday. So alas no sailing the Dalmatian coastline anytime soon.

I spoke to my mom last week and she is trying to get me to come back to SA for Christmas. I am quite set on travelling to new places this year so I am still debating this one... The verdict is still out and I will endevour to keep you all up to date on any changes to this.

What else to tell you?

Not much really - hoping to see Jimbo and Nick over here on holiday in September. Always good to have really good mates around. As always the most valuable lesson a traveller can learn is how much the people you leave behind mean to you. SOB, SOB....

So I am fast drawing toward my third year away from mother Africa. It is scary how fast time slips by - lately it has seemed even faster still. I cannot believe we are almost into May already with June, and the half way mark, just around the corner. So far this year has seemed to shoot past even faster than usual.

Even scarier is the fact that I don't think I am any closer to having any clue about what will make me truely happy and what I really what to do. I am living comfortably doing what I am doing at the moment - got good mates around me and this seems enough for the moment. However, somewhere deep back "there", I am mindful that almost all of my London mates will be heading off to their respective homes and lives in the next year leaving me here in London. Many of them are moving to Australia/New Zealand. I have been there and done that and will not be following them. My course it seems is set for Europe, the states and maybe Dubai. Or at least this is where I am hoping my compass will point - not in that particular order perhaps but that is what I would like to do. As for a return to South Africa. I cannot see myself returning for more than a holiday unless there are huge changes. I would love to move back and live there again with my family and friends around me but I do not see this happening so I am left to wonder the rest of the planet looking for a new place for my coat and hat. England is certainly not that place. Although for now it does offer me all that I need. Cheap, convenient travel - good money and London with her bustle and excitement is always a source of entertainment. To live and work in London is to have the entire world at your feet - you pay for this with the weather - unattractive people - poor dental care and the always present fear of infection from hospitals. But during the summer you forget all of that for 4 months when the sun is out until 10pm and the beer gardens are full of people. The beer gardens are brilliant as you are able to sit out in the mild, unafrican sun and enjoy cold largers ( usually fosters). As the afternoon drags on and the beer count stacks up you also have the added benefit of the people becoming prettier and prettier and with any luck you wake up chewing through your own arm, swearing to yourself that you will never drink again, as you desperatly try to escape the British swamp donkey you have woken up next too without waking her.

With that little gem I leave you and return to my work for the day.

Keep it real all and I hope to see you all soon.