So I’ve started swimming every day. My primary school PE teacher, Mr Vipond, sure would be surprised. All through primary school I was fortunate enough to attend a state school with its own pool. Remember, this was Bundaberg in the early 1980s so the pool was quite a big deal (even if it was only […]

I’ve had two weeks at home with minimal distractions to get my head around the idea that I’m not going back to work. I’ll be more specific. I knew I was leaving work and not returning but racing off on a month long holiday delayed the reality of my decision. And I’m not leaving “work” […]

I am home. We arrived yesterday afternoon after a fairly exhausting overnight flight from Singapore to Brisbane. A poor baby cried the whole way. Last night I went to bed at 8pm and slept until 5:30 this morning when the cat’s yowling woke me up. So far I have managed to read and reply to […]

For the last full day in the UK we caught the train into Oxford. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Perhaps I wasn’t ready to return to visit a university particularly one at the opposite end of the spectrum to my former place of employment. There were fresh faced students at every […]

We had a genteel Cotswolds kind of day today. After a slow start we finally all roused ourselves to get out of the house and drive 10 minutes down the round toChipping Norton. We were in search of a bank and a Sainsbury’s and found both. Unfortunately we did not sight either Jeremy Clarkson or […]

After a night in a lovely B and B in Ambleside we headed over to near sawrey on the other side of the lake to see Hilltop Farm, the national trust home of Beatrix potter. We were just in time as it was the house’s last opening day before closing for the winter. The national […]

It was a long day of driving today from fort William to Ambleside where we are tucked into a B and B for the night. The weather is less than lovely and apparently we have just missed a big storm through the lakes. There is water everywhere on the roads. Still it’s not raining now […]

After a slow start to the day we decided we would take the plunge through the wet weather and drive to Glenfinnan to see the viaduct. It was pouring in Fort William but as we drove the 20 mins up the road the sky lturned from dark grey to light grey which I think might […]

Our first day in fort William was a rainy one so after a slow morning we decided to catch the train from here to Mallaigh. This is the west highland way and it is beautifully scenic. We had hoped to get on the Jacobite express (the steam train from Harry potter) but it has finished […]

Sunday we left the remote north and drove to Ullapool. It only took half a day so we had the afternoon to explore Ullapool which is beautifully situated on a working harbour. The Main street, Shore Street runs along the water with a few pubs and woollen/ tourist shops. We found lunch in a very […]