Like the Buses...

Prompted by the fact that Dave has already done his retrospective post I thought I'd better get round to doing mine - It's nearly been 4 months since I've came home for Christ sake!

Looking back now on the time I spent in China I think it is something I will treasure and remember for the rest of my life. The friends I made of different nationalities, the cultures I experienced and the food I ate are things that I never ever would have done unless this amazing opportunity had arisen. Whilst Dave and I felt a little bitter towards Phil Thomas of Cardiff University for his lack of actual support during our time out in China, I bet he is just as thankful as I am that we did happen to receive that email from him last march that set the wheels in motion.

A few major things have changed in my life since returning home and, whilst not entirely an acceptable excuse, these are part of the reasons for not posting on here.

Firstly and most prominently, I am now, after the best part of six and a half years, single. This was something I found hard to come to terms with. To go from spending nearly a third of your adult life with someone to not having him or her in your life at all is a massive change. But these things happen for the best in the long run. The actual shock of the break up would have been much, much worse had I not just spent 6 months without Clare in China. People ask “do you regret going” and “do you think you would still be together if you hadn’t have gone” and the answers I’ve given have changed from being “I don’t know” to just “no”. Times when I’ve felt down I’ve looked back at the photos of the last 6 months and reminisced on some of the great times I had with all my friends out there and suddenly felt much better.

Finding a job before starting work proper in September and also buying a house have been things that have also taken up inordinate amounts of time. And of course my football team Blackpool FC is something that has kept me distracted as I have followed their promotion to the Championship for the first time in 29 years.

Whilst I apologise for the delay in posting I am actually quite enjoying sitting down and thinking it all through again. I have not yet printed my photographs out – this is something I’m saving till the memories fade a little and then hopefully they will once again be re-ignited.