LEAVING LONDON. AGAIN.

My last few weeks in London flew away from me "with indecent haste" (that's for you, S!). I'd like to say it was with a whir of parties and reckless indulgence in the full spectrum London's hedonistic pleasures, but mostly I was just working, job-hunting and packing. During my last two weeks the weather turned particularly cold, which helped alleviate somewhat the trauma of leaving my fabulous friends, house, and lifestyle in London for a return to the mundanity of my home country. Once again I miss out on a frosty christmas, and will be forced to sweat my way through the festive season in the southern hemisphere. Same old, same old.

I've been offered a job back with the government department I worked for up until four years ago, which is good. Annoyingly, there are about a thousand security hoops I need to jump through until that offer can be formalised and I can start work. I need to start earlier rather than later to help build my case for a return visa to the UK, so the delay is really frustrating. Until that comes through, my plan was to hang about and visit family up in Rockhampton but a family medical situation means I've been down in Brisbane instead. I can't really go into details here, but lets just say I've spent more time at the hospital than I ever have before and hopefully ever will again. It's not been the relaxing break I was hoping for, but on the other hand it's been great to be able to be here and support my family rather than my usual modus operandi of insulation through geographical distance.

I've also been quite impressed with the changes in Brisbane since I last lived here. There has been a lot of infrastructure development - new busways and stations, redeveloped train stations, a new cafe and shopping precinct in the Valley and a big public square in the city. It's really impressive. Plus the weather has been fabulous. Apart from my first day, in which I almost melted into my boots, it's been pleasantly warm. I've conquered my jetlag thanks mostly to a marathon sleep-free session. I last woke up in London at 7am on a Tuesday and didn't sleep until around 3am Thursday morning. A couple of ten-hour nights seems to have put me back on track now.

I've not really contacted any of my Brissy friends as I'm busy spending most of every day at the hospital, so don't be offended if you haven't heard from me. I wouldn't mind coming back up here again for a weekend some time soon though. My first priority is to get this job sorted out and start working. Did I mention it's in Canberra? Try to suppress that involuntary shudder, at least it will provide me with the motivation to get the hell out of there and go back to the UK!