I should mention "Christmas"

In all the panic of Tuesday, I completely forgot to give "Christmas" a mention. Aside from the lack of Christmas tree, roast dinner and Santa as well as the abundance of Immodium I received by means of gifts, it was exactly like a Christmas at the correct time of year...

There was dancing:

And drinking:


There was a certain je ne sais qua:


Basically, there was a whole heap of class mixed with rum, beer and red wine:



Just how Christmas ought to be...

The time on my hands world map

Since I gained some time to amble towards my trip, I thought this time was well spent getting to know photoshop and making myself a map showing my trip. The theory is: London - Bangalore - Mumbai - Bangkok - Chang Mai - Malaysia - Singapore - Philippines - Tokyo - Costa Rica - Calgary - Banff - Edmonton - Vancouver - Seattle - San Francisco - LA - London.

1 is not 3 is not 5

Today has served to be a sharp learning curve. I have discovered to never expect anything, not to trust what you read on the internet no matter how much of it you actually read (I realise that this particular point may be best attributed to the rantings of an idiot) and how to manage extreme panic. All of which I am going to add to my CV in various guises.

On visiting the Indian Embassy this morning, I learned that you can no longer get a VISA in a day. In fact, they can't even promise it within 3 working days. Now, this presented a slight problem, namely that my flights are on Friday and there is an Indian national holiday on Thursday. The best they could offer me was the potential that I might get it on Friday some when between 11am - 3pm. Unfortunately this was less than reassuring as my flight is at 1.50pm, as is my little brother's. So, short of causing a commotion in the Embassy, I decided to go outside and cause a commotion to myself. Suffice to say, there were expletives and lots of them.

After briefly convincing myself that the world had in fact ended, I pulled myself together and called in the cavalry. One cup of Earl Grey later (I'd turned down the initial offer of a chocolate tart, I had even refused to go to my favourite restaurant on the premise the situation would mar it - that's how distraught I was ) I was feeling a little more composed and had made one of the compulsory lists that have characterised my planning these last 4 months.

After a number of fraught phone calls to the travel agent, the long and short of it is I am no longer flying to Bangalore on the 14th November and will instead be flying on the 18th. Upon learning this, I ate the chocolate tart - which I had been bought to take away - and this signified that everything was [pretty much] better. I decided to be philosophical and say - f*** it. I'm still going and what with the recession what's another £200 odd? That's the way to do it.

Now I just have to cancel hotels and train journeys and we're about done. I'm going back to bed.

Counting down the days

On Friday 14th November I officially leave behind the drizzle and do not return to it until 2009.