Coming Home

It was 6 months ago that we left the UK to start our new life in Australia, yet we found ourselves heading back to the UK for a friend's wedding.  It was strange how the last six months seemed to fade as we boarded the plane, feeling like nothing more than a long holiday from which we were now coming home.  This feeling was consolidated when we arrived in Bath, it was a glorious sunny day and it felt like we had never been away. 

Bath hadn't changed much since we had left, perhaps the biggest change was the building works going on at the train station.  On our first day in Bath we took the time to explore all our old haunts including the Green Park Brasserie where Barnadi used to work and on to our old house in Oldfield Park.  It was clear our old house was still not being lived in and that the landlady was having a lot of renovations done.  The biggest shock was to see the back garden had been completely gutted, all the plants and the pond gone forever, this was no longer our home.  While we were in the area we tried our neighbours door to see how our old goldfish was getting on, but unfortunately no-one was home.  Goldie our old goldfish was very old when we left the UK, at least 10 years old, during her life she had gone from the usual goldfish orange to completely white.  So we have no idea if she is still alive and we will have to wait until November before we can check again.

Azerbaijan: Host of Eurovision 2012

We stayed with our friends David and Kirsty while we were in Bath, and we arrived just in time for Eurovision for which they were hosting a little party.  Eurovision parties had been a bit of a tradition for us for the last few years, it started with just a few of us but this year the guest list topped 17 people a record.  Guests all brought European inspired food, except for Barnadi and I who brought along some Australian wine.  This years Eurovision seemed to be the battle of the ballads, the UK's entry was sung by Engelbert Humperdinck, and was a bland instantly forgettable tune that struggled to escape last place.  The general consensus from those gathered was that France had the best song, a slightly more powerful number sung by a famous Indonesian singer Anngun.  The winner however was Sweden with a song none of us liked.  It was a miracle that I managed to stay awake for the whole thing, only beginning to drift off slightly during the scoring, Barnadi on the other hand was starting to suffer quite early on from his jet lag.

The Bride and Groom

The next day was the wedding, and the true purpose of our visit.  Gemma and Dan, manager and head chef at the GPB and Barnadi's friends.  Ironically although David and Kirsty did not know Gemma and Dan they used to live in the same building for many years.  The weather stayed good for the wedding, which was perfect as the location of the wedding, Kingscote Barn, was set in the beautiful Cotswold hills with plenty of outside space to enjoy.  The service was relatively short allowing us to make the most of playing games and drinking our champagne in the sun.  The good weather meant the lighting was perfect for taking photos and we got a lot of very nice shots of the bride and groom.  The meal was also really enjoyable, even though we were on a table named the 'Muck Spreaders'.  We shared a table with the rest of the GPB staff, past and present.  Overall it was a brilliant day and well worth the 24 hour flight to attend (a fact that even earned us a mention in the Father-of-the-Bride's speech), in fact the only negative was being called a 'douch-bag' by the Bride's 5 year old nephew during a game of boules, a perfect reminder of why I never want children.

The weather stayed good for the rest of our time in Bath, and I managed to pop into the pharmacy at the RUH to say hi to all my old friends there, although I didn't have time to see everyone as I had to run off to meet our friends for lunch and get measured for a suit for David and Kirsty's wedding in November.  We had lunch at the Cotes Brasserie where we sat outside in the sun and made the most of their 2 course lunch special, before going to Sub 13 for their 2-4-1 cocktails.  Barnadi was really suffering from his jet lag by now and just slept through the afternoon.

Whitstable Oyster Co.

We left Bath the next day for my home town of Tunbridge Wells and went for an early dinner with my Dad and Sisters before heading back to my oldest sister, Rachel's house.  The next day we went to Whitstable with my Mother, a slightly grungy coastal town in North Kent.  It is quite industrial and the beach is nothing special, but it is a working fishing town and delicious fresh oysters are available for a very reasonable price.  It was that day the weather started to take a turn for the worse and we had several heavy showers that afternoon, although it brightened up long enough for us to enjoy a few drinks in the garden before my Mother had to go home.

A taste of Britian: Some of Barnadi's Shopping

We spent one night up in London where we managed to get tickets to see Shrek the Musical in the westend, before heading back down to Kent to catch up with the rest of the family and even my old friend Vanessa who I hadn't seen in years.  When it came to packing the day before we left we had a bit of a problem.  When we left for Australia 6 months ago we left some things at Rachel's house that we couldn't carry with the intention of picking them up on this trip, however Barnadi had done so much shopping we still had no room for most of it, so we still have a bag of our stuff at my Sisters house, maybe we will have room in November.

Rachel's husband Glen drove us to the airport on our last day, and then we were off, back home again.  When we left the UK 6 months ago it was for a big adventure, we had no home to go to and no job lined up when we got here.  This time however, everything is sorted and we really were just coming home.  Although I was very sad to be leaving the UK again, Barnadi was happy to be getting back.  The whole trip only lasted 10 days, but while we were there it felt like we had never left.  Getting on the plane back to Melbourne, back to our new home, it really sunk in as to how big a decision it was to move out here in the first place.  Australia is really so far away, but it is not just the physical distance which is the issue.  It is hard to find the words to accurately describe my feelings, I do not regret our decision to move, but the UK will always be my true home.