Ten Greatest Memories of my 2010 Big Holiday.

* For more details of any given memory on this list, you could check out my other blog, ‘LeJog’, but in the spirit of my blogs, the one you actually want to look into may be ‘Under Construction’.

1. Lots and lots of cute dogs and their fanatical owners.
2. Saving the sheep from the Montgomery Canal.
3. Walking along the Ridge. Amazing to be up over the rest of the world in a country of fifty-odd million people and feel (almost) alone.
4. The canals. I am a canal and a canal boat kind-a girl. Plus, on the walking side, it’s lovely and flat.
5. Lots of fabulous and mad road trips with A——.
6. Chatting to people along the way. One, it gets me out of my comfort zone, and two, it is a little empowering to explain your exploits. It makes you feel a little good about yourself.
7. Walking around the city walls of Chester and rhino-spotting. It was a great walk although having a little more fuel would have been a good idea.
8. The Another Place artwork. The space made it so amazing. I would have loved to be able to see the emergence of the figures from the water but I didn’t have/make time. To me the wind farm in the background and the busy shipping channel between the two made it a complete work. The farm and the ships—inorganic forms—moved while the human, organic forms stayed still and watched. It was moving.
9. Getting happy at the Cavern Club. I did have a momentary eek moment when I troddled out onto the street in a tipsy condition and couldn’t quite work out what direction the hotel was in. It was tipsy enough to require pizza.
10. Pushing myself up some of those crazy hills, with an arguably heavier pack, a no-need-to-argue worse ankle, a million and three horsefly bites, to get to four hundred and one point five kilometers.

Ten Things I Need to Purchase for my Holidays.

*Aka: Another Shopping List.

1. Netbook and a bag for it. I have now purchased (today, eek) the netbook—a Dell Mini 10v. The biggest dilemma was the colour. I thought I had decided on cherry red, but when I saw the jade green option as I was ordering, my resolve was put into question. I decided to text V—— for his opinion; then I spun the mexican bean game top (with its equal number of sides of red and green writing, it is, I have decided today a perfect way to decide between 'go' and 'woah', or between cherry red and jade green) and got green, yay, the best of three red, mmm, then best of six red, mmm, don't think I want red after all; then I googled 'cherry red or jade green' and got a blog where a man had exactly the same problem and chose green because his wife said it was good for his eyes. V—— texted back with red and, poor thing, got a 'but don't you think green would be nice' text back. So the green one is ordered. Now I will just have to decide on a bag. I think I like the ones they have at Borders, made out of wetsuits. They are quite funky and not terribly bulky.
2. Bike shorts. Plain, simple, un-nappy-ed bike shorts that you see all the time until you actually need to buy some and then no-one stocks them. This seems a common experience amongst shoppers and supports a theory that the world doesn't actually exist. How can everyone be looking for something that isn't, all of a sudden, available, and there still be things in shops? Unless everyone is looking for the same thing, which seems unlikely. Everything is obviously just a figure of my imagination. But why then is my imagination sabataging my need for a pair of bike shorts—isn't it MY imagination. Who's controlling this thing?
3. Roll mat. I am in love with my new roll mat. It's like a big feather bed, only it's not. But compared to the piece of cardboard I had before it is divine—soft, airy and warm.
4. Olay cream. It moisturises and protects from the insipid (not really) rays of the British sun. I keep lying. But it is a little bit true, the British sun is a different, less painful sun. This is a lie that gives you cancer I know.
5. Advil. I love advil. It's red(ish) and it makes bad things go away.
6. New Undies. (No, you do not need new undies. Every single thing that happens is not an excuse to get new undies.)
7. Walking Shoes. As opposed to walking boots. I fancy getting some of the Keens we looked at on the day of the Melbourne Romp. It was like a day couldn’t be complete for women without a shopping bit at the end. The Keens are ugly but they look quite comfy and would serve as hiking shoes if I am feeling footloose.
8. Large Silk scarf. Idea abandoned for this when I realised that in this country a large silk scarf is one of three things: hard to get; expensive; and; very tacky colour wise. I wish I hadn’t lost my lovely sarong. It was the perfect scarf/towel/cover-up. This was an idea to replace it. it can’t be replaced.
9. Teeny-weeny shampoo and conditioner. For my teeny-weeny hair. No need for quantity here. Not enough hair, not enough days when I wash it, and even teeny-weenier bottles of shampoo and conditioner in most B&Bs.
10. Sequins. There will be one sequin for every kilometre on my spotty dress. The further I go the shinier I’ll get.

Ten Things Not to be Missed on Two Weeks of Holidays Overseas

* Thus justifying the absence of postings over the last two weeks.

1. Early mornings—for work purposes, play is a different matter.
2. Hot Melbourne weather. Snow is a much better alternative!
3. Involuntarily having to talk to the public. (They make the calls drop in—if we had to pick up the phone at work, no one ever would.)
4. Feelings of displacement. I must be a travelling soul, that moving makes me feel more at home than being at home. I must be an escaping soul.
5. The scary reminders that this year I will have to work out , and then write, my thesis. Actually, it's the working out that is the scary part.
6. The same routine.
7. News that only includes cricket and people being stabbed in Melbourne.
8. The neighbours burning stuff in the back yard 'til crazy-o'clock—making noise, and making the house smell.
9. Fighting development, talking about development.
10. The taken-for-grantedness of a good coffee.