Tuesday 3 June 2014

My last blog entry winter 2013. Home.

So this is my last blog entry for my first year and a bit of retirement, its been a strange time and I hope you have enjoyed the ramblings.

Its 7:00 BST and I'm sitting in the sauna aka the shed in our back garden peering out of the window watching the birds on the bird feeder. We have been back from India for 10 weeks now, we have caught up with friends and family and started to put the house and garden in order for the summer. I thought it might feel strange being back but I really wasn't expecting a massive culture shock on returning home. How wrong could I be? In short - very.

Lets do the obvious and physical stuff first, its been cold, not just cold but damp coldness that found its way into my knees and Sarah's lower back making it necessary for us both to making hurumph noises as we climb off the sofa. As everyone around us begins to brighten as winter recedes, for us it has felt like autumn as we moved from tropical heat to British spring. Our first reaction was to start looking for somewhere, (anywhere), we could go to get warm again and immediately, before we succumbed to the winter glums. After watching the IPL on telly (Delhi beat Calcutta in the last over of a thrilling match) we actually considered buggering off to Dubai for 4 nights to catch a couple of matches as the competition had moved to the UAE while India was in the throws of their elections. Only when we realized it would cost about the same as 3 - 4 weeks in Vietnam did sense prevail, in the end we just gritted out teeth and turned up the central heating.

OK so i should have expected the weather to have an impact and it has but it will (should) get better soon so why has returning had such an effect? I think its a mixture of the culture, the contrasts and echoes of our life before we retired coming back to haunt us, that and a shift in what is important. I think for me my worst nightmare is being seduced back into a consumerist western lifestyle, one we had abandoned in India. A lifestyle where "stuff" and its acquisition takes the place of just being, where Amazon promises to deliver happiness within 24 hours and cosmetics companies dispense eternal youth and beauty because according to Cheryl Cole - "you're worth it"

Side Note - At what point did we suddenly need to be told our worth by a pop singer working for a make-up firm? Thanks Cheryl pet, I feel much better knowing i'm worth circa £25 and whatever the "it" i'm worth is, it comes in a jar. How stupid do they think we are do they think advertising works and we are influenced by all that hype. Ridiculous.

No selling out for us!!!

So... after being back for about a month I was drinking a cup of coffee i'd made in my new bean to cup machine and watching an episode of Elementary in glorious 7.2 surround sound (Had I told you I'd bought a new AV receiver as the old one was obsolete? It only had Dolby 5.1 which obviously was just not good enough), when an advert popped up on the screen. Guess what, there was a sale at DFS. I know, imagine my excitement after all its something that doesn't happen everyday, some items even had up to 50% off!!! It was too good to miss so we jumped in the car and headed for the nearest store.

We are now the proud owners of a new corner sofa unit, most of one anyway, the storage poof hasn't arrived yet. Actually that's not quite true, its arrived twice so far each time its been damaged but i'm assured by the store that its due any day now.

So... where was I? Ah I remember, not selling out.

Oh, we have made one other purchase - two tickets to India departing early October 2014 returning end of March 2015.











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