Jolly Old England

Just spent the majority of the last week in the air bouncing between Australia and the UK for a little bit of work. It seems glamorous but I could probably do without the jet setting lifestyle, far more comfortable staying at home with the family and my own bed. Not that I didn't take advantage of this trip back to blighty of course to catch up on some food that I've missed.

When I was a spoiled undergraduate student in Canterbury I used to cycle to the local Tesco supermarket to pick up bags full of these candy yoghurts that had far too much sugar to be healthy for me. The attraction was a super sweet crumble or crunchy mix in and a tub of similarly sweet flavored yoghurt, my favorite combination being toffee yoghurt with caramel encrusted cheerio-like cereal. I couldn't find it this time but got a few tubs of other varieties to get my fix.



Flight Centre are looking to build a few websites in the UK so I was flown over (cattle class as per company policy) to have a chat with some of the businesses over there. Unfortunately the business in question weren't based in some classy district in downtown London, rather the sleepy town of Ipswich some two hours drive out of the city and civilisation. Weather was less than pleasant, though survivable thanks to warm clothing loaned by concerned parents and cautious packing by the family. We barely had time to wander about in the cold aside from scampering between pubs and places for dinner, not that there was much to see in the area. The one landmark in town was a manor house converted into a museum that we covered during a lunch break one afternoon.



After three days in Ipswich we got to spend an afternoon in London before flying back home. Sightseeing was postponed for far more important duties, in this case making a bee line for Selfridges to continue mum's tradition for chowing down beef sandwiches in the food hall there. I got a large portion with a mixture of tongue and pastrami which was awesome.



For dessert I scoffed a cookie from Ben's Cookies, a new fixation that was recommended by Ross at work. Soft and chewy goodness, in this case milk chocolate and orange. Probably not the sort of thing one would eat at an oyster and champagne bar but I get my sweets where I can.



Sufficiently stuffed we slowly made our way back to the Flight Centre offices with a stop by South Bank to check out the London Eye and spy Big Ben across the river. It was a pretty sunset but the temperature soon dropped so we didn't stay out for long.



It was a short trip and I think I would have spent as much time in the air as on the ground but it was kind of nice to be back in the country for a while. Still couldn't wait to get out of the cold and come back to warm and sunny Brisbane. I made a decision a long time ago not to work in the UK and I'm still pretty happy with my choice, don't think I could handle the weather, but it's a nice place to visit from time to time.