Baby what a big surprise* - Chicago

Many people were caught by surprise when they saw me on Sunday morning. It was nice to note that some were genuinely pleasantly surprised! To those who think that i purposely kept my coming back a surprise so that i can get a cheap thrill of seeing their reaction, lemme say that that is no true. It was a pretty last minute decision.

In any event, methinks that they were more surprised at me appearance (see here) rather than seeing me!!!

One mate predicted that i'll gain back all me weight in 3 months. A former boss said that it'll take me only 1 month - after seeing me polish off 3 and a half bowls of rice and bah kut teh! Another mate has made it his personal mission - of which i have no objections to - to fatten me up (and making his wallet slimmer, as he said).

But to me, what has been a surprise is how easy i have readjusted to life back here. A mate was saying today that it doesn’t feel like I’ve been away at all – and I echoed that sentiment. I was recalling how last Sunday was like every other Sunday b4 I left – service, lunch, hang out in me mate’s house to chat and watch movies. I’m even coping well with the weather here – although it has been rather cool in the evenings due to the daily downpour late in the day.

In some ways, I’m not doing things that differently here – I stay up late to surf, blog and chat wif me mates online (although it’s a whole different grp of mates I meet online in the early hours of the morn now), I watch TV series on me laptop (despite having a nice desktop next to me now), I hang out wif me mates, I wander around town taking photos (although I do that in a car), I miss me mates who are far away…

Loitering in the capital after dark - last week

Loitering in the capital after dark - this week!

So while there are many things I miss and many things I din get a chance to experience – like for instance:-

• travelling to Spain,
  
• seeing the Angel of the North,
  
• going to Ireland and drinking Guinness,
  
• watching musicals Billy Elliot, The Sound of Music, Evita etc.,
  
• experiencing snow one last time,
  
• hanging out in Oxford,
  
• seeing the crop circles in South-West England,
  
• seeing the northern lights in Scotland,
  
• catching a Premiership match,
• the list goes on…

Still, I have to say it is good to be back home. :-)

Note: The snowman along the Thames pic is taken from BBC News Online. It snowed the week after i left!!!!

*A song from one of me fav groups, the horn-backed rock group which used to be led by the brilliant Peter Cetera.