Wanderings Lately :: July

Life hack: write a blog, even if no one else reads it you will have a great record of your life over the years.

Last July the weather was horrible. A couple of years ago I was celebrating birthdays and bring sporty. Seven years ago I was swimming in rain in Korea.

I can't quite believe that it is August already, and yet when I think about this time last year, I was about to head to Cornwall for our big family holiday and that seems like years ago! Time is a strange thing.

This month I have two weddings, a reunion, another family getaway and a break from many of my usual after work pursuits. Perhaps I'll take some evenings in the park soaking up some summer sun over netball and dancing for the month instead!

Here's a look back over July; a trip to Nice, a little bit of work, sports and hen party fun.

Nice

I began the month in Nice, visiting Johanna, just before she was about to leave to return to Geneva. I made a video of my trip, which I think shows how much fun it was. Visiting friends is one of my favourite ways to travel. Not only do you get to spend time with someone who you enjoy being with, and that you don't see as much as you once did, but you get to spend the day exploring yourself and meeting up in the evening to chat and talk about it all. As I was clearly reminded on my ill-fated trip to Greece, solo travel is really not for me. But that's not to say I don't like being on my own. I am happy with my own company and can easily spend the day exploring, wandering or even just sitting around on my own. I just don't like to do that all day every day. Evening are the time when I really want company.

Going to Nice this time, was very different to my first visit. It's interesting to re-visit those places you went to as a young backpacker with no money. Not that I am suddenly flush now, but I certainly have more to spend than in my early 20s and it gives you a totally different experience.

Events

I won tickets to watch the Vitality Superleague Netball final at the Copperbox. So I went along with Holly, one of the girls from my netball team to watch.

Great to see professional netball in action, and well done to Wasps Netball for winning the league again this year. Next season there will be a London team for the first time, so I would like to watch London Pulse more often next season.

We also had our student farewell event at Alexandra Palace at the beginning of the month. As I started half way through the academic year, I wasn't there when these scholars arrived but it was really quite something to see all of the scholars in one place at the same time. It's such a diverse room of people, from so many different places, their lives all colliding for one year as they make a stop in the UK on their career paths. I am looking forward to orientation this year, although I know it will be a busy day work-wise, but this time I have been involved in the process of selection. I hope to meet the scholars from Kosovo who I helped to interview back in March!

Happy Hens

My final two weekends in July were spent celebrating two very different Hen Dos. First up for Siobhan's at Go Ape in Battersea Park. I've been there been with my friend Polly, but this time we had a group of happy (and not so happy) hens in tow. Siobhan ended up getting tangled in some of the ropes and none of us completed the final top level loop. We all opted to head to the room we had booked to drink prosecco and play games instead. The glorious summer weather was in full swing so we saw out the day sitting in the park, chatting and finishing off the nibbles. A very chilled and low key day.

Last weekend, I headed up to Manchester for Chelsea's hen. Much more a traditional hen night, with a big group of girls from many corners of the world - Canada, Australia, Holland (and of course London!) We had a great afternoon and evening, learning how to make cocktails, playing games - my team won! - dinner, karaoke and a good old fashioned night out. The following day, the UK weather decided to revert to form and was pouring with rain. 

:: One benefit of summer was that each day we had more light to read by. Jeanette Walls; The Glass Castle ::

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