We’re off to the UK for Christmas tomorrow… Somerset to be exact.

We arrived at an airport hotel this afternoon in preparation for a midday flight tomorrow. The wife has some urgent Facebook business to catch up on and the littlun is on Youtube, so I found the bar for few last Leos before tomorrow’s flight. And with this spare time started pondering a new thread…

And got the bloody sun in my eyes... I'll wager that won't be a problem back in Blighty!




I’ve been perusing the ‘I’m so happy I’m gone’ thread with interest. Some has struck true, some not. Mr Guzzi’s comments nailed it for me. I know that I’m looking forward to three weeks in the UK, but I also know that come the new year I’ll be very glad to leave again.

I left the UK in the late 90s and after nearly a decade of being a gypsy, settled in Thailand in 2006. I can’t say that I feel particularly at home or content in Thailand, and have no fondness for Korat. But, the UK definitely no longer feels like home and I couldn’t return to live there full time. Maybe I should have stayed a gypsy.

This Christmas trip is all about the littlun and my aging mother. Mum is 83 and sees little enough of her Granddaughter and I want my daughter to have good memories of her Nan. If it wasn’t for my mum, I’m not sure I’d still be visiting the UK at all. A distant family and a couple of old mates are about my only other connections these days.

Leaving Thailand permanently is not an option just now for various reasons. That gives me an easy ‘get out’ for the time being, as I don’t have to think about it too much. However, one day I will have to think seriously about the future and consider the options, whatever they may be.

But, for now, the daughter’s settled, the dogs are safe… oh, and the wife is happy! And as they say, it’s all about the kids…

As with currently living in Korat, this Christmas trip home is all about the daughter. It’ll be hard work for me at times but I’m hoping the rough cider will help.

Anyway, enough of all that. This thread is planned to be about the Mendip family’s Christmas trip back home… and yes, I still do call it home!

This'll be us tomorrow!