Week 43 - One Daily Positive and Project 366. Newport to Dubai

I arrived back in Dubai on Friday, I'm shattered. I've unpacked and put most of it away. I really don't want to go to work tomorrow, I'm not getting any satisfaction from working, there's too much pressure on me, while I enjoy the teaching side and don't mind planning and evidencing work in my own time, I don't think I've ever worked in a job where I'm under so much scrutiny and asked to justify EVERY single action. I've already decided I will pack it in at the end of the school year in June, but at the moment I'm not sure I'm going to make it to the new year.

Whilst I had a lovely time in the UK, it was sadly a trip made due to family bereavement. My Father's youngest brother's funeral was on Monday. It was lovely a service, there were lots of people there from his involvement with Gwent Football Association and the bands he'd played in over the years.

Sadly on Thursday we heard the news that my Mother's eldest brother had passed away. The funeral will be in mid November and I won't be able to travel to attend.

Day 297 - Kids. Picked up a few craft activities for school, I did want to post a picture of the teen, but he was having none of it as usual.

Day 298 - Cute. My sisters missing cat, he ran away last year, she has moved towns since then, she finally located him and brought him back to the new house where he has settled back in.

Day 299 - Amazing. Lovely to meet up with my SIL who I haven't seen since her Cancer was diagnosed in July, she is half way through her treatment and looks fab. Her daughter (my niece) is spending new year with us and 2 of the boys, she needs a break, she doesn't want or need the break, but her mum and I have ganged up on her.

Day 300 - Light. I've really enjoyed being in the UK in autumn, the rain and the cold, it all looks so pretty, it's amazing how early it gets dark now. In Dubai we average 10-12 hours of light every day. While we miss the long summer evenings of the UK, we certainly don't miss the lack of sun in the winter.

Day 301 - Leaves. I've loved the sight, smell and sounds of autumn. 

Day 302 - Dark. Back in Dubai, an evening at sunset spent on the beach, I've been sleeping the rest of the time.

Day 303 - Trick. I hate this part, the unpacking and eventual putting away of stuff. 

Walking in the tree tops at Celtic Manor, Newport



As you know I've been in the UK a while now, visiting from South Africa. The last few weeks have been spent at my parents where my 20yo nephew is also staying until he starts his new job in 2 weeks.

We've spent a lot of time together in the house and apart from the odd bit of running around we haven't actually done anything together. But what can a 42yo Aunt and a 20yo nephew actually do together?

We went to the pictures on my last visit, grabbed lunch out, but he has his mates, his golf and his video games and I'm not a big fan of the films he likes to watch.

So today, my last day of the trip we went to Forest Jump at The Celtic Manor in Newport. Home of the 2010 Ryder Cup.

After we had run through the safety checks and the instructors were happy that we knew what we were doing, I climbed a ladder as tall as a 2 storey building, stood on a platform that was moving in the breeze and announced to my nephew 'I can't do this' well by the 5th platform it was all systems go and we gained ground on the rest of the group finishing a good half an hour ahead of them, by whizzing down the zip wire. Click here for the videos. The whole course took just over 2 hours to complete.

I would recommend you wear a long sleeve top as I've a few rope burns and a pair of cycling gloves as my hands are blistered from clinging onto the ropes for dear life and I'd certainly recommend a padded bra.....you have been warned.

This was a perfect day out for all, there were children as young as 12 up on the high ropes and adults easily in their 60s. There is a low rope course for younger children and there were a few dads joining in and having a great time with their kids.

I'd certainly do it again and at *£19* per adult which included all the safety gear, demonstration and 2 hours of fun, it was worth the money.

I wouldn't mind exploring the fitness centre on my next trip to the UK or maybe a few golf lessons and a chance to play on the 2010 Ryder Cup course with hubby.

*I received 2 complimentary tickets from Celtic Manor*

 Sam demonstrating the safety gear to the others

 Once you connect the first safety clip, to secure it, you slot it into the yellow device and it locks in place, whilst then releasing the lock on the other clip. Ensuring that at all times you are secured to the equipment.

 



Train travel in the UK

Although I approached The Trainline for sponsorship, they declined, but I wanted to share my experience.

By booking in advance, you can save lots of money, however you are then restricted to using that ticket not only on that day, but at the time stated also. A bonus is I was able to book a seat for every part of my journey at no extra cost, but I did have to pay a £1.50 booking fee so I booked as many tickets together as I could.

 

But how do you find the cheapest fare? What happens if your train runs late and you miss your connecting train? If you turn up early can you catch an earlier one? What is the cheapest route?

How much time do you have? It was not easy, thankfully I’m was born in the UK and lived here for 39 years before moving to South Africa, so I know the geography of the country, I’ve lived in Wales, the north east and the south west, travelled with work both alone and with hubby to London and the north west, but still it wasn’t an easy route to plan.

So to get to Leeds from Newport the cheapest way to travel is via Manchester, however this involved a 2 hour wait for my train to Leeds, then the following day Leeds to Manchester another 2 hour wait, then the train to Watford with a change at Milton Keynes another change at Watford and on St Albans (collected from station)

Travel in and out of London for the next 4 days was purchased daily as I didn’t know how long I was going to stay and where I was going to be. I was then dropped at Reading for the train home.

Total journey costs including booking fees with The trainline       £158.90

Total journey costs without using The Trainline                               £175.40

Total cost if I’d travelled by road                                                          £ (car size and fuel dependant plus

                                                                                                                         tolls and parking)

 Total savings                                                                                             £ 16.50

If I’d been able to plan the whole journey a week or 2 in advance with The Trainline It would have cost                                                                                                    £115.00

I don’t know what would’ve happened if I’d missed a train, probably had to have paid full price for a new ticket. All I know is when I asked if I could catch an earlier train as I’d sensibly planned for at least a 90 minute break between stops, to allow for late arrivals, I was informed that wasn’t possible unless I purchased a new ticket.

It was a bit of a flaff to be honest just to save £16.50 but you can see if if I'd booked 2 weeks ahead my savings would've been £43.90

 

Differences between UK and SA

It doesn't look like anything has changed in the UK since I left in January, but my trip back last week did highlight the differences and all of them were negative...OK so I arrived back to the riots, seriously nothing to do with me.

I'll start with the media...all doom and gloom, newspapers and the TV describing Broken Britian,almost condoning the riots and the looting, with their explanations and reasons as to why these people were behaving the way they did...they have nothing...yeah so what...come to South Africva and see what NOTHING really looks like and the vast differences between rich and poor..you see here in South Africa if you don't have a job, you don't have money, therefore you don't have a house to sit in and watch SKY TV all day, complaining how the government and education system have failed you and absolutly no benefits...

People...How rude? and as for queing, the English say they're good at it...no they ain't..they're good at moaning about it, complaining if you're taking too long or if someone dares to push in...kids screachingin the supermarkets, parents ignoring them or screeching back, snide looks and heavy tutting, no patience, no waiting...here you have to queue for everything, for hours, only to be told to come back another day...very few tempers flare up.

Everyone in the UK feels they have a right to comment on everything, yet do nothing about it...mutter under their breath, snort and tut heavily but that's it...no offers of help when struggling with 3 cases, 2 hand luggage and a child with his arm in a cast, the bus driver and the passengers tutting as I try to get on the bus...I'm more than capable of lifting and moving the said luggage, just not in one bloody go.

South Africa is aclean place, I didn't realise how clean till I went back to the UK. I even tweeted Tesco with a picture of the mess outside the front of their store in Newport, all the public toilets weren't clean.

Everyone moans about the state of the roads in SA, the pot holes in particular, but the UK was just as bad, if not worse...the major roads in SA are 4-6 lanes, they resurface them regulary, they don't shut the whole road down and take several months, they resurface lane 2, you still drive on lanes 1, 3 and 4.

I don't know who it was but somesome said the 'whites in the UK were behaving like the blacks'..try being Black here...mind you if you're white it's just as hard...yes there are violent crimes, hijacking, armed robbery, but you don't see fights in the streets, drunken behaviour, people don't swear at you if you accidentially bump into them, kids don't hang round street corners scaring people and preventing them from walking past, the streets aren't full of litter, the toilets are always clean.

Racism is still an issue here, but there isn't an obvious class system, you're either black, white, rich or poor.