London (England) - Returning Home

Suprising The Boys - Returning After My Year & A Half Travels

I knew it would be a manic few days coming up. I hadn't seen so many people for such a long time. My first call, was family. It was good to see the parents again, even though I had met up with them in New Zealand just a few weeks before. I met my Mum at the airport and my Dad on the tube back home. I had missed them, though I couldn't say the same for the London Underground. It hadn't changed. It was still the same old tube and the same old delays. I'm not really sure what I was expecting. I probably would have been more suprised to see the underground system replaced by supersonic space-like crafts whizzing around London at brake-neck speeds, but I suppose I just hoped for something better.

My home town, Southgate, located in the very northern stretches of London, hadn't changed much either. As I walked back home - I quickly realised that everything (apart from the odd shop here and there) was exactally as I had left it. It was then that the feeling of not really being away, hit me. It was as though I hadn't left at all. Very strange, though not in a bad or good, or disappointing or exciting way - just a stange one. When I walked into my house, that hadn't really changed all that much too - yet that did please me. It was familiar and I liked it. The only differences were the welcome home balloons and banners that lined the hall-way - I was pleased about that too. It was good to be home.

A while ago, maybe 2-3 months or so, I was in New Zealand and speaking to a very good (and old) friend back home. It was then that I decided to only tell Michael the date of my return. All the other boys would think I was coming back a few days later and just one day before my Sister's wedding which they all already knew about. It was only a few days difference but I thought it would be fun to suprise them all. It's often the other way around - that the returning traveler comes home to a welcome party - and that did happen, with all my family a few days after I arrived. But with my boys, I thought I'd turn the table a little. I told Mike, I didn't care how, but to get them all in a pub the day after I landed into Heathrow. He didn't let me down, and that night I met Mike outside the pub, before strolling in to some incredibly shocked but happy faces. I remember seeing my friend Naddy's jaw almost hit the floor, before everyone took a second to realise what was going on. It was amazing to see them all after a year and a half and within a few minutes it was all back to normality.

Over the next few days, I saw nearly all the people that I hadn't for so long. I couldn't get to see everyone in such a short time, to get round them all would take a few months but those close at hand, I made the effort (and they did too), to meet up.

Actually, it all ended up quiet convienient for my return back to England. I was staying for a little while, before I decided where to head off next, which job to pursue or if to make the leap into a PhD. However, originally, I had planned to return to New Zealand after a short time. That was before I realised that I couldn't get any more work through my visa. At the time I thought I would return back home for a few weeks and then head off back to Auckland. My reason for returning home - was my Sisters wedding and now, the big day was upon us...............