All Right Here?

Having recently moved from the UK to South East Asia, a lot of people have asked me: "So, what's it like, then?" This is my attempt to answer that question.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

The Rainbow



Jonny’s doing a grand job of documenting my holiday. It was a quite extraordinary three weeks in which we saw the stunning Blue Mountains; went wine tasting at the Hunter Valley; went to the races (and lost – it’s a mug’s game); had a top Christmas day BBQ followed by a game of cricket on the beach, rounded off with another BBQ; enjoyed H’s birthday; watched the NYE fireworks from the Opera House; went to Field Day, a dance festival; body boarded and wave jumped; walked coastal walks; celebrated Chewie’s birthday… the list goes on.

I’ll leave Jonny to carry on telling the full story, but I’m a busy man at the moment, so I’ll just talk about the sky on our last night. Having seen so many people from home, saying goodbye was pretty tough as no one really knows when we’ll all be together again. In fact, the longer I spend away from home, the harder the goodbyes seem to get.

As we were getting ready to go out on the last evening, the sky went a misty grey colour and what appeared to be a fine mist dressed the promenade like a peignoir. Looking out to sea, we noticed the faint glimmer of a rainbow, which gradually sharpened until the whole arch had fastened itself to the sky. The sky morphed, bruised and blossomed.

The rainbow seemed to reflect the bittersweet nature of parting. The sky seemed to reflect the time of uncertainty ahead, for just about all of us. The holiday was over. I’m going for promotion which is pretty much make or break in my current job. Ella’s finished her MA and is trying to work out what to do next. Jonny, H, Chewie, Stan, Steve etc might also be able to apply this slightly overwrought symbolism to their own lives too. Either that or they’d tell me to stop being so pretentious.

The rainbow was a fitting end to an unforgettable holiday. Thanks to everyone, but especially H and J for putting us up and putting up with us. Eye am the sky, as Dr Phibes and the House of Wax Equations once put it.

















8 Comments:

  • At 10:56 am, Blogger Jonny said…

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  • At 12:19 pm, Blogger Jonny said…

    I like your style Mike, getting me to do all the blogging donkey work. How does that work then? What about your spin on all the things we did......?

    I guess it's a good use of initiative though, seeing as you are very busy and all haha! I thought you could relax a bit now the application has been lodged?

    As for that evening sky, it was sensational and one of the best Australian skylines I have ever seen (last nights sunset was a doozy as well - the bushfires creating a orangey/red glow on the horizon that you may have seen on the TV if you were watching the Oz vs NZ One Dayer from the SCG).

    Good luck with the job application mate. As for H and I, well we are getting back into the swing of things.....but you are both missed, not just by us, but also by everyone you met.

    It was, indeed, an unforgettable holiday (one of the best ever I reckon), as was that skyline which signalled the end, so I definitely won't be calling you pretentious (you'll be surprised to read I'm sure?).

     
  • At 7:38 pm, Blogger Me said…

    Hey Jonny. I'll do my best to give my spin on a few of the other things we did. I'd like to write more often, but my track record suggests otherwise. Unfortunately, the application was just the tip of the iceberg. Too boring to go into.

    Keep up the good work. We wish we were still there!

     
  • At 10:50 am, Blogger Jonny said…

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  • At 10:50 am, Blogger Jonny said…

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  • At 10:51 am, Blogger Jonny said…

    No worries mate, I'm sure your comments (and pictures?) will be worth waiting for.....

    Maybe you should just nail it all in one blog, like you did for your Summer last year.

    It is taking me ages to catch up but it is also giving me the opportunity to look through all the pictures. And there's some crackers!

     
  • At 5:44 pm, Blogger The Dog of Freetown said…

    Amazing pictures - particularly the rainbows. Nice one!

     
  • At 4:53 am, Blogger Andy said…

    Yes loving the pictures Mikey, we both share an affinity for the sky.

    The writing was very pretentious.

    Great chatting earlier - nice to catch up. I look forward to reading your version of events from Oz ;)

     

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