Yes, I’m typing away in a little B&B in deepest, darkest Reading on a laptop whose “Enter” key is broken hence the uncharacteristic lack of paragraphs…. It’s been 2 1/2 years since I left this town to move back up North and I can’t really say I’ve been dying to come back. But an opportunity came up to go on a training course at my old employees, Oracle, so here I am. Not a huge amount seems to have changed. Oracle seems the same, the food was just as good and I recognised a few faces although most of the people I worked with had been made redundant shortly after I left.

(A-HA! I’ve just worked out how to get paragraphs!)

Took a trip back from Oracle this evening up to where I used to live and had dinner at Cafe Iguana which is still veggie, cheap and continues to produce tasty nosh! I even ventured into the other Oracle to look for a hat and noticed that the canal side restaurants where all the same – i.e. chain restaurants with not an ounce of individualism between them.

Lots has been going on including watching the Flaming Lips on a wet and windy Wednesday in the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Wow! Then had a European City Break in, erm…, Bristol. Saw Andy C at the Carling Academy and enjoyed Smoothies, steep hills and lots of fantastic Vegetarian food (Infact it’s definitely the poshest vegetarian meal I’ve ever had – well it was UK Vegetarian Restaurant of the year). Went to a forgetable Sound Junction which appeared to be a load of incoherent noise (and it’s unusual for me to say anything like that!) plus a couple of great lunchtime concerts at the University Drama Studio.

In amongst all this I’ve been trying to make some progress on my Environmental essay writing which has been pretty difficult.. Things’ll be a lot easier next year

Also did the five weirs walk – a riverside stroll along the Don from central Sheffield to Meadowhall. Saw a Heron and apparantly there is loads more wildlife along the way especially in the summer.

Shame it ends up at Meadowhall but you can’t have everything. The shock of the hellhole that is Meadowhall after such a relaxing walk in relative peace and quiet was something I wouldn’t like to experience again! We enjoyed a packed lunch of the highest quality on a bench outside; Homemade bread with a selection of cheese from the Cheese Hamlet in Didsbury (2006 Deli of the year…. this post is full of award winners!) with peppermint tea from a flask. Classy! Then we snapped the Tinsley Towers and headed back along the canal until Leanne’s poor feet got blistered near the Don Valley Stadium… A tram whisked us back to the sprawling European metropolis of Sheffield. (2007 will be the year of European City Breaks – in the UK!)

Oh yeah and last weekend had an impromptu Friday night pub crawl with Leanne when I ended up being offered a greenhouse by some geezer in a pub and then heading over to Plug to enjoy the delights of Wolfgang Flur, one of the members of Kraftwerk from the time of the Autobahn Tour. Not a huge crowd but it was cool watching the man bopping away like only a 60 year old pioneer can.

Right I’m going to get back to reading this article about milk which I hope won’t turn me vegan but it’s probably one step in that direction which I’m not sure I’m quite ready for!