When I decided to leave Nepal and head back to the UK this was a bit of change of plan. Initially, I had been thinking of going on to Sri Lanka or India immediately. But both of those visits will happen later in 2025 so June 2025 was an ideal time to go back to the UK. For several reasons. One of those reasons is the weather. The UK in June and July is significantly more pleasant than in January and February, for example. Also, after being away for 6 months, it was going to be nice to see friends again and top up my UK-ness. By which I don’t mean a sense of UK identity, I mean all the wonderfully comfortable and enriching things that the UK has to offer.
I visited lots of friends. I went to the seaside (despite not really loving the sea). I spent lots of time on trains. I went on dog walks (I adore my friends with dogs, the dogs less so). I had a lot of tea and cake. I spent a surprising amount of time in London, which I actually really enjoyed – walking through some cute little London parks, walking along the nice bits of some London canals, going to some very cute little coffee shops and restaurants, enjoying the sunshine, cool breezes, shade and squirrels! I have lived in the UK for half my life now, but I still get giddily excited when I see a squirrel – we don’t have them in Australia and possums are most definitely not the same thing.
I also soaked up some experience and some culture. I went to see some friends in an ice skating gala. I went dancing. I taught dancing. I went to see Jacinda Ardern speak in London. I went to the theatre (amateur and professional). I went to a concert.
And I just said theatre and concert as if they were somewhat incidental to everything else. Actually, this is not so. Hadley Fraser (a singer and actor who I adore) released an album in February and shortly thereafter announced a concert in London in June (one night only at the Cadogan Hall). At the time, I had no intention of being in the UK in June, but I bought two tickets anyway – one can’t be a die-hard fan if one isn’t prepared to buy tickets to concerts one is almost certainly not going to attend. I figured that if I was in the UK, I’d be annoyed if I didn’t have tickets and if I wasn’t, I could give the tickets to a friend and she could then report back and tell me just how exhilaratingly wonderful the whole thing was. Hadley was also performing in The Deep Blue Sea in the West End at the time too. In for a penny, in for a pound – I bought two tickets to see him in The Deep Blue Sea on the Saturday night before the Cadogan Hall on the Sunday.
And let’s be honest, when my plans started to look like change was possible, Hadley Fraser’s concert was probably 80% of the reason I decided to go back to the UK when I did. I regret nothing. He was amazing on stage on the Saturday. But his concert on the Sunday night was utterly incredible. I suspect the only person in that room who had more fun than me, was Hadley himself (and that’s not because everyone else was not having fun, they were, I was just completely blown away by all of the everything that is Hadley Fraser performing live).
Sometimes, when you’re making big, grand, expansive plans that fundamentally change the direction of your life, it is also a good idea to take note of the little things that make life as joyously wondrous as it is – the friends, the trains, the tea, the cakes, the squirrels, the culture, the dancing, the singing, the Hadley Frasers (or whoever your equivalent is if you’re not quite so taken with him as I am).
It was a thoroughly delightful two months and gave me all the spoons and emotional energy and joy I needed to be able to happily get back on the road and start travelling again.
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