June 16, 2004

I don’t really believe this myself, but today I went to work! After almost a year of not working, it was a bit of a shock to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning, drive 4 hours up to Leeds on the busy M1, and sit down at a desk in an office. For the minute, I'm only doing a fortnight's work, but when we come back home permanently, this will be a feature of my life - at least for the next six months. Two days a week in Derbyshire, for a small software company, and three days in Leeds, for another one. You may think I'm mad for choosing to do this - the firms are 3 and 4 hours drive from our home - but I couldn't imagine coming home and going to the same office, and sitting behind the same desk as I left a year ago, and wondering whether that's it until retirement. Instead, I've opted for a six-month contract, and that's going to mean spending quite a bit of time on the M1. But at least I won't be able to complain of boredom. And after the last year of never being separated from the children, I'm sure they'll like it a lot...to start with.
 
After my early start, I was encouraged to leave early too, so I made it back home at 8pm. Okay, it was a 15-hour day, but I spent it sitting in an air-conditioned car, on a smooth motorway, or sitting on a comfortable chair in an office. Compared to 16-hours on a single hellish 200 mile bus trip on the world's worst roads in Cambodia, it was a pushover.

 
The spookiest thing about today? Everybody I met in the office seemed to know a bit about me - they said things like "Oh yes, I remember you from the Holiday programme" or "I've seen your picture on your website". You could imagine that would be quite nice, but its actually a bit odd. I keep thinking about this website - what have I written or what photos will they have seen? What have they specifically remembered? Every time I try to have a serious work conversation, will they remember me as a rickshaw rider in Vietnam, or in a fairground in Cambodia, struggling to get out of the tunnels in Cu Chior with a python around my neck in Australia? And as for "I saw you on telly" - well, they're one step ahead of us. We haven't even seen the programme made in Bangkok yet, as the video the BBC sent to us was damaged in the post, and we've yet to see another copy. Something for the weekend then!