L'Exil...est retourné!

Tuesday 22 August. Got no sleep at the Hostal in Lagos as we had turned it into party hostel for the night. Then got up at 4.30am to hitch a ride with two Israeli girls down to Gibraltar to investigate ferries to Maroc. Only fery sailing is on Friday from Gibraltar so muct go into spain again. This place is just like Little Britain - streetsigns are the same, there's a Morrisons. Ceapest booze ever, cheap smokes and perfume, tax haven for gamblers (where the two girls work in customer service). Check out some of the photos from the flickr site by clicking on the little badge to the right. Not sure how expebnsive it is here, but hopefully I can change money on the cheap! Need a shave. Thinking I should start a company in Gibraltar to get tax benefits. Wikipedia - Gib

I've spent a week in Portugal now and I love it. Apart from the summer holiday feel because there are way too many perople around. So I think I might take my time coming back from Maroc and spend some more time on the Algarve and souther Spain. Have got a few names of places from a guy I met on the surf camp. Surf camp was not just for old men but for all walks of life. I perfected a few different styles and even managed to get up goofy and frontwards (i.e. two feet in front). The waves were pretty good, we had no swell for the first few days so did a lot of wake surfing, but then they picked up later on in the week and we had some monsters which you couldn't even paddle out in. So was all good. Atlantic Riders website - our surf safari Diet consisted of pasta, beer is so cheap 1.50 euro for a sixer of Sagres or super Bock. We get absolutely caned on the tax I realise now. Now I need to find a good steak. Went to a bullfight last night which was col - they don't kil the b...

so yeah like my flight was supposed to leave at 6.30pm, and its over two hours late. the beach is not getting any closer man! turned up 3.5 hours before departure as well because of the chaos at airports, only to find it was a bit of a waste of time and i could have just turned up late. funny thing is though, everyone is very relaxed about it all, very patient. no big arguments or anything, quite surprising really. guess they really do love to queue...

Hull Daily Mail article I got my photo taken and a few quotes about the Council's greenfield policy almost straight after I finished work for the East Riding. These two fellas just bowled up to my house randomly and asked if they could ask a few questions and take a photo or two. So I said 'Yep, no worries - perfect timing timing too, as I've just finished working for the Council's sustainable development team!' Shame the photo's not on the web, but it does show my receding hairline and a pretty relaxed looking dude leaning over the railing of Beverley Beck...or this uppity kiwi guy expousing about the wonders of the NZ countryside...blah, blah, blah. Oops.

Well what have I done this week? I finished work on Monday which was a relief. I have discovered that policy work is not necessarily my cup of tea. But in saying that, I have been working in one of the most dysfunctional set-ups around. Maybe a different experience would change that perception? Since Monday i've been packing my minimal belongings and have hired a Peugeot 307 wagon to get down to the big smoke. It will be good to escape the small town idyll. Had a pretty good time up here, met some really cool people that I hope to keep in touch with for a long time. Word.