The great UK tour!

When I'm away from the blog for too long, it usually means I've been on a grand summer holiday, and indeed I have!  Probably the most significant thing that happened was I went away for work.  We did a massive tour on UK universities and it took almost a month.  This was what my schedule looked like (red days was when I was away on tour, blue days I was away for some other reason):

It was manic.  That said, there were some very good things about it, one of which was the sheer amount of country I got to see.  It's been my ambition for a while to explore more of my home country, and this was a very convenient way to start!  Part of my job was to film things for the company website, but since I had a camera I inevitably ended up taking some footage that was only interesting to me!  I've put it into a reel - my memories of the trip from Plymouth to Newcastle.  I cut it as short as I could make it, but still it's 10mins long!  I also avoided my usual instinct to put music on there.  All these places sound different, and that's part of my memories too.  Most intoxicating of all was the sound of the sea, whenever we reached it, and I'm slightly preoccupied with the idea of the ocean even now.

It's interesting to me that in the biggest cities, I always wound up finding the quietest places to film.  I'm not really a city person, I think, so I'd always seek out a haven or find time to just sit and watch something still for a while.

When I get a chance, I'll attach a map to the bottom showing our route.  It's all very well naming places, but if you can't see where they are then it doesn't always sink in.  My geography has certainly improved since going on this adventure!