August 2018

It would be very easy for me to say that August was more or less a carbon copy of July...because it was, bar a couple of things.

My work situation is pretty much the same as before. I've still been looking for another job, but so far no luck on that front. As always, just got to keep at both of those.

The weather on the whole was still very warm this month, although a couple of thunderstorms towards the middle did cool things down just a little. It sounds like my area got off lightly compared to others though, from what little pieces of news I heard.

What made August a little different was that I actually got a whole weekend off towards the end of the month - it meant that me and my wife were able to take a much needed getaway. I'll give you two clues as to where we went, it begins with "Rhode" and ends with "Island".

Artwork has been...lacking lately. I've been spending whatever downtime I have chilling at the beach, with all the warm weather, think I might be turning into a beach bum (until the weather gets colder that is). As nice as that has been, it has made me less productive, especially in regards to the F&S comic, plus a certain website that should really have been live by now. I've never been the best self-starter, to be honest.

I did recently complete the latest feature length Bob & Flyer comic however - the entirety of "Operation: N.E.C.T.A.R" is now available over on my Tapas page for you to check out.

August 30 also marked a milestone for one of my comic series - "The Surf Club" has now been going for 10 years, and to mark the occasion, I will be posting all the comics to my Tapas page, starting right from the beginning. I also put together this comic to mark the milestone also.

Enjoy what's left of the summer, see you same time next month.

August 2017

Another summer has come to an end. I always feel down whenever summer's over, as it's my favourite time of the year. Onwards we go, though.

I've mentioned many times about the news - as much as I try to avoid it, I somehow always end up hearing about everything that's going wrong in this world, from horrible tragedies to political madness. Then I just have to remind myself that 95% of what I hear, what we all hear is blown out of proportion, sensationalised to get ratings. To quote a famous saying, and also the title of a canny good Jamie Lenman song, "No News Is Good News" - I choose to put the mute button on, avert my eyes from all the dread, and to just live my life.
In my July blog I mentioned the passing of Chester Bennington, the singer of Linkin Park - I say this as a reminder that depression is a sickness, and not something to be taken lightly, regardless of what the media might want you to believe. I'm not going to name any names, but there was a time this month that someone close to me was swallowed up by that depression, and myself, friends and family found ourselves unable to reach that person. This isn't the first time that it's taken hold of that person, and I fear that it won't be the last, but this is why it's important to reach out. I can't stress it enough - if you're feeling depressed, talk to someone. Shutting people out is too easy to do, and while it may feel like it makes it all better, it really doesn't. Aye, it's hard to see the light when you're in that hole, but just remember - you're not alone. We all have times where a dark cloud hangs over us, but that cloud always eventually passes.

To better news now - things could be looking up on the job front. As I type this, I have a job interview lined up for September 1, I will let you know how that went in next month's blog. I also helped out my wife Nicole at her workplace on  a couple of days towards the end of this month, setting up meals for the staff on their morning training sessions. It was very busy but it felt good to help out.
One of those days was August 21, which as most of you know was the day of the solar eclipse. One of Nicole's co-workers was kind enough to lend me a pair of special glasses to check it out, and while the full total eclipse wasn't visible in my area, I was still able to see a partial eclipse, it was quite a sight, but you don't need me to tell you that.
We also made the most of the warm weather this month by hitting a few beaches, including a couple we'd never visited before. Probably the most notable trip of this month was to the Roger Williams Park & Zoo in Providence RI - definitely a great place to visit with a wide variety of animals to see, and the park was very relaxing too.
We were also at Foxwoods Casino on August 4th to see Dashboard Confessional and The All-American Rejects play, both bands put on a good show, and Nicole was singing along to every Dashboard song, as she is a huge fan of them.
On the artwork front, I've been busy working on the first Fyfe & Sparkplug comic, as of this blog I have 7 pages ready to go. It's certainly a challenge and as I am planning to try and get this comic published, I really want it to be as good as it possibly can be.
I'll leave you with a bit of summer themed artwork, my Surf Club characters enjoying some waterslide action. See you in Autumn.

August 2016

So, summer's at an end, and I can safely say that I've been making the most of the warm weather, as I have done for the majority of this summer - bike rides, beach time and going on trips with my wife Nicole.

On that note, we had another "rock and roll" weekend on the 6th and 7th, going to not one but two gigs at Mohegan Sun, my first time going to the arena there, and the biggest music venue I've ever been to, I have to say. The first gig was a double header, Counting Crows & Rob Thomas. I'd only heard one Counting Crows song before the show, and I was familiar with some of Rob Thomas' music as Nicole is a big fan of both his and his band Matchbox 20's music. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of either artist, but I will say that Rob Thomas put a lot of energy and passion into his show, interacting with the crowd and getting everyone pumped, and his songs are very catchy - I think he should've been the headline act, because while Counting Crows were solid, they just weren't quite as memorable in my opinion. Still, it was a good night all round.

The second gig was the flipside, one of my favourite bands, and my second time seeing them, the Deftones. They had Spotlights and the infamous Swedish punk band Refused opening for them, Spotlights were pretty good with their heavy shoegaze-iinspired metal, I wasn't too sure about Refused though, while they were very loud and energetic (their singer had quite the stage presence), they jut didn't quite do it for me. However, Deftones absolutely killed it, they were every bit as awesome as when I first saw them back in '07, I couldn't fault them at all.

It wasn't just music shows we checked out at Mohegan Sun - on August 20 we checked out the TerrifiCon comic convention, my first comic con since San Diego back in 2010, and while this one was on a smaller scale, it was every bit as packed as San Diego, comic book stands, famous faces and cosplayers everywhere, and while it was a little overwhelming it was still a lot of fun.

We also celebrated two friends' wedding on the 27th (congrats to you both, you know who you are), it was a great party, and of course it brought back memories of our own wedding ceremony two months ago - I have to say, it was nice not being in the spotlight.

This month also saw the Olympics, which this year were held in Rio in Brazil - I caught some of it, though I really don't like how like everything else it seemed to get overshoadowed by all the scandal going on. It was also a little strange knowing that the previous Olympics were held in London back in 2012, back in my home country.

I seem to have been getting these reminders of my home country a lot lately, it's been 8 months since I left the UK, and I admit that this past month I've had moments where I've been missing my family a lot. The fact is, that is always going to happen, as anyone who's in a similar position will know, being far away from your loved ones is hard - but that's why I'm thankful for technology such as Skype, I can still easily keep in touch with them. I just hope that both me and Nicole will be able to go and visit them again someday.

On a brighter note, things are finally progressing with my immigration - they finally received my case, 5 months later, about time too, and just this past week I had my background check done up in Hartford, so now I am waiting for that to come through, and then hopefully it won't be much longer before I have my residency card and am able to apply for jobs. That's been on my mind too, wondering about whether I'll be able to cope balancing work and life, but the fact is, I won't know if I can until I'm living it. Ill keep you posted on this of course.

Last but not least, with summer coming to a close, I'll leave you with some summer-themed artwork - if this doesn't make you want to jump into the nearest pool, I dunno what will.

August 2015

I must be really starting to sound like a broken record now...but this month, like every other month, has been up and down, but in a way it feels like this month has been more so then normal.

Bad stuff out of the way first - I'm not going to disclose the details on here for the whole world to see, but my brother was hit with a very big setback this month, as in a financial setback - however he is taking steps to try and fix it. I'm mentioning this because as I've said before, I don't want my brother to be up the creek without a paddle once I eventually make my move to the US. Proof that money does not, never has, and never will bring happiness.
I've also felt like lately that my stress levels have been rocketing - stupid DeviantArt related crap, the whole immigration saga, plus the pressure of trying to find a job and my social anxiety have all been factors. And as a result of this I've severed ties with someone who was a friend, and I'm not gonna name any names, but while I could've handled the situation better, they could have too. I do not have any time for people who are quite happy to unapologetically and publicly humiliate me, even after I apologised for my part - real friends do not do that to each other, and that's all I have to say on that.

There has been a lot of good stuff this month too, and that includes some good news on the immigration front - I applied for and recieved one of the documents I need for both the medical and visa interview, my police certificate, so that's a step forward at least. Also, I've contacted the US Embassy regarding the status of my case, so I'm waiting to hear back about that.
I also got to witness a brief display of a phenomenon that only occurs once a year, though this was the first time I'd ever gotten to see it - the Perseids, a cluster of shooting stars. I only saw two of them, they were lightning fast but a great sight to see.
This summer, I've been making sure to try and get away on trips as much as possible. and with this being possibly my last summer living in the UK,it's been more important than ever, everything has felt very final really, and that's been the case for this whole year, not just this month. In addition to my regular day trips out to the coast at Tynemouth, I also decided it was about time I revisited a place I'd been meaning to get back to for a while, the Isle of Wight on the south coast of the UK. I first visited the island back in July 2009, and needless to say it was awesome to be back there again, getting to see all the sights I enjoyed the first time as well as checking out some places that I didn't get the chance to see back then also - it was a long journey there and back, but it was absolutely worth it.
I'll leave you with a high-flying comic to see out this summer - it feels like the sun is going down on a lot of things for me, and not just this summer. I hope I'll have some better news for you all come the end of September.

Click the links below to read/watch/see my Isle of Wight trip:
Isle of Wight blog
Isle of Wight photos
Isle of Wight videos

An Island Adventure: The Isle of Wight

Time for another travel blog - this trip was about revisiting a place I'd been to before, back in July 2009, and exploring parts of it that I hadn't seen the last time, and it also meant travelling from the north of England to the very south, and hopping across the water to one of the UK's most beautiful places - the Isle of Wight.
 
Day 1
To get from Durham to the Isle of Wight took about 6 hours tops in total - I had to change trains at York for another train to London, and it was a faster train too. Then it was down to the London Underground to catch a couple of Tube trains to Waterloo, where I quickly caught another train down to Portsmouth, and as soon as I got further south, the heavens opened, but that didn't deter me one bit. Once in Portsmouth I took a quick bus ride to Southsea, where just like 6 years ago I got to ride across the Solent to the Isle of Wight onboard the famous hovercraft - it was a very bumpy but short 10 minute ride, and an absolute blast.
My hotel, Kasbah, was in the seaside town of Ryde, where the hovercraft alighted - it was a traditional looking building on the outside, but very modern looking on the inside. My room was perfect, with a shower, telly and the usual amenities; however the downside was that this hotel was also a pub, which meant on the night there was noise, from both music and people - which is why the amenities included ear plugs (more on that later).
The weather didn't play ball, but it didn't stop me from going out and about - a quick meal of chips, then I jumped on the Island Line train from Ryde to another seaside town on the eastern side of the island, called Shanklin, with its beaches and dramatic cliffs. The highlight of Shanklin was an area called Shanklin Chine, a nature preserve situated inside a gorge, with lots of foliage and a stream. There were some animals on display, including parrots, and even a chipmunk, which you usually can't see outside of North America or Asia. Further along the gorge there was a stone bridge straight out of a fairytale book, and a winding path leading to the centrepiece of the Chine - a tall waterfall with quite a sheer drop.
With the rain pouring down, I decided to head back to Ryde, where I popped into a café for a cheeseburger and chips, and unintentionally confusing the French waitress who worked there (je suis desolée!), before chilling in my hotel room with some old skool quiz shows on the telly. Sleep was hard to come by however - that night was live music night in the pub, and that combined with the loud talking of people outside were the reason the hotel gave me ear plugs. They worked to an extent, and I eventually managed to drift off to sleep.
 
Day 2
Despite not getting enough sleep, I didn't let it stop me from getting on with my only full day on the island - after cereal and coffee for breakfast, it was time to revisit one of the highlights of the trip 6 years ago, the Downs Breezer open top bus tour, an hour's drive around the island's vast countryside. The weather was perfect, a far cry from the rain of the previous day, which meant I was able to make the most of the breathtaking views of the countryside, especially on one of the downs looking out towards the island's east coast, and the quaint villages that the tour passed through. There were a lot of narrow roads on the tour route, which meant everyone on the bus was frequently dodging oncoming tree branches, that just added to the adventure of the tour though. The tour was also newly extended to the beachside town of Sandown, just up the coast from Shanklin - more on Sandown later on. Needless to say, I enjoyed the tour just as much as I did the first time.
It was straight from one bus to another once I arrived back in Ryde, heading to the island's capital, Newport, to change to another bus in order to get to the harbour town of Yarmouth, where I decided to jump onto another tour bus, this time the Needles Breezer bus, for another scenic ride up to Alum Bay, on the westernmost point of the island. Located there was the Needles Park, a small set of food outlets and souvenir shops, plus a small fun park. However, just like 6 years ago, the highlight, and the most popular attraction at the park (there qas quit e along queue), was its chairlift down to Alum Bay itself - it's quite a sensation being suspended in mid-air while being transported down the face of a cliff. The chairlift also stopped at one point so someone could be helped out of their lift, leaving myself and everyone on it stuck in mid-air for a couple of minutes, which was a little unnerving but thankfully brief.
Alum Bay was just as I remembered it last time, with its gravel beach, dramatic coastline and its unique coloured sands, and with the warm weather it was also packed with people enjoying the sun and sea. I didn't try to take a ride on the pleasure cruise this time, I wasn't up for a repeat of my aborted attempt 6 years ago, where I stepped in and out of the boat due to the choppy waves making me feel queasy.
After taking the chairlift back to the top and buying a commemorative medal, I realised I'd forgotten to bring some drinks with me, so I quickly bought a bottle of Fanta to keep myself hydrated, before taking a very scenic walk from the Needles Park and up to the headland, where I was greeted with absolutely stunning views of Alum Bay, the English Channel and the Solent, with the towns of Milford and Lymington far off in the distance. At the very end of the headland, I revisited the view of one of the Isle of Wight's most famous landmarks, the three stacks of chalk cliffs jutting out from the English Channel and what gave the fun park its name - the Needles, which looked amazing in the sunlight. Also on the headland was the Needles Old Battery, a former military outpost, which I explored 6 years ago but didn't have time to do so on this occasion. However, I did get to see an unexpected surprise off in the distance - none other than the RAF air display team, the Red Arrows, performing their display at the Bournemouth Air Show miles away across the Solent. I'd already seen them up close at this year's Sunderland Airshow, so it was great to watch them do their stuff again, and there was quite a crowd gathered up on the headland watching the display also.
It was a blast revisiting places on the island, but it was time for me to see more of the island that I hadn't seen - I took the Needles Breezer back to Yarmouth, where I then jumped on the Island Coaster open top bus. This was the longest tour on the island, a two hour drive along the south coast, and I can't put into words how brilliant it was, travelling along the coastal roads with the breeze in my face and the sun in the sky. There were some simply breathtaking views of the coast and countryside, and along the way was the the beachside town of Freshwater Bay, a low flying hang-glider, the cliffs and beaches of Chale, the fun park at Blackgang Chine and the picturesque coastal town of Ventnor. I only wish I could've had time to stop at all these places and explore them further.
I jumped off the bus to revisit Shanklin, just so I could see how it looked in the sunshine, before quickly jumping back on the same bus to take a closer look at Sandown, which I'd passed through earlier on the Downs Breezer. I took advantage of its long, sprawling beach and had a dip in the English Channel, which felt a lot less cold than the North Sea (France is just over the water from the Isle of Wight, after all!). It was also still warm, despite the sun going down, and with it being later in the day the beach wasn't so busy, either. The Isle of Wight Zoo was across the road from the beach, however it was closed - another reason to come back to the island one day.
I wandered along both ends of the beach, seeing the distinctive white cliff on the northern end of the beach at Yaverland, before making my way along to the southern end, which was more busy, because that was where the Sandown Pier was located. Inside there was an arcade, and further along was a passage leading outside onto the pier proper, with views of Sandown and the coast, plus a small fun park at the end of the pier. With the sun setting, I made my way back to Ryde after what seemed like a lengthy wait for the bus, passing through the small beachside town of Bembridge along the way. Much like the first night, it was chips for supper and some R&R with more old skool gameshows and comedy back at the hotel, although the rest part was a bit difficult to come by, as the noise downstairs and outside was even worse than the first night, with it being a Friday night. Aye, I really want to listen to a hacked off fella effing and blinding because the doorman wouldn't let him in the pub...
 
Day 3
I managed to get some sleep, but not as much as I'd have liked to, however I was still up bright and early to get my stuff all packed and get refreshed for the hectic day ahead. I'm not sure if I would ever stay at Kasbah again, simply because of the noise, though everything else about the hotel was spot on - if I ever do stay again, it won't be on a weekend though.
After a quick breakfast and checkout, I decided to have one last hurrah on the island - once again the weather was beautiful, so complete with suitcase, I jumped on the bus to take a closer look at Bembridge, which I passed through the previous night. The bus ride was interesting to say the least, because of a fella who was seemingly talking to himself, ranting and cursing about a lot of things, and he wasn't making a lot of sense - the bottle of Bourbon whisky in his hand explained it, though. He even had the nerve to openly flout the no smoking rule!
Thankfully there were no drunk people in Bembridge, which looked terrific in the sunlight with its picturesque harbour full of boats, and its curved beachline looking out onto the Solent and Portsmouth on the horizon. I wish I could've stayed longer, however I had to get back to Ryde, though I quickly stopped at the little café located near the beach to buy some souvenirs.
One bus ride later, and I was back where I needed to be, and not quite done with the beach yet - I briefly had a walk onto Ryde's sprawling beach, which had the furthest tide out that I've seen on any beach, and at this point the weather was very hot, and to no surprise the beach was packed with people. Just as quickly as I'd gotten onto the beach, I was off it again, and crossing the Solent once again on another hovercraft ride, they are such cool machines, and the Solent is the only place in the UK that you can travel on a hovercraft, so the hovercraft are just as much a tourist attraction as the island itself.
I had been hoping to revisit another landmark back on the mainland in Portsmouth, the distinctive Spinnaker Tower - unfortunately, the walk from the hovercraft terminal to Gunwharf Quays, where the Tower was located, took a lot longer than I anticipated, and by the time I got to the tower there was a lengthy queue to get in, so I was forced to forego going up to the top of the tower to see the views of the Solent from above. However, I wasn't too disappointed, because I got the chance to climb the tower and see those views 6 years ago, and I did get to see the Solent while walking along Portsmouth's Millennium Boulevard. Again, it's another reason to come back in the future.
I made my way to The Hard Interchange, spending a short time watching various boats sailing along the harbour, as well as taking a good glance at the imposing old-time Navy battleship, the HMS Warrior, berthed at Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard, before jumping onto the first of three trains, heading back the way I came.
The return journey didn't exactly go to plan - all of my trains were delayed. The first train to London had to divert onto another line to bypass Woking because of a track problem, and ended up stopping a few times, which slowed down the journey considerably, and I started to get concerned that I wouldn't make my connecting train. I eventually made it back to Waterloo station, only for another problem - one of the Tube lines, the Bakerloo line, that I used for the journey down was closed, so I quickly had to find an alternative route. Needless to say, I rushed liked mad, and was able to get back to King's Cross via the Northern line, though not without experiencing a hot and crowded Tube train at rush hour!
In the end, the rush wasn't needed, my train back to Durham arrived late, which also meant that it departed late. As the train got further north, not only did the delay time gradually increase, but the weather also deteriorated from beautiful warm sunshine to torrential rain - I couldn't help but see it as ironic. With a half hour delay, I eventually arrived back at a rain-soaked Durham and managed to make my bus ride back home, though not without getting soaked through by a passing car! What way to end the trip, indeed.
Overall, I had an absolute blast revisiting the Isle of Wight and seeing all the places that I didn't get to see 6 years ago, as well as the ones I did. It is one of the most beautiful places in the UK, and I cannot recommend a visit there enough.

To check out my photos from the trip, click here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152939438231441.1073741842.695421440&type=1&l=1795fce92c

August 2014

Well, this month was another month of two halves - and as I always do, I'll get the bad half out of the way first.

A certain place that I won't mention referred me to a mandatory training course,the likes of which they've forced me to go on before, you know the type, sit in a classoom with a bunch of strangers while someone tells you "do this, do that". These courses aren't even designed to help the "customers" on them, they're just an exercise in massaging the unemployment figures and keeping the money rolling in - so naturally, I was expecting the worst.
I was surprised, however - the course I was sent on is probably one of the better ones I've been on, there's a relaxed atmosphere to proceedings, and the staff there, unlike other places, actually seem to care about the people in their charge, and I have to admit, there's been some subjects on the course that I haven't been taught on other courses, such as confidence-building and assertiveness. I mentioned those two examples, because I'm lacking in both of those, and I find myself wishing I could be more confident and assertive, not just in looking for a job, but in my whole life too.
Don't get me wrong, I still hate the idea of being stuck in a classroom for 6 hours a day being told stuff I mostly already know, but at least this particular place tries to make the process far more bearable.
During this time, I had some food for thought about my future...one of the staff at the course ave me some advice about what I should do if I want to go into an art career, and their advice was that I should go and study art at college, and try to get a job in something that could lead to an art related job, such as data entry. However, to be brutally honest, I'm not getting any younger, and I don't think I could face being put back into a school situation, at least not full-time anyway. I would like to think that there's another way that doesn't involve college, but that's probably just wishful thinking (I do far too much of that.) I want to live my life, not spend it in a classroom.

On the plus side of things, I got a hold of some new music, and good new music seems to be a rarity these days - the album "Violence & Destruction" by Islander - alternative metal with a sounds throwing back to early 2000's "nu-metal", but without most of the cliches that gave that genre a bad name. Take a listen to one of the tracks from it here.

There was some more nice summer weather to enjoy, and I took advantage of it to take some trips to the beach at Tynemouth - if you haven't gathered already, I love that place. I've been to many beaches, but I always find myself going back to that one, because it's got bags of character, and it's simply beautiful. And needless to say, going there makes my summer.

I'll leave you with a beachside real life/cartoon crossover - no prizes for guessing which beach this was taken at.

From US to UK

I can't even begin to describe this past month - it's been a case of both the extremes.

At the start of this month I was still in the US, coming to the end of my 6-week trip there. Most of it was covered in the previous blog, but it's about time I mentioned the rest - that special place I mentioned? It was a little place down in Florida, you might've heard it...Walt Disney World. 
This was at the end of July, both me and Nicole flew down there, and I just can't put into words how awesome of an experience it was...we were there for 3 days, and while that was nowhere near enough time to see absolutely everything in WDW, we still made the most of it. We saw many different animals, hit the African plains on a safari and took a walk in the jungles of Africa and Asia in Animal Kingdom; had a brief but splashing time at Blizzard Beach; saw a show about animation, walked through a fake New York street and witnessed a Monsters University party at Hollywood Studios; saw Spaceship Earth, walked around the World Showcase, rode on the Journey Into Imagination and had not one but two high speed thrills on the Test Track at Epcot.
Of course there's one part of the park that we couldn't not go to...the Magic Kingdom. We covered pretty much all of it - Adventureland with its treehouse and lively Tiki Room; Frontierland with a boat ride to Tom Sawyer's Island and a late night ride on Splash Mountain (three words: 50 foot drop) and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad; Liberty Square with its fancy buildings, classic steamboat and the Haunted Mansion; Fantasyland with its fairytale/circus setting and the classic It's A Small World ride; the futuristic Tomorrowland with the PeopleMover, a rain-soaked Tomorrowland Raceway (still enjoyable though), monstrous laughs on the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and a close-up encounter with Stitch in his Great Escape; and last but not least, Main Street USA, with the classic American street and shops, plus that famous path leading up to the even more famous Cinderella's Castle, which was the backdrop for a spectacular projection and fireworks display, both were just amazing to watch.
It was my first time at any Disney park, and I'm glad I was able to get to visit one - the best part was that Nicole was there with me, and we got to spend our 10 month anniversary there too, which I marked by giving her a dragonfly pin as a present, in front of Cinderella's Castle. Guess there is a little bit of a romantic in me.
Say what you want about Disney, but at the end of the day, both me and Nicole thoroughly enjoyed our time there, and I would definitely go back again.

 Kilimanjaro Safari - Animal Kingdom

 Meeting Chip n Dale - Dale tried to hit on Nicky, while Chip raided my bag for nuts

 Adventureland - Magic Kingdom

 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Frontierland - Magic Kingdom

 Liberty Square - Magic Kingdom

 Tomorrowland - Magic Kingdom

 Fantasyland - Magic Kingdom

 Spaceship Earth - Epcot

 A taste of home - United Kingdom pavilion, World Showcase - Epcot

 Blizzard Beach

 Monsters University party - Hollywood Studios

 Not-quite New York - Hollywood Studios

 Main Street USA - Magic Kingdom

There was also another first a few days afterwards - I got to experience a live baseball game for the first time, the Bridgeport Bluefish vs the Sugarland Skeeters - the Bluefish lost, but regardless of the result I enjoyed the atmopshere of the game.
The last visit of my US trip was to Southwick's Zoo in Massachusetts - only the second zoo I've been to, and by far the biggest, with so many different animals, including a lot that I'd never seen up close before (e.g. kangaroos, lions, lemurs). The zoo also had some unique features - a chairlift that travelled over the exhibits, including an alligator pool; a forest where me and Nicole got up close to deer and were able to feed them; and a giraffe encounter, where we got to hold up tree branches for giraffes to feed on them, all of those were great experiences.

 The Bridgeport Bluefish and Sugarland Skeeters in action

 Skylift - Southwick's Zoo

Giraffe encounter - Southwick's Zoo

 Deer Forest - Southwick's Zoo

My last night in the US ended up in a hotel in Nicole's town, which me and her parents arranged on the sly without Nicole knowing, and needless to say she was very happy with the surprise. We spent the night taking a dip in the hotel pool, having a meal at an Italian restaurant, and some wine and snacks back at the hotel, and above all, spending some quality time together.

We were both dreading August 5, the day I had to fly back to the UK...and it was hard to let go, as anyone in that position will know all too well. My flights back home were a little on the bumpy side, but I made it back safely, mad dash for my flight back to Newcastle and all.
Arriving back at home felt alien to me, almost - even more so this time round, because it was the longest I'd been away from home. The jetlag had something to do with it as well, of course. It took me a little while to get back into the normal routine, but it all fell into place in time. I was happy to see my family again, and it was good to be back with my home comforts as well. I couldn't see out this summer without taking one last visit to my favourite beach at Tynemouth, either.
I can't say everything's been OK though...with being away there was bound to be issues regarding rent and finances, had to poke the council more than once about stuff, but I think it's all been sorted now. As well as that, the situation on the job front is the same as ever, absolutely no joy whatsoever. And something's also happened that makes me think that keeping my mouth shut is better for everyone - I don't want to go into it.
In the end, I just had the most amazing time in the US, it's something I will definitely not forget for a long time, and I'll miss being face to face with Nicole most of all.

Some summer themed artwork to leave you with:

Fyfe & Sparkplug: Summer Dragons