Leaving...

So it is a little under two weeks since i left Stoke to move back to St.Albans for the few weeks before heading out to NZ for the year.
Leaving Stoke was not what i expected at all. In all honesty i didn't know what to expect, how i would feel, how i would react, how others would react, and just generally what i would do. My final week culminated in a fantastic weekend where i went out on "Peak Attack" on the saturday with a few good friends and bagged 5 climbing routes from all over the Peak District that i had been wanting to do since first laying eyes on them over 4 years ago. I had always been saving them for a special day, putting them off as i wanted them to be just right, and i'm so glad i did.
My final night on the sunday was spent with a few beers with the greatest bunch of guys i've met over the last 4years and become really good friends with. A few pints were sunk, and i even got bought a bunch of flowers by Becca. Having never ever been bought flowers before, i did not know what to do, it was amazing, and totally unexpected! A mignight stroll round looking at the stars and heading to the adventure playground in the local park topped off a great night and everyone made their ways home. Lying in bed that night, i did not sleep much, i just lay thinking about where i had come from, what i had done, where i was going to and what i will do. Life felt really and trully awesome, i was so happy and even though leaving is a little hard, it was the right decision at the right time and i am so glad i made it.

Arriving back in St.Albans was a little odd too. I have generally only visited very briefly over the last few years, sometimes only being here for hours at a time before dissapearing again to some far off adventure or heading back to Stoke for work. This time however, i was to be here for 3 weeks, unheard of in recent times! Since deciding to head to NZ, i have really chilled out and slowed down, so i took a very relaxed approach to coming home. I've been out to see friends, visited family, relaxed on my own and begun to prepare ready to leave the country. I have a list of things to do but i am not stressing myslef to rush through, even ticking one or two off it per day is enough to know that i am getting ever more ready and prepared to go. It's funny that the little things i didn't consider might need sorting have reared themsleves, but nothing has caused a major stress at all. Checking the calendar today, it is now less than two weeks until i leave, which usually i would be panicking about, but it actually does seem like plenty of time to get things together, see those people who mean alot to me and then pack a bag and head off. I'm so excited to be arriving in New Zealand and all the possibilities that lay before me, it going to rock!