Well, its official, I have booked my tickets - no going back now!
Yes on the 10th day in April of the year 2012 I will be heading on a jet plane out of Heathrow airport and starting the adventure of a lifetime.
So the schedule looks like thus -
LON - NYC 10/04/12
LA - Fiji 17/05/12
Fiji - Auckland 25/05/12
Auckland - Melbourne 28/06/12
Sydney - Singapore 12/07/12
Singapore - Mumbai 12/08/12
Then I will be heading to Dubai at some point, still got those tickets to purchase. Had a revelation today that my immune system might not be totally up for Cambodia & Vietnam (which I hope to take in whilst in Singapore) so made a quick call to the Dr's back home, got a appointment booked for next week. Will see if I have left it too late. If I have how bad can Yellow fever really be? I might just end up singing past Coldplay hits!
I did my good deed for the week yesterday. The is a very kind lady who lives above us and she found it hard to walk. Now she volunteers at one of the local charity shops in the town. She asked me if I could possibly give her a lit down the hill to the town yesterday. Me being the kind gentlemen that you all know me for being (and if you don't know me - I am!) said of course I would. So, at 9 I met her at her flat and gave her a lift to the town. Halfway down the hill she asked me if i prefer to be called Jason or Jase, cue a rather puzzled look by me and the response "I actually prefer Tom". This was met with a even more puzzled look from her and the conclusion "is that your middle name then?" I didn't have the heart or the time (it wasn't a very long trip) to iron out all the confusion that was flying around my Megane and just relied "yes, that is my middle name".
This was the start of a couple days of confusion over my name. I read on BBC on-line yesterday that Starbucks are now taking customer service seriously (finally) and are now asking for your name whenever you place a order with then. Now when I was in the centre of Bristol this morning (to book my flights, have I already mentioned that?) I had 15 min to spare and so I thought that I would see this new customer service in action. I walked into the Starbucks on Park Street and ordered my double espresso. The 'barista' then, on cue asked me for my name. Now I don't really know what came over me but I thought that I would be a little bit of a rebel and chose 'Oliver' (Its my middle name and I think that the confusion in the car yesterday probably got me questioning my real name) anyway Starbucks was unusually quiet and so the lady behind the counter then asked me what my friends called me, Oli or Oliver. I replied that I prefer Oliver (because who wouldn't). She then said "and what do your parents prefer?". Having to think on my feet (I wasn't expecting the Spanish inquisition, I just wanted a coffee) I ashamedly let my guard down and responded "Tom". This spark yet another look of confusion over my name (getting used to these). Backtracking I explained that Tom is my real name but I prefer Oliver but my parents still call me Tom. There was a slight look of horror over the lady behind the counter as she couldn't quite believe that my parents would call me something that I don't like. Luckily my espresso was ready, I grabbed it and ran, leaving all the workers at Starbucks on park street to gossip on what type of upbringing a boy must have when even his own parents call him something that he doesn't like.
So the thought of the week is that when asked your name, just respond Tom. Unless your name isn't Tom, then it's Jason, Jase or Oliver.
Till next time
Thanks for reading
TOM!
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