The blog is not (quite) dead!

I begin to write this next blog post feeling like a naughty school boy standing in the headmasters office about to apologise. Why? Well, not having posted anything since 15 June. So I will just post about all we have been up to for the past couple of months.

The end of the school year finished in a flash with plenty of goodbyes, parties, meals out etc. The end of an academic year is an interesting experience full of mixed emotions; sadness from goodbyes, relief from a year’s hard work, excitement for upcoming travel and complete exhaustion from the many high pressure moments that a year of teaching brings. I often also feel the need to complete a few last tasks to round everything off but just can’t muster up the energy to complete them thinking ‘they can wait until August’. Of course, August is now here…!

We had the pleasure of a friend visiting us for two weeks as school broke up for the holidays. It was enjoyable to spend time with them along with visiting the various parts of Borneo in a ‘PlaneSimple Tour Opperator’ tour! On a weeks whistle-stop tour we flew over the Borneo rainforest in a turboprop plane, went snorkelling in Kota Kinabalu, shopped in the Filipino market in KK, enjoyed curries on the waterfront, said ‘hi’ to the Orangutans while they ate breakfast and swung through the jungle in Kuching, enjoyed a riverside walk in Kuching, stayed in a fancy hotel in Kuching and finally enjoyed a couple nights relaxation in the Marriott in Miri (that has an amazing swimming pool).

We then travelled to Kuala Lumpur before heading back to the UK for three weeks to shop, visit family and friends, eat forbidden foods, drink wine that tastes like it is worth the money you paid for it and enjoy some English and Scottish sunshine (!). We do enjoy travelling back ‘home’ in the summer time. It is exciting to catch up with friends and family having been away for the last year but it is tiring travelling around so much and living out of a suitcase. We travelled getting on for 2000 miles around the UK I think. We ate many great meals and enjoyed the fruit and veg that is hard to get in Brunei (Strawberries, Raspberries, Nectarines, a variety of fresh salad etc.).

We were fortunate enough to have my dad travel to SE Asia for meetings then on to Brunei with us for a few days R&R. This meant that we could bring back some extra luggage with us which was certainly needed!!

During the last few days I have tried to upload some HD videos that we have taken on our digital camera, now that we have a new laptop. I hope to upload some more via YouTube onto the blog (eventually, at some stage!) but for now, here are two videos (HD) that I have uploaded to YouTube from a couple of our recent holidays. Enjoy!

PlaneSimple

A bit of video to inspire teamwork….

This blog is a just a light-hearted one with a few videos for your enjoyment as I want to experiment to see if I can get this to work. Quite a bit has happened since my last post, notably England have qualified for the next round. My thoughts on that will come soon along with a few thoughts on the Americans (football and political!).

Here’s a great couple of videos which demonstrate the importance of teamwork. Hope they work and you can enjoy them both. Don’t forget to leave your comments. Oh, and use the feature I put on a few blogs ago at the side of the blog to sign up for email updates every time there’s a new post!

What a great insight into the drivers character. I like the comment on month December fo the calendar!

I don’t particularly agree with the way the BP one has summarised BP’s response to the oil disaster but it is quite amusing.

PlaneSimple

PS. Just checked the preview and I am delighted that displaying the video in the blog works!