Journey to London (1st October - 10th October)

Mum met me at Heathrow. How weird getting on the London Underground again..it’s been a while!

Spent the weekend in Brighton with Shane! Was awesome! Ate out at Terre a Terre, had fish and chips by the pier, went shopping in town. Loved it all!

On the Monday, I had a meeting with Shona and Steph (from Fast Track) at GSK House. Shona is keen to keep the Run for Good event small, around 100-150 people. She wants to see this run in Eldoret as a pilot run, and if it’s successful this year, hold another run next year on a bigger scale. They also suggested running the event in the High altitude training camp in Iten, as Shona has met the manager, Martin, and suggested that it would be less disruption than holding the event on the streets. She will look into providing 330ml bottle’s of water, and lucozade boost on the day. They can provide caps for the volunteers at the drinks stations. They also suggested inviting GSK Nairobi, and charging an entry fee for those participating, and for those watching. Shona has asked me to provide a summary paragraph, including the charity that we are raising money for (i.e. which villages), how many people will be participating, when and where the event will be held, and the key stake holders.

Steph will post me a sample goody bag, containing the t-shirt, wrist band, medal and race number to my UK address, so I can take back and show the team in Kenya.

They also asked about health and safety, so I’ll need to confirm this with the team back in Eldoret, and suggested selling the wrist bands, which they will ship over to us.

GSK are also happy to provide flyers to advertise the event. We will also need to draw up a budget of the predicted cost of the event. Was a good meeting.

Went to see the rainbows after, and we took them to the park. It was great to see how Vicky was leading the group competently. Felt a little strange to be back, as there were quite a few new ones, whom I didn’t recognise.

We had a BBQ in the evening with Shane, Mum and bro. Was great to be all together, I realised how much I’ve missed this.

On Tuesday, I spent the day with Amy H. It was great. We couldn’t stop talking, we had so much to catch up on. I realised how Skype really makes a difference. With people I’ve been able to Skype, it was just like I hadn’t been away, but with some of my friends, I haven’t had the chance to Sypke, only email, or Facebook, and with these friends, we just had so much to tell each other. Alicia and Liz joined us later on in the evening. We went to a restaurant in Brentford. The whole way through the evening, I was just thinking how nice it was to be back with these guys again! I’ve missed this so much!

Wednesday was hectic. Felt I was running round seeing everyone. I met up with Jo in Waterloo, it was such a shame though, because it felt so rushed. We only spent an hour together, and then she had lectures. I saw Emily in Holborn, and we went for Mexican food in Abobo. Talked loads and loads! She looks really well, and was wearing a little badge to say “Baby on board”. I guess the next time I’ll see her, she will have a little baby..exciting!

Travelled over to see Cara in West London. Again, loved catching up and hearing her stories about Denver, and Churchill, her adopted dog! 

On Thursday, I travelled out to see V in Uxbridge, and had lunch at Weatherspoons. It was too short again, as she had to leave for a meeting at 2pm, but she mentioned about the tickets for Isle of Wight going on sale this week….hoorah – I’m in :) Ate out with Shane at Amico Bio...ummm!

Friday, left for the wedding in Ireland with Shane. Was fun, although, struggled to understand everyone’s accents :) (Plus I couldn't keep up - an Irish wedding goes on all night..different from us Brits!)

On Monday, I met up with Louise in Welwyn Garden City. Was so nice to hear about her wedding. I felt we hadn’t spoken in ages! Managed to get shopping done for my colleagues at the Global Network as they’d put in a request for English scones and pot pourri. It was frantic when I got back home – I found a dry cleaners receipt, and realised I’d forgotten to pick up a dress from more than 3months ago! I had 2hours to pack, get to the airport, and get all checked in! My mum’s a star, and collected the dress for me, luckily they still had it! Did some frantic packing, as was taking back clothes that Caroline and Frank were donating to the Sally Test Paediatric Center, then rushed to Heathrow. I can’t believe the week is over so quickly. I feel sad, but also rejuvenated, to start the final 3 months of my assignment.