One of the co-creators and writers of Red Dwarf has passed away.

Having rewatched most of the episodes over the last 6 months both for nostalgia and sitcom study reasons it remains one of my favourites.

The journey back from the UK to NZ got a bit longer than planned when the first flight was delayed landing which meant I – along with dozens of others – found ourselves being booked onto the following day’s flight and shuttled off to a local hotel.

While I would very much like to be home it’s not been the worst detour. I got to check out one of the new railway stations they’ve built all around Dubai and managed to get some sleep and a couple of showers so I am setting off on the long 13 hour flight much fresher than this time yesterday.

I could do without the low level cold that’s been threatening to develop through most of the holiday. I have been dealing with a simultaneous runny and blocked nose since setting off, and blown it so much and so vigorously I’ve been having regular profuse nosebleeds.

I was able to get hold of a resale ticket for Kaiser Chiefs while in Hull, with a limited view up in the Gods, but despite the best efforts of Connexins as a venue it was an enjoyable experience.

It feels like five minutes since I stepped off the train in Hull to be now sat waiting for the return trip to begin.

Lovely to spend some time with the family and chill (literally, until the past few days it was bloody freezing!) and I can feel the rucksack is a good 5kg heavier heading home.

Went round YSP with The Oldies today to get a bit of culture. There was a mix of cool stuff with some pretentious crap, and got caught out in the rain, otherwise a nice day out.

Fun and quirky little thing – someone in Hull is knitting little hats for postboxes!

Am getting around Hull on my visit taking photos of interesting artworks and murals, including a cool tribute to those that died working the trawlers.

I was originally planning on heading over to the UK late in the year to celebrate Dad’s 80th birthday. However given the contracting market in NZ won’t pick up for a few weeks yet, and feeling like I need a bit of an adventure, The Duchess very kindly put out the idea of going over now, which got me thinking. She’s currently in decent health and the weather’s pretty stable right now.

On Saturday I checked availability and prices and things looked good, so within an hour I had booked flights, the train to Hull, travel insurance and even bagged a ticket for Kaiser Chiefs while I’m over there! Within 4 days of considering it I’ll be on my way! I’ve even got a shiny new Bri’ish passport to flash on my way in to avoid the need for ETAs .

On the upside I’ll be packing mostly T-shirts, jumpers and fleeces so I can take the rucksack to avoid dragging a suitcase across London (So. Many. Stairs!)

On the downside I’ll will be swapping 20+ degrees of sunny weather for this :

Best make the most of Sat 14th then ….

On a trip to the coast today I reet fancied a chip butty so went into the local chippy and said to the lady behind the counter “could I please have a chip butty?”

As soon as I saw the perplexed look on the poor girl’s face that I sounded

a) incredibly Yorkshire

b) a complete nutter

I then tried to explain the concept of a chip butty to someone that has never heard of such a thing.

“Bread cake? Bread roll? Chips in a sandwich”

Thankfully we bridged the Kiwi-Yorkshire language barrier and they provided me with two boxes, one containing some chips and another with a warm, buttered bread cake from which I could construct – under the watchful eyes of a hundred seagulls – my desired Chip Butteh. (No chip spice or vinegar so not quite perfect but good enough).