Bits & Pieces from my Month Overseas, No. 6

And that was it.

I flew out of Buffalo on the 28th and arrived in Sydney about 25 hours later, early the morning of the 30th. I crashed at 8pm that night, 9:30pm the next, and by the third day I was back to normal. It's the fastest I've ever done that trip and the fastest I've ever recovered from jetlag.

Upon arriving home, I was struck by three things. The first hit me like the sweet smell of homemade brownies wafting out of the kitchen: spring had sprung in Sydney!

The second hit me like a dead, floppy fish: I have a thesis to write. I'm due to submit in ten months' time, and I still have 2.5 experiments to run (having gained an extra last week). According to my new, revised timetable, I have at least one major thing to finish every fortnight between now and next July.

This meant that the third thing struck a bit like a flying toilet.  We're getting evicted.  Our newest housemate managed to irritate the neighbours over the weekend, they lodged a complaint with our landlord and real-estate agent, both of whom are conveniently their relations, and now we have one month to vacate the premises. Everyone is pretty down about it except the housemate who caused the problem, and he doesn't seem particularly bothered. His only question was whether we could extend the deadline until after his exams.

So instead of spending my non-working time enjoying the fine spring weather, I'm back on the old house hunt.  At this stage, I'm thinking a nice little cardboard box in Enmore Park would suit me fine.  No irritating housemates... No irritable neighbours...