Ahhh, England

Had a lovely few days in Havana with my friend from Camaguey, Alexander, and rather unsurprisingly (as he seems to know half of cuba) we bumped into some friends of his so had a fab night out at the Casa de la Musica listening to, apparently, one of the best bands in Cuba at the moment, which was nice! Also managed to bully Alexander into going to the beach for my last day (he works in a beach resort as a promoter/Dj so isnt that bothered about the beach anymore!) as I was worried about my fading tan! So left Havana for the airport in a blissed out sun-drenched haze. This was despite the best efforts of the senora in our casa who seemed during our entire time there to be completely crazy and confirmed this as I was leaving by wandering into my room and picking up anything left unpacked and asking if she could have it as a present!!!

Unfortunately had a horrid experience with the police as I was arriving at the airport which kind of took the shine off the day, but as Alexander said, this is Cuba after all! All happened because we took a private car rather than a state run taxi to the airport. This is illegal (for the taxi driver, not me) so when the police spotted us appearing from the car park with luggage they immediately started whistling at A and me. Then to my horror we were separated, they took my passport and started asking us questions! I was terrified and whilst logically I knew they couldn't do anything, I was really scared of getting anyone into trouble! So took the nice easy tourist route of pretending not to speak much spanish! This despite saying Alexander was my husband (not quite sure why, but had been told I had to say this!). Sure the police didn't believe me, but eventually they let us go on our way (with a rather lovely smile and a sorry for inconveniencing us!!)

Anyway trip after that was relatively uneventful (despite me managing to leave my wallet with 200 dollars) in the toilets and it is now lovely being back in the welcoming bosom of my family (or something!) Figure, just for completeness I have to write something about first impressions back in the UK, so here you go with my top 3:
1) Had rather amusing incident in the toilet in Madrid where i spent a short time looking for a bin to put my toilet paper in before realising I was now allowed to flush it
2) Rather overwhelmed by the number of mobile phones in evidence
3) There are a lot of cars

And while I'm thinking about it, things I love about being home
1) Hairdryers
2) Chocolate
3) Heat magazine

seems it didn't take me long to get back into the swing of UK life as all three are now back in my life with a vengence! Chocolate bought at Madrid airport, Hairdryer used this morning and Dad conned into buying Heat for me at a morning trip to the shops!

Now all I have to do is try to fit into the bridesmaid dress this afternoon then try to come up with a plan for the rest of my year...somehow I already know it wont involve staying in the UK!