I can’t help yet again (you are gonna get bored of hearing this) but think how fortunate I am. I have a great job!

In Leeds we met at the offices of Leeds Faith in Schools which was great in itself to be able to catch up with Lee. It was then a great day to chat over the Integrate mission idea and how things might work with the directors of the centres in the north of England. These are a great bunch of people and I really think the only one draw back of being south bound is that I only get to see these special people once a year normally at staff conference.

We had a great day, discussed lots of things and received some very helpful challenging positive feedback. I love meetings like this because it just makes it easier to move on and make progress together.

To top it all, we had lunch in the Iranian restaurant next door which was a new experience for all of us, apart from Lee who seems to eat there every day!

The journey … mmm. On the way there it was excellent. I was even tempted to blog on the GNER wifi until I realised I needed to pay! There were lots of people at Gillingham station at 540 too ; and to make things worse they all talk to each other! Being on the tube at 630 is a novel experience – again people give eye contact and talk to each other. Cold it be that there is a whole new parallel world out there that rises at 5 which is totally different to the world we experience if we awake at a normal hour?!!!

The journey back. Not so good as this news report shows – I was one of the lucky ones who managed to get a train from Peterborough to Cambridge and then to London on a different line. GNER gave very little information apart from suggesting we all travel in the morning! Not very helpful at all! But, as I said – I was lucky as the train I was on was stranded at a station and the doors were immediately opened so we could escape! I got home over 3 hours late, but that’s not anyway near as bad as it sounds for the other people stranded between stations!

My first trip north … one to mull on! I wonder if I will be invited back? Maybe Manchester … hint hint!