Well I’m back! Back in the London pad, the place I left two years ago.
I had no idea what I was going to do during my ‘sabbatical’. Life has the habit, however, of going on most of the time. And it did. It went on for me in the UAE, Corsica, Spain, Italy, Oman, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Scotland, England, India, Malta, back and forth from time to time in London…
And what is it I find myself back to I‘m asking myself…?
Writing about my two years of nomadic existence; an MSc in Mindfulness underway; qualified as a functional medicine practitioner, an (even bigger) proponent of all things natural and…
What struck me was that I had to buy toilet rolls for the first time in two years! Which reminds me, I remember when I started 
out on my first long distance walk during these last two years, I just happened to mention in a blog that I had taken a precautionary few sheets of the stuff from Costa, which, as things transpired to be, was most a fortunate act in my scant preparations.
And then there are all the utility bills, a leak in the ceiling…
And so, I wonder, do I really want this responsibility, my own home and all that this entails?
And yet, I love cooking and it has been so nice to have friends over for dinner – well I have thought so anyway. And, even though I don’t use ‘conventional’ toiletry products, like shampoos, conditioners and the like, it really is nice not to have to pack away my essential oils, minerals and so on that I have felt the need to do each evening in the multifarious bathrooms 
that I have shared along the way.
And how have I changed I wonder? One test I plan for myself is to walk the West Highland Way again very soon. How will I feel different? I know I was fairly fit then, and feel even more so now. Will share some of my secrets in the upcoming book – yes Julie, I am working on it, honestly!
And, I am committed to keeping connected to many new, like-minded, friends that I have made in these last two years. Importantly also, to keep connected to those that existed before I set off on this, not quite intrepid, rather more haphazard perhaps, journey that I have just been on.
And while on the subject of connections, I highly recommend Johann Hari’s Lost Connections, which really helps to waken us
up to the facts of what really matters in life. Oh and that reminds me now, I’m also intent on setting up, what I have named, for the moment ‘Compassion Circles’. To connect people and encourage them to share their stories in a safe and compassionate space, while, hopefully, raising funds in the process for World Vision (http://www.worldvision.org.uk/), an organisation intent on alleviating the suffering that so many of our world’s children are, tragically, still forced to endure.
And again, I am so grateful to all the family and friends who made my journey, not just possible, but magical. Oh and just in case my son Steve is reading, I still hold the family record for marathon running. Good luck for Manchester.
Barbara will be posting more blog pieces in the near future, but, if you want to catch up with her travels so far why not try The Nomad A Lone Sheep The End of the Way Inside Out on the Camino Santiago de Compostela Incredible India Baring All Muscat, scouts and runners
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