Part 1

So I left England in February 2010. In 2011 I went back to renew some contracts before returning to Asia. In about 2013 or so, I went back for about a week to get a new passport. Now it's approahing 2018, and that's a long time away from my home country!

So since I was mutually fired/quit from my job for having a moral compass, I've done a lot of nothing lately, a large part of my day being taken up by Steemit, posting most days, curating in between for OCD and SteemStem.

I do have a social life of sorts, but you know, people have jobs and there's only so much time you can hang out. It's not too long until you start to get cabin fever. In the big ugly city that Shanghai is, you never get any break from the concrete and concrete dust in the air, so this was a better time than any to finally work my way back to England for a nice, 2 week holiday. My flight leaves in 11 hours as of typing this.

When I'm in England, there's a few things I plan on doing:

• Eating Greggs Bakery every possible chance I get
• Having a McDonald's milkshake (not available in Asia)
• Actually seeing stars in the sky
• Seeing green fields that aren't littered with 300,000 tourists
• Visiting my dad to the left, my mum to the right and my sister in the centre
• Hanging out with friends (who have actually visited in China and met up with us in Vietnam not too long ago)
• Taking photos of bugs and animals
• Possibly travelling to the beautiful places of England; The Yorkshire Dales, The Cotswolds, some national parks etc
• Avoiding London other than flights
• Eat fish & chips

One other thing I intend to do is visit some old spots like my old home and its neighborhood, exploring the walk I used to do to school when I was 7 or 8 years old. Visiting the parks in my home village where I have a lot of memories, walking down the Leicester Canal system for a whole day, chilling at pubs and such there. Just generally remind myself of what 'home' used to be.

Source

As you can probably tell, it's not an action packed holiday of scuba diving and jumping out of planes, partying at all the local clubs and getting wasted. I've done all that and hated most of it. Right now I just need a break from a break.

So I imagine I will still be somewhat active on Steemit, since I'll have plenty of time free to do so, but I will be less consistent, science posts will be less frequent and blog-type posts will be more frequent, and I won't be curating much.

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Part 2

I see this as the end of the first chapter on Steemit. I can't say I have faith that the site will actually see it through to the dreamy successful, mainstream powerhouse of a social media site, I just don't see the evidence to support that, but I do have faith (of the strictly atheist kind) in the friends I've made here, my followers and supporters and I'd like to give them all a big shout out.

@acidyo has been consistently one of my biggest supporters, even though he insults and belittles me as payment for his services, and I couldn't be more grateful for where I am here on steemit and as part of OCD thanks to him.

@justtryme90 has also played a huge role in propping me up, giving me a place, a home in the SteemSTEM team for me to promoe science and quality posts, as well as being in a place I feel comfortable in steemit.chat.

(I realise this list might get long so I should summarise somewhat) @lemouth, @trumpman, @ruth-girl, @suesa, @anarchyhasnogods, @kerriknox for being a constant source of conversation and insight within the steemSTEM community

@kevinwong for being an early supporter of my stuff and, again, propping my existence up

@rocking-dave for consistently reading, enjoying and commenting thoughtful insight on my posts

@apsu, @m31, @erodedthoughts, @(she who shall not be named), @saywha, @sasha-shade @haleyaerith, @kryptik (not forgotten you just yet), @elliotjgardner, @clevercreator (not forgotten either!), @holoz0r, @fredrikaa @alexander.alexis, @steemitadventure @atopy, @krazykrista, @nextgencrypto, @whatamidoing

These are a bunch of steemit.chat pals that have a lot of value to me. For those who aren't named here that still count, it's purely because the bank closes in a couple of hours and I'm somewhat rushing things.

All of these deserve being followed, although some of them are infrequent with their posts, none of them are spammers or lazy with what they do and will make anybody's feed a better place.

I also want to add @armandocat for charging in here recently, taking the Steemit UI into their own hands and transforming it to something beautiful, practical and all-round a better place to spend my time. I strongly advise you all to visit his page, download his browser extension and enjoy steemit 3x over.

Here I'll put a special thanks to my biggest supporters in all forms of life here on Steemit, my sister @grottbags and my mum @suzanrs. They're both infrequent but quality posters here and also deserve some support!

Finally I want to say thanks to the witnesses that are doing everything they can to make this place work. It probably feels like they've been dealt a shitty hand to start with, but I have confidence they can keep this place afloat! For those who don't know, you NEED to vote for them.

Just click the menu button on the top right and choose 'vote for witnesses'. check their profiles or get to know them personally and put your vote in.

My suggestions:

@timcliff
@gtg
@pfunk
@phareism
@drakos
@netuoso
@reggaemuffin
@anarcho-andrei
@themarkymark
@guiltyparties
@followbtcnews
@yunkzilla
@patrice
@nnnarvaez

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_{At this point I realise this might come across as some way to get shameful upvotes, but... well, look. You are totally free to think what you want, and I'm totally free to tell you to shut the hell up and give me your money ^__^ and besides, tags don't even work.}

I will see you all on the other side of the world!