I’ve popped back to the UK for a 2 week break that has incorporated my mother’s 85th birthday and various godfatherly duties, such as watching the lads play under 8s football before taking them to their first game.
I’ve barely checked my emails, signed out of the work WhatsApp group and fought the urge to pull the scratchy blanket of Iraq news from the ether – in short, it’s been a hell of a break and I’m chuffed that I’ll be back again at the end of this month.
It feels that, as I approach the end of my sixth year in Kurdle Burdle, it might be time to start thinking about being at home more than 4 weeks a year, and I’m setting the wheels in motion. I want to remain connected to the country, but I want to expand on the notion of getting an alternate view of Iraq out into the Western world.
As I’ve always said, watching Iraq through the prism of TV news doesn’t do it justice, and I want to counter that narrative – by the end of 2017 I intend to be visiting schools across the UK for two weeks out of eight, recounting my experiences and hopefully dispelling a few myths – in a tricked out camper van.