been there and back!

Becci, me and Ric.

I am home again from a delightful few days far away from the madding crowd, visiting with my daughter and her partner and doing all kinds of lovely things together. I had a great birthday and am all refreshed and ready to go!! Of course today meant that I spent it tidying and cleaning and shopping and washing and all those everyday chores that I had been able to leave behind just for a while. I found it therapeutic! Sort of like nesting; coming back to my own little piece of quiet on this earth, and moving the odd twig back into place and adding a couple of new ones............if you catch my drift? Somehow cleaning the kitchen is an undeniable statement of ' this is my space' - rubbing that j-cloth over the draining board and all that!!! I have unpacked and am now getting ready to re-pack it all for our small adventure into foreign parts next week.

Have to just mention the brilliant chat the captain gave on the plane. It was the first joyous realisation that I was homeward bound - gone was the pragmatism of the Dutch and in its place the eccentricity of the English! I think he was heavily influenced by Monty Python or some such comedic group as he began his rhetoric about our flight: ' welcome on board this short flight to England this morning. We should fly straight across the sea, making one or two swings to the right and left as we avoid flying over rich people's houses, and there might be some bumpy bits in between as there is some turbulence in the air today, but not to worry as our super crew will be there to look after your every wish. I do hope you enjoy flying with us this morning, so I will shut up now and let them get on with it!' He had more to say but this was the gist of it!! It made a change from the standard blah blah and had everyone smiling before we even took off. Same coming back, different pilot but same sort of chat - new training scheme maybe?

But now let me tell you about two brilliant programmes to watch in the coming weeks! One started last night and was really good: "The boat that Guy built." Tim and I really enjoyed it, but I do give advance warning that it will test the speed of your English whilst watching as Guy talks really, really fast in a Lincolnshire accent that is rather endearing. He and his mate are rebuilding a canal barge and in the first programme they made everything necessary to make a cup of tea, including the mugs, the kettle and the tea!! It is just one of those quintessential British quirky bits of telly, but I think you will like it. The other starts on Sunday and is with Professor Brian Cox and all about space. He is the new kid on the block, and really rather good at getting his message across about the stars and the universe and everything that's out there..............plus he is young and passionate about his work etc and that is enough to inspire even the most doubting Thomas that science can be interesting. Both are on BBC 1 - give them a go!

So, being home again means early rising so I am off to bed now in need of some sleep. Last night I was tossing and turning and dreaming all kinds of weird things, so hopefully that won't happen tonight. Must be the excitement or something like that!! :-)
Sue xx