Malawi & More

  Following a lovely little phone catch up with Rosie, a cup of tea and cuddles with A we got up, load of washing in and one lot folded and I thought how hideous it's going to be having to do my own ironing. So to console myself I made another cup of tea, cereal with fresh milk and made A some crumpets. I sat in my garden, the wind consistently reminding me we have a lot of foxes around, as the smell of their urine was waffling past, I did feel a gentle contentment. Hopeful that Margaret will give us sound advice on what on earth to do with the garden.  As we continue to slowly bring down stuff from the loft and throw out random broken items left behind it's feeling more and more homely. There is joy in rediscovering your stuff too, items I had forgotten we had, some going straight into the charity bag, but mostly bringing back happy memories. BigA headed off to a stag do and my Mum arrived, all the car parking sorted and Hilman was more than happy to be lumberi...

  We landed and collected our bags, all accounted for. Said goodbye to 2 last friends and then battled our way out to get our taxi.  Then the drive home.  It's hard to describe the feeling of coming home. Part of my brain was sure it was a trip, a chance to reconnect but short term and the rest knew, this is it. And then we were home our newly extended family, A getting so excited and grinning from ear to ear all she began to recognize where we were. - it felt smaller and it didn't smell right. Joe and Opa met us and Joe had made sure there was enough food and other bits and pieces there to make it not feel empty and hopeless.  But I didn't feel quite right. The odd changes, the furniture we hadn't left and the missing furniture we had. The missing kitchen stuff and gaps where our curtains used to be took their toll on me and I got quite upset. A cup of tea later and some unpacking and it started to feel a little better. Everyone who has moved house will know this st...

  With a day of not much ahead I went into the kitchen with the sudden brainwave that I could make pancakes and set about making the batter. Then I had a go at making bread. I'm usually very unsuccessful at this and last saturday was no different. Massive failure. That evening was my last boarders dinner and I was pleased it was off site, something a bit different and a place I'd never been to. After 6 years Blantyre still has a few surprises up her sleeve. I was given a T-shirt as a goodbye gift. I was also given the tricky job of reading names from mugs to give to children, without my bifocals and covered in plastic. What a contrast to this Saturday.  And then my final few days, I really didn't feel like there was much more I could do, taking things off my notice board, passing on the last few things and documents. Some meetings and emails. I was almost happy that there was a small fight between two boys at break time, a very rare occurrence at SAIntS and gave me somethin...