BACK TO LIFE….

What a difference a month makes. Look at all the blossom in the next door neighbour’s garden:-

The sun is shining and spring has well and truly sprung. In fact it feels like the middle of summer. My garden has started to grow. I have strange clumps of overgrown bits of lawn, which I am hoping isn’t where teenage boys have added extra fertilizer during some of the parties that occurred in my absence. My teenage son who is recovering well from his “slap lesion” operation on his shoulder (where they reattach the bicep tendon back to the bone) is going to have to go and apologise to the neighbours very shortly. I discussed this with him this morning. What I hadn’t realised was that when he’d chucked the offending bit of hamburger bun over the fence she was sunbathing in her garden. How unpleasant.

It’s all a bit strange being back. I have a huge pile of stuff to do and don’t quite know where to begin. I was going to rush down to see my parents but my mother doesn’t want me to go down until next weekend. My father had another operation yesterday. More major plumbing required. Please, please, please let this solve all his problems. He’ll be in hospital for another week now at least.

I want to go and see my friend in hospital who has cancer. But she’s gone quiet and I fear things aren’t right. I’m desperate to talk to her but understand her need for radio silence.

I’m just catching up with friends and family. Getting used to doing my own cooking and washing up again. It is really lovely having all the kids back together. They were genuinely pleased to see each other AND what’s more I invited my X to stay for supper last night so we all had a very civilised meal together. We had presents to give them both (I had bought more wine to replace the emergency bottle I’d had to drink in Dubai) so all was well.

My daughter is off school today with an ear infection. Probably from a combination of swimming and flying. I am very relieved that none of us were sick whilst abroad. You feel so much more vulnerable being ill in a foreign country. She slept with me in my bed last night. It’s going to take a few nights to get used to sleeping in different beds again. For the entire four weeks that we were away we’ve shared a room and/or a bed. In fact we really have been wedged together constantly for all that time – all except one evening out. Quite amazing really that we’re still speaking to each other.