Wednesday, December 21, 2011

21 December 2011

And there you have it - a whole year of thinking about being on my long leave, nine weeks in situ in the UK, and now here I am at home, settling back into the routines that make everything run as they are supposed to.

And, although I have come back from the trip VERY much poorer financially, partly as a result of an incident at the airport when I flew back home, and the rest as a result of my misguided calculations in terms of conversion rates, I have returned so much richer for the experience, which narration I will try and complete with "due diligence" (I would have put in one of my emoticons that I loved using and Brenda hated here, but they won't work on my Google Chrome!). It is weird when we have got used to the fact that 1 and 2 cent coins are now scrapped, and over in the UK they still use a 1p coin! And the 1p counts for something. I also had something of a tough time getting used to the fact that if something was marked at a couple of pounds - that did not necessarily mean "cheap" - mainly because over here in SA, when one sees something under R10-00, that tends to suggest that it is cheap (and often nasty - not always, but you get the idea!)

So, general catch up before I try and go back in time and recall and record my continued experiences of my trip. I arrived safe and sound last Tuesday - and so have been home for a week and a day now - weird sudden feeling of whiplash for me! :-)

I came back with the lurgy that I had managed to clear from my ear while still under Aunty Pam's care, thank heavens, or I think flying would have been a MAJOR problem, and then saw my wonderful doc on Tuesday afternoon, who took one look at my throat and was horrified. Throat was all a mess, sinuses all a mess, but at that stage no indication of the ear infection. So, then it was onto the meds, which finished on Sunday. However, starting Saturday afternoon, the ear started with an ache which meant that I then was back at the doc - not with my fabulous Greek doc who is taking a well earned holiday - but instead with one of her colleagues - and now am on penicillin and something to clear the sinus infection. What a way to come home - and not aided by the fact that I am feeling washed out all the time!!! Oh well, am sure all will get there eventually, just a pain when I would like to have a sharper brain and a little more energy - although I have to confess that the heat of this summer to which I have returned after such wonderful mild weather in the UK, is probably contributing to that as well.

On the plus side, it is wonderful to be home with Mum again! I was a delight to see the pups (well, that's what I call them in any event) happy to see me back and then to be snubbed by Ming (my older white kitty who is a real "mummy's girl") for the first two days, after which she decided that I could be forgiven (in a typical cat manner!), but have my one other kitty (Teddy) very happy to have his mummy home as I got the royal treatment of purrs and much affection - although he will not come into the lounge because "those dogs" are there!

So, all in all, things, as I say, are basically clocking themselves back into shape and the routines are slowly being established once more.

I think that the best way to do this in terms of my trip is that I will head all the entries as one would a diary - so when you see a November date - please do not be too confused! :-)

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