Ealing, London - July 12th, 2005

The journey is over but another begins.

We arrived back in our flat at midnight on Friday the 8th July after a 14 hour journey from Nice. It was supposed to be our shortest flight but it took longer than our longest. One of the engines broke, we had to switch planes and were eventually sent via Frankfurt. We arrived there about 9:00pm (our original departure from Nice was scheduled for 12:05pm) and then had to endure a 25 minute walk with 2 boys who were quite literally finished. It was a very unpleasant ending to a fairy tale trip. I guess reality kicks in eventually.

We spent Saturday with visitors coming to and fro and running to the shops. Sunday was a great day as we went back to church and met up with many old friends who gave us a great welcome back. We ended up going to friends for lunch and not getting home until about 4:00pm.

On monday I went into our storage unit in Vauxhall with Sammy to retrieve those items that we need in the flat. I brought much too much home and will now need to take some of it back! In the afternoon the BT man came and installed the phone and gave us an 8meg internet connection. At least it should be 8meg. I am getting nowhere near that level at the moment.

We all have mixed feelings about being back. The boys are anxious to see their friends but not so anxious to be getting back to school. They go back on Thursday for the last 7 days of term. Julie is finally able to "get on" with things (as she puts it) which is more natural for her than "getting off" or out of doing things, which is what I have subjected her to for the last year.

Financial position needs to be addressed quite sharpish and it will be down to the Job Centre for me as soon as we get back from our week down at New Wine.

I will keep you informed of progress and also fill in some of the many missing days from the blog. I suspect that we will have some interesting days ahead as we try to re-adjust and come to terms with the reality of coming home and leading a normal life again. Perhaps by this time next year I will be able to comment on whether the whole venture was worth the aggravation you have to go through when you come home. Right now; it was the best thing we ever did or probably ever will.