School finished at midday on Friday 29th June and Rhiannon isn't due back until Tuesday 28th August. Good grief! That's far too long!
A couple of playdates have been arranged for the first couple of weeks. I have a class booked (although I have no recollection of what subject this was) and then we are flying back to the UK for a month, leaving on 11th July 2007. Well, Rhiannon and I will stay a month or so, Tim has to return before us for work.
We'll stay with my Mum in Hampshire for some of the time, with the rest of our holiday spent in Devon. We'll arrive in time for her birthday and have a small family get together planned.
I have a very long shopping list. I need to buy clothes and shoes, neither of which I can possibly find over here - I have enough difficulty finding things to fit in the UK. I stocked up on "fancy" clothes before we left but have put on weight so they don't fit. Also, I haven't been to that many glam do's so I need more everyday clothes. Rhiannon also needs new clothes - she does keep doing this growing thing! Children's clothes here are outrageously expensive. And there seems to be nothing apart from designer togs.
We also plan to stock up on good old British tea, which is impossible to find here (for a reasonable quantity and price). We need loads as we drink loads.
Other things we are dreaming about are: real bread, cereals, a bacon sarnie, fish and chips and decent apples. Well, the latter is just me - the apples here are revolting - tasteless fluff. I want a Cox's Orange Pippin and a Bramley Apple Pie. (Forgetting that neither is in season during the summer, but Mum has several apple trees, one of which is an ancient Bramley and she's promised me she has frozen some for me).
Oh, and I am planning on bringing back a suitcase full of Green & Black's chocolate!
It's a 12 hour flight: arrive 2 hours before, 1 hour to get to the airport, gawd knows how long to get through the imbecilic Heathrow terminal 3 immigration system ( 2 desks for UK Nationals, 18 for "Foreigners") and an hour to get to Mum's.
It turned out to be 19 hours door to door, so that's 3 hours just to get OUT of Heathrow airport. Ridiculous.
Jetlag wasn't too bad. We arrived at Mum's in time for tea (!) and managed to stay awake until 9pm. But I did wake at 5am. This went on for a couple of days then I was fine.
