ROUND THE WORLD IN 60 DAYS

Picture of Hot Air Balloon ascent from Kate's balcony the day I left Melbourne

Finally free to sit down and put some thoughts on paper following my solo jaunt – round the world in 60 days! It was a bit of a whirlwind trying to take in parents and most of the children in one go but I have been very well looked after and am trying to wrestle with the strings of household duties now that I am back which K is reluctant to hand back to me!

Changing perceptions dictated that I was in observant mode wherever I went and was almost agog with the luxury of how our children live down under compared with the simplicity I have grown used to in the back waters of Crete. However, it was great to reacquaint myself with grandson number one who is asking 20 questions per hour and has very strong views about his world, to get to know grandson number two who is beginning to talk, chuckle, sing and pull himself up and around all the furniture and seems to be interested in all sorts of haunts hitherto unvisited by his older brother! I foresee challenging times ahead but lots of fun and jokes also.

As for newest grandson number three, he was still at the eating, sleeping, feeding all night stage so other than being cuddly and gorgeous and wishing I was closer, we can only revisit the many photos and video film I took whilst with them. However, I saw a reasonable amount of Melbourne in my ten days there and could see that it was a very cosmopolitan place where Kate and Grant are very comfortable until it is time to go home to New Zealand.

Driving to Piha Beach, New Zealand

The UK was quite sunny when I landed at Heathrow and I was glad to throw off my winter woollies and get back into cotton tee shirts again. It was good to spend time with my parents who are quite remarkable in the way they manage to carry on regardless of the difficulties life brings. It is hard being away from them and I hope that we manage to get the idea of using the computer to communicate better firmly established. It would be such a boon.

Panormo Beach in Crete

Back in Crete, the landscape had dried out over the hot two months I had been away; our two tomato seedlings planted out in April had taken over the entire garden and produced bags and bags of fruit – all ready for making preserves as soon as I got back. Various plants like jasmine and some creeper for the terrace had started to weave their way through the trellis giving us much needed shade and privacy which was good to see. We also had a houseful of visitors and more about to arrive and it meant that I had to put jet lag on the back burner for a few days. It was very nice to spend several very hot days on the beach and catch up on my aqua-therapy after two months of winter down under. Lazy lunches and happy conversations with our friends at our favourite taverna on the beach took up most of our time. However, now that our house guests have left, K and I have the place to ourselves and we are enjoying having a lazy Sunday breakfast of fried tomatoes on toast and being able to unwind without having to double think our routes around the house and the whereabouts of “too-hot-to-wear-really” dressing gowns!

Our kindly neighbours welcomed me back and mysterious melons and tomatoes appeared from nowhere by way of a welcome. We hired a car for a week to do all the airport runs involved and we plan to make the most of it and get all sorts of jobs done while we have it which are impossible without transport - so interesting outings like paying the water bill, buying an umbrella base and locating cream house paint await us. To think that we are missing out on cut-price OAP day at B & Q!