Finally back home in sunny Bristol

Well its our third day back home in the UK and we seem to have got into UK time quite well physically but my brain hasn't quite caught up yet.  I return to work on Monday and James starts back at school on Wednesday.

Our flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur was fine - James got a bit bored but we watched a couple of films and had a tetris competition to while away the time.  At KL I had booked the Plaza Lounge as we had a three hour wait for our next flight.  I would definitely recommend doing this as there is food and drink laid on, a few computers for internet access, a tv and nice comfy chairs.  Very relaxing.  Apparently, you can book to go in the Transit hotel if you have a longer stop over as you can pay by the hour.

The next leg of the journey was nearly 14 hours but luckily for James he managed to sleep through half of it.  I dozed intermittently but I can't really sleep well on planes - I need to be prone.  I'd love to be in business class where there seats virtually turn into beds.  I managed to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Shrek the third and Spiderman 3 on the way back so I have caught up with some films at least.  Once we got through immigration etc we headed for the coach station and managed to book onto the next coach with only a half hour wait (which James managed to still moan about of course).  The lucky devil managed to sleep most of the way back on the coach, too!

Once home it was that ugly business of having to unpack which I always hate.  Lovely weather in Bristol so I thought I'd better get washing while I can dry things.  The house has been looked after by my friend Helen so it was nice coming back to somewhere that has been lived in and taken care of.

Bristol doesn't seem to have changed - the new city centre is progressing but doesn't look radically different.  Nearer home the old Texaco garage is being knocked down and is now a pile of rubble.  There are plans for some housing and shops - must go on the internet and find out exactly what this means.

While James has been out with friends making up for lost time, I've been gradually getting things organised - washing, shopping and the usual tedious household chores.  Annie P popped around yesterday with a box of goodies from the allotment.  Martin and Annie have been looking after it while I've been away - I hope to go over later today (Friday).

The garden has been taken over by the nasturtiums - they are climbing ones but they just seem to have crept across the garden and over all the other plants.  Very vigorous!  Might avoid them next year.  Have had a bit of a prune back and picked the enormous courgette which has turned into a marrow.  Not sure what I'll do with that as I am not very fond of marrows.

Anyway, this is where the blog is going to end as Les won't be carrying it on.  I would recommend to people going away - even for a shorter period to try and keep up a travel blog.  It's a good way of keeping in touch with a lot of people easily.  As long as you can get into an internet cafe which has computers with USB connectors to enable you to upload photos from your camera, you're away.