Week 24 (31 Dec 2006 – 6 Jan 2007)
Guess what? The service today started on time! And it was only 1hr 20 min. The seats were padded and we recognised all of the songs! There were many similarities – the warm welcome and having to “introduce” ourselves with two minutes warning! It was good to catch up with friends at the BBC (Brentwood Baptist Church) but our voices were beginning to feel the strain by 1pm. The rest of the day was quiet and we had intended to go to a New Year’s Eve party but by 9pm (midnight in Uganda) we were struggling to keep our eyes open and gave in at 11pm for a very sound night’s sleep.
The ‘jet lag’ or just being back in the UK left us a bit drained on New Year’s Day so we had a quiet day fixing video/DVD/Freeview/TV connections and doing some computer file tidying and backup – such a luxury with a permanent electricity supply! It should be easy to remember when it was done. But my memory disc is not as stable as a CD ROM. I think mine is a FOM (Forget Only Memory). I had thought of a better label but ….
Tuesday saw us in Selsdon with the Elcomes – it’s hard to believe we’ve known them for over 20 years. Well not all of them – and Hannah & Abi aren’t 20 yet! It was great to catch up – even if one of them only reads the ‘funny’ bits in the blog and thinks the entries are too long! We (did I say we?) talked so much that we were still there when Rebecca arrived home from work.
Hannah is 20 today, Wednesday. Happy Birthday! – although it’s belated by the time you read this! Andrea visited the doctor to have her head examined and I saw the optician (but only when I had my glasses on). My glasses are fine but Andrea will be returning for a further appointment. Enough said. But in case anyone is worried that the doctor didn’t find anything it’s OK – it was just a minor query. At least that’s what she told me! We buzzed around the shops in Brentwood for a bit gathering the few bits & pieces that will make life just that little bit easier when we get back to Arua. Like half price shoes and more re-chargeable batteries. We’ve taken up hopping and the batteries will keep us going for longer. Unfortunately I lost my paper diary somewhere in the High Street but everything in it is duplicated elsewhere – except the list of things I was going to get for Arua!
After (an excellent) lunch we set off for Heathrow. Not to return to Uganda but to visit Robin and Carolyn (Hi! again if you’re reading this.) We were all at Aston together in the 1970’s and Robin & Andrea were at school together. We compared moving house stories – I think ours was easier! Then we looked at our travel photos – New Zealand and Uganda are very different. Eventually we arrived in Winchester to stay with Mum.
So far we’ve not experienced any significant reverse culture-shock because everything seems so familiar. Until Thursday morning. We visited the local Tesco superstore for Mum’s shopping and managed fairly well until I looked for some lemon squash. I couldn’t find any amongst the 50 different flavours. Yes, 50 flavours. And that’s just the squash. Sometimes it’s hard to make decisions when there’s so much choice. We’ve got used to having squash or not. Simple. After lunch we took Mum to see Dad at Chandler’s Ford. He was looking well and the home seems to be comfortable and clean. It was good to see him in his new surroundings after so long in a rather dismal hospital ward. Libby & Brian entertained us in the evening as we caught up with old photos and news of the last seven months.
We returned to the Winchester shops on Friday morning so that Andrea could be immersed in a craft shop of the wool and material variety. I suppose its creative therapy. I had to force myself to spend the time in the book and stationery shops. It’s a hard life! Even harder because I didn’t buy any books because any that looked interesting were too heavy. Most people just compare prices, we compare weights. Or ‘masses’ now that I teach fisicks. Later, we spent a pleasant hour with Dad and had afternoon tea together. He asked for potato bread with his tea but we were given three cakes. Normally one each – except that he scoffed the lot! Some things haven’t changed.
On Saturday I managed to do some laptop file sorting and storing etc – and not worry about battery life!! John (James’ brother) and Amanda came for lunch and we had a good time catching up on news and travels. Three of us visited Dad in the afternoon although he was a bit sleepy. It was good to be able to speak to Dads older brother (Uncle Jack) in N Ireland and give him an update on Dad and our adventures in Uganda.
The ‘jet lag’ or just being back in the UK left us a bit drained on New Year’s Day so we had a quiet day fixing video/DVD/Freeview/TV connections and doing some computer file tidying and backup – such a luxury with a permanent electricity supply! It should be easy to remember when it was done. But my memory disc is not as stable as a CD ROM. I think mine is a FOM (Forget Only Memory). I had thought of a better label but ….
Tuesday saw us in Selsdon with the Elcomes – it’s hard to believe we’ve known them for over 20 years. Well not all of them – and Hannah & Abi aren’t 20 yet! It was great to catch up – even if one of them only reads the ‘funny’ bits in the blog and thinks the entries are too long! We (did I say we?) talked so much that we were still there when Rebecca arrived home from work.
Hannah is 20 today, Wednesday. Happy Birthday! – although it’s belated by the time you read this! Andrea visited the doctor to have her head examined and I saw the optician (but only when I had my glasses on). My glasses are fine but Andrea will be returning for a further appointment. Enough said. But in case anyone is worried that the doctor didn’t find anything it’s OK – it was just a minor query. At least that’s what she told me! We buzzed around the shops in Brentwood for a bit gathering the few bits & pieces that will make life just that little bit easier when we get back to Arua. Like half price shoes and more re-chargeable batteries. We’ve taken up hopping and the batteries will keep us going for longer. Unfortunately I lost my paper diary somewhere in the High Street but everything in it is duplicated elsewhere – except the list of things I was going to get for Arua!
After (an excellent) lunch we set off for Heathrow. Not to return to Uganda but to visit Robin and Carolyn (Hi! again if you’re reading this.) We were all at Aston together in the 1970’s and Robin & Andrea were at school together. We compared moving house stories – I think ours was easier! Then we looked at our travel photos – New Zealand and Uganda are very different. Eventually we arrived in Winchester to stay with Mum.
So far we’ve not experienced any significant reverse culture-shock because everything seems so familiar. Until Thursday morning. We visited the local Tesco superstore for Mum’s shopping and managed fairly well until I looked for some lemon squash. I couldn’t find any amongst the 50 different flavours. Yes, 50 flavours. And that’s just the squash. Sometimes it’s hard to make decisions when there’s so much choice. We’ve got used to having squash or not. Simple. After lunch we took Mum to see Dad at Chandler’s Ford. He was looking well and the home seems to be comfortable and clean. It was good to see him in his new surroundings after so long in a rather dismal hospital ward. Libby & Brian entertained us in the evening as we caught up with old photos and news of the last seven months.
We returned to the Winchester shops on Friday morning so that Andrea could be immersed in a craft shop of the wool and material variety. I suppose its creative therapy. I had to force myself to spend the time in the book and stationery shops. It’s a hard life! Even harder because I didn’t buy any books because any that looked interesting were too heavy. Most people just compare prices, we compare weights. Or ‘masses’ now that I teach fisicks. Later, we spent a pleasant hour with Dad and had afternoon tea together. He asked for potato bread with his tea but we were given three cakes. Normally one each – except that he scoffed the lot! Some things haven’t changed.
On Saturday I managed to do some laptop file sorting and storing etc – and not worry about battery life!! John (James’ brother) and Amanda came for lunch and we had a good time catching up on news and travels. Three of us visited Dad in the afternoon although he was a bit sleepy. It was good to be able to speak to Dads older brother (Uncle Jack) in N Ireland and give him an update on Dad and our adventures in Uganda.
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