Sari Time

Glad to report that my Dad who has been back in hospital after a suspected stroke, is well on the mend. Turns out to have been a drug mis-match which floored him and once that was sorted out, he has made a good recovery. He is due out of the local hospital in Hampshire on Tuesday. That is rather good timing as daughter #1 and I are off down to see him this weekend. I haven't seen him since I got back from India and am looking forward to seeing him. he'll be less stressed if we go to the hospital rather than at their house.
I'm looking forward to spending time with Katy and catching up on all her news. Here in school, I've been given some extra admin work and am out of class for that which has been a mixed time. I love being with the pupils, but enjoy some of the admin stuff too.
I don't know if I said but I got a lovely welcome back to school, a banner my class had made to welcome me back, some great socially appropriate hugs and smiles from my class and team too.
Now I've been back for almost 4 weeks and in some ways it feels as if I have never been away. I've had some nice compliments on the newer shape I managed to bring home from India which is very flattering though. Only 4 weeks left till we break for summer hols - being away for 6 months certainly makes time fly I can tell you. I remember when 6 months took at least half a year to go by and this last period has just flown by! Or am I getting older?

Colin and I went to the Moderator's Reception last night at Parliament Hall, 11 Parliament Square in Edinburgh. His cousin David has just been installed as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
We started the evening in the Tower Restaurant on top of the Royal Scottish Museum in Chamber Street. They do a very nice two course pre-theatre supper for £12.95. Wine is fairly hefty addition, but if like me you don't drink it... no problem! The view, if you have never been there, is fantastic. What other city can match this! these pics were taken on my phone so the quality is perhaps not as good, but you get the idea!

From there we walked down George the IVth Bridge as a child along with many other Edinburgh weans, I could never understand why the bridge was called George! part of the confusion I suppose was because just outside Edinburgh there are two more Forth Bridges which don't have names... except what drivers call them during the rush hour which is largely unprintable!
Here are pics of Colin's mum and David with Colin at the reception. Colin's mum is the only one of her generation left and David's aunt, so felt very proud of her nephew! There is also a pic of the amazing stained glass window.

What amused me was that when I walked in, the first people I met were two Pisky Bishops St A, D & D and G,one with accompanying wife and a synod office staff member. It was also nice to see wine at a C of S function!
Apparently the hall is open to the public, it is round the back of St Giles, and there is a cafe down the stairs too. You have to pass along the Advocates corridor, where their boxes are kept. In Scotland Advocates don't as in England, have 'chambers' but have to manage with these boxes. They don't appear to be in any particular order, but no doubt there is a special significance and prime positions known only to those who need to know!

Well I've been back a week now and in work since Monday well except for a training course yesterday, but in paid employment again which is nice. Everyone has been very welcoming and kind and allowed me to fill their ears with travellers tales! Please don't think I shall run out very quickly, do be patient with me, 6 months is a lot of stories!

Since I came back I have been going through my pictures and the memories have just flooded in. Although I am so happy to be back home with Colin and Ali and Kathryn and Jon, I often think of my friends and the children who I had the privilege of working with in Tirunelvelli.
I need to be careful to sing my RBS songs in the mornings and afternoons and not my Tamil ones! Yesterday I found myself singing the same songs that I sang with Mariam, with one of my girls here which made me (and her) smile.

I went out to see Penny in Lanarkshire yesterday, she has her lambs arriving daily, here are two which arrived yesterday with their proud mum!

As you can see too, the sunsets in Scotland are pretty good at the moment too. The thermometer on Kwik Fit read 25degrees as I came home yesterday.

A wee parting pic from Kovalum all over India people either played or watched cricket or did both, this was on Kovalum beach at around 5.0pm on Monday. The other pic is of the men who sit all day every day rain or shine painting the pictures you see behind them with incredible detail. I have bought a number of small paintings on silk back with me which I shall frame up and sell to raise money for the Trust and my return visit!!!

Well I'm safely back home after the experience of a life time. If you are unfortunate enough to know me, you may wish to leave the country for a while until I stop talking. All went well on the flights home, the only delay was on the Edinburgh London leg which was 20 minutes late leaving Heathrow, but made good time on the actual flight. Quite a nice wee ploughman's cheddar salad on the flight too... I turned down the smoked mackerel option which has never been a favourite of mine. I have to say though that the BA meal did not quite match up to the 'tasty tantaliser' served an hour before landing by Qatar. We had had two other meals, this was just a wee snack... see pic.

I thought you might like to see the pic from Doha airport, of the parking area, where else but the middle east would you find a lane purely for limousines. It was so hot there though (outside not indoors A/C). Much hotter and drier than India and much less green, everything seemed to be very dusty too as you can see on the car in the lower left corner of one pic. I had a wonderful HOT shower in Qatar, I think they thought I had taken up residence I was in for so long.I slept most of the way back to the UK. I had not really slept since Sunday night in Kovalum. Monday night although I went to bed around 10.00am I only had short naps as I had to be up at 1.30am for my 2.00am taxi to the airport. my flight was at 5.00am and lasted around 4 hours, but including take off, landing and being fed breakfast, there was only a couple of hours sleeping time available. I then had 5 hours in Qatar which was nice and relaxing, a lovely restaurant with free food and drink, showers as mentioned, internet access and comfortable seating/sleeping space too. From Qatar, the flight was around 7 hours to London, again very comfortable and I just ate and slept, there was no view from the windows until over Europe, as there was a lot of cloud below us. It was raining in London and in spite of concerns they managed to transfer my bags from the Qatar flight to terminal 5 and my Edinburgh flight on time, I had just around 2 hours at Heathrow. Couldn't bring myself to buy a £2 cup of coffee and made do with a£1.30 bottle of water although that about broke my heart. Don't expect to be fed Chez Mair until I get to grips with these prices a bit.
I got to Edinburgh and picked up my bags and then had to run the gamut of about 10 customs officers, a lady beckoned me to the side and my heart sank as she looked at my 3 bags and hand luggage, 'Are these all your bags?' she said! 'Can you step over here for a moment please? Where did your journey start?'. I replied India and explained my 6 month stay and what I had been doing trembling all the while, I had nothing I shouldn't just couldn't face unpacking everything! 'Do you have ID' she asked. I produced my passport. 'Have you any alcohol or tobacco?' When I said no, she smiled and said, 'Is someone picking you up? Welcome home!' I made my way to the exit as sedately as I could with an overloaded wobbly wheeled trolley and met Jon who had just arrived. He brought me home, we had a quick cup of tea and then I was back in my own house.
Big adventure over...... for now!
I will continue over the next while, to put up some of my favourite pictures which never made it to the blog before, along with some short (perhaps) anecdotes, this will probably gradually tail off, but allows me to keep up the nostalgia for the time being!