Back from the Future...

Well hello there - where have I been these last two years you may well ask? And it's a long story which I won't bore you with. At least I won't bore you with all of it.
   To those of you dear, kind and faithful readers who have asked - yes I did come back from Thailand
in one piece, and a very tanned and relaxed piece it was. I hadn't been prepared for the strange, wet, heat that kind of slaps you in the face when you arrive in Thailand. But soon did get used to it, though I did make use of the air-con in the hotel as sleeping would have been out of  the question without it!
   Mostly it was Grandson and I who splashed about in the gorgeous pools and the blue, blue sea. And those two weeks positively flew by. We saw temples and elephants (poor things, they were tied up and looking very dusty - the elephants I mean) and we ate some exotic food and generally lazed about.The big surprise to me was that long-distance flying wasn't nearly as awful as I had expected it to be. We flew Emirates both ways, stopping briefly in Dubai, and though it was sometimes tedious, it was on the whole comfortable and made more so by the lovely flight attendants. Coming back to a still-freezing England wasn't great, and we were very tired. Still, it all seems a very long time ago now.
   I'll move swiftly on and try to give you the rundown on our family since then: and there has been a fair amount of change... to begin at the end, I now have two more utterly gorgeous Grandchildren! Lucky me.  Son and his lovely girlfriend (she is Polish if you remember)  had a baby boy last March, so he is nearly a year old. He arrived two weeks early, giving everyone a bit of a shock - and was poorly for a while. He had bad jaundice and his Mum was poorly too. In fact they all three spent the first 5 days of his little life in hospital, so it was a worry. And then he turned out to be a non-sleeper who screamed when he woke up or was unhappy. Poor things, they were pretty desperate at times, as well as being constantly tired.( I remembered that Son had been similarly non-sleeping, though he didn't scream, and how like a zombie I was until he started sleeping at about 11 months.) Anyway, he is such a happy little boy now, a beloved darling, and very bright and lively. He's a good eater too, which is a blessing!
   Daughter and her lovely Boyfriend (the lawyer, you may recall) have also reproduced, and a darling little Girl she is too. She was born last November, also 2 weeks early, and could not be more different from her little cousin, She has slept, fed and smiled since she arrived - and as she is now nearly four months old will soon  be trying out Daughter's cooking. She has already been much travelled, as they went to Egypt for a quick week  in the sun after Christmas, and they are planning an Easter holiday in Abu Dhabi. Lord knows, we didn't even think of taking off to exotic places with our children, but it seems to be perfectly normal now.
    Son and Girlfriend and Baby all went to Poland for Christmas - not quite so sunny of course - and their trip coincided with the baby having 'Separation Anxiety' (spot-on timing at 9 months), which wasn't too much fun for them, and then the poor little mite got a chest infection which turned into bronchitis and meant he had to have antibiotics. Mind you it was bloody freezing there...
   And while they were all away, I got bronchitis too! I have to say it was the first time in two years, but horrible nevertheless. We'll draw a veil over that and I'll just say what wonderful friends I have - they all rallied round: one friend in particular made me the best chicken soup I have ever tasted, so it wasn't all bad.
   And now, you catch me as I'm leaving this house - after 12 years I'm moving. Where? well not too far as I now have three grandchildren, plus my two childer and their lovely partners to brighten my life.
Enough for now though - I'm off to bed, but delighted to have caught up a bit with you all. Night night.