The airport was extremely busy, not only with holidaymakers but refugees from Lebanon. The first evidence of this was the sight of British soldiers outside the airport building, helping people who had arrived by coach, to collect their luggage and then usher them through a special entrance for their onward journeys. Inside the building were numerous Red Cross stands offering water and a packed lunch for these travellers and Aid workers were rushing about shepherding people to and fro.
As I was fairly early and had already checked in On-line at home, as soon as I'd got rid of my case I escaped the melee and went upstairs for a cold drink. Eventually I went through to the Departure lounge, did a little shopping and awaited the call to board the plane. I have never seen so many planes on the apron as there were that afternoon. Planes from a variety of countries, I suppose there to collect their unfortunate citizens escaping from Lebanon.
Our departure was delayed for half an hour but I found myself sitting next to an elderly Scottish lady who was travelling alone. Her home was near Paphos and she had lived in Cyprus for about 15 years, sadly her husband had died a few months previously but she was content to carry on living there. She'd had a very interesting life, her husband had been a chartered accountant and had worked a lot in the Middle East, Far East and Carribean, she and their children accompanying him. Our conversation certainly made it an interesting flight.
Lovely to see Andrew at Heathrow and eventually Debi when we got to Chatham. The boys were all in bed, though I did get to have a little cuddle with Joe when he woke for a feed later on. He's delightful and has a great deal of brown hair.
On Sunday morning I was woken by Joshua and Tom leaping on the bed to give me big hugs. That was definitely worth coming all this way for! It was lovely spending time with them and to see how Ross had changed, he's losing his baby fat but not his baby curls. He has masses of them and the cheekiest grin you could imagine.
Of course I had lots more cuddles with Joe too.
In the afternoon we all went to the park, the boys on their bikes, including Daddy and Ross, while we "girls" pushed the Buggy. Tom can ride his two-wheeler very well, but insists on the stabilsers being left on. While in the park he was persuaded to have a go on Josh's bike that doesn't have the stabilisers and you will see from the picture how well he does - however, he is not convinced.
Monday morning I went off to have my hair cut and coloured and would you believe it, just as I was about to leave the hairdressers the heavens opened and the rain stair-rodded down. So much for the UK heatwave! At lunchtime, Debi and Andy loaded the car with luggage, got the boys on board and went off to Centre Parks for a few days to join Andy's mum, brother and sister and their families, so now I have the house to myself.
I started doing some sorting out and packing of the things we'd left behind. It was quite pleasant pottering and discovering things that I had forgotten. We don't have a TV yet in Cyprus and although I havn't missed it I did indulge myself this evening by watching all the Soaps!
Tuesday was another cloudy, blustery day. Just before lunch Debi's neighbour, Cara, gave me a lift to Hempstead Valley shopping centre where I enjoyed a few hours browsing around the shops. Then back to Debi's for a bit more sorting.
Wednesday was a really grey, cloudy day today, which was rather a shame as I had been invited down to Canterbury cricket ground to watch Kent V Hampshire while eating a rather splendid lunch as a guest of the Buffs Association. I don't know the first thing about cricket but I did meet some very nice people.
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