Back home, Part I

Oisin, Chloe and Emelie (top); Oisin mowing the lawn for Auntie Stephanie.

So where is home? I was rather nervous leaving Provo that exactly what and where home was would get a little muddled. Fortunately, I was spared the confusion and know that home is very much Provo.

We left 3 weeks ago. First stop Toronto for a long overdue visit with my sister and her family. We were upgraded to Business Class on the Miami-Toronto leg....but only 2 of us so Osh got to play with the controls and the buttons and gadgets and free champagne (only joking) whilst I sat in coach class....hurrumph!

Oisin was delighted to see his cousins again and we had lots of fun visiting the Islands, the Eaton Centre, ToysRUs, having dinner during the most incredible rain storm, hanging with family and generally enjoying the deliciously cool weather. Oisin had saved hard and, having finally finished his 2nd reading book, earned a bonus which he spent in ToysRUs. Like a true and focussed shopper he entered the store, made a bee-line for the Bionicles section and chose 3 Bionciles in short order. At a price that would have bought him just 1 in Provo. One happy customer!

Too soon, we had to leave Toronto for London. We flew to Boston (what an incredibly beautiful city, on the water, surrounded by islands, definitely a place to explore in the future) which is a lovely small airport and a definite recommendation for anyone that has to transit in the US. From Boston we flew to London, arriving the following morning. Oisin, as usual, was a great travelling companion. He never moans, never whinges, sleeps all the way and is always helpful and cooperative at the other end when all the adults are strung out on lack of sleep and jet lag.

My faithful car gave up the ghost 3 miles outside Heathrow (a friend was collecting us) so we went home on the coach and the train which was relatively painless. Arriving back in Portsmouth was very odd. I had been worried in Canada that I'd get to Portsmouth and be hit with a huge wave of nostalgia and regret at leaving. But I have to say that the grey skies quickly dispensed with that thought and I was quietly grateful that I was leaving for the Windies again in 2 weeks. That said, it was just lovely to see old friends again and catch up on their news and have the chance to just natter with people again. I know a lot of people here in Provo, but I don't know that many that I can just natter to about inconsequential rubbish. Something that will improve over time, and definitely something that is important to the human condition (although not something I'd thought about much until I didn't have it!).

Osh was delivered to his dad the following morning without incident: although I had to wake him up to take him there. I can recall only 3 occasions when I've had to wake Osh up - this after some 14 hours sleep! Child free (although after 4 months with Osh, we both felt like we were missing a limb for a couple of days!) we went to the movies, met friends, ate too much tea and cake and curry and bought me a much needed new wardrobe.

And the new wardrobe? Nicky and I, much to our surprise and delight are expecting a baby in December and my rapidly expanding belly needed some room to breath. We had kept very quiet about the pregnancy up to this point because we were unable to have any testing done in Provo and didn't want to break the news until we knew that everything was OK. A short trip to London to see, as it turns out, the leading expert on fetal medicine (my OB/GYN here nearly fainted when she heard who had done the amnio!) reassured us that we are expecting a healthy baby boy. On that bomb shell, I'll sign off and tell you all about the trip to Cornwall which involved large amount of Tinners Ale, visiting crumbling family piles in Camborne and one too many cream teas.