Days sixteen, seventeen, eighteen and nineteen.

2nd Jan: Went into town to spend the girl's Christmas money at Hamleys.  They stuffed some animals and accessorised them.  Met with Surinder, Pam, Arjun and Rohan and had a cracking time knocking about the South Bank and eating in Giraffe. Ended the night in Leicester Square for ice cream.  Great day.

The remains of 73 Cardinal Ave.

3rd Jan: Sujata's Mum's Brother and his daughter and her husband came to visit today.  I started early driving down to Kingston to visit the old place and have a look at what was in storage from the house.  I also drove past it and looked in the windows.  While it all looked very familiar, as though we'd only stepped away from it yesterday, I can't honestly say that I felt like I wanted to move back.  Driving through London was fine, and Kingston too, but the slow chug-chug through the turgid traffic was enough to remind me how "open skies" Perth feels.  Having the relatives visit was great, hearing old stories.   The food as always was outstanding.







4th Jan:  Slow day, tattied about not doing much, girls played with their cousins for the last time before our planned weekend trip to see them in their own stomping ground.  I ran a couple of errands and that was that.

5th Jan:  Having dodged the lurgy all winter in Aus, Suji has succumbed to the English strain and had a days R&R.  I met up with Hannah in the pottery cafe so that the girls could play and daub primary colours onto blanks.  Then Raya went back with Hannah to her house and Kira came to watch Gulliver's Travels with me at the local flea pit.

Days fourteen and fifteen

31st Dec: Blue blue day for me and Mum, picked up the hire car, packed our things and drove on up to Suji's Mum and Dad's house. Uneventful journey, but the Kanani's were extremely welcoming and we are all very happy to be here. I crashed out on the sofa about 10 with the kids but we all surfaced again in time to see in the new year with the sparkles on telly and the bubbles in our glasses.

1st Jan: So grey and overcast today. We did very little but planned to meet Dom and Hannah in the afternoon. They came over instead and we sat and drank tea while the four girls rolled about and Suji's Mum and Dad napped. Then in the evening we went to play games with Suji's sister Upama and husband Rupin. Kira and Raya had their cousins Nikita and Anaya to paly with and Luke and Zara, the children of Rupin's friends Gary and Mindy.