Happy Birthday Andrew!

Andrew was 42. I like this time of year because he is briefly 4 whole years older than me. Being still under forty, I allow myself to feel particularly smug about this. We celebrated by trying out an Indian in Manly. It's quite difficult getting a good curry here - they seem to think that curry is synonymous with runny. Although they kind of rhyme (there is a word for that sort of rhyme but I can't remember what it is), we English prefer our curries with more meat than sauce I think, and not vice versa. However, it was all fine and the restaurant was clearly very popular. We will continue our search for the perfect Indian restaurant in Sydney and let you know when we have found it.

Actually, the search for such a dining experience will take on a new urgency now we know that Alex is planning to visit us around this time next year...

Of course the other thing we had to do on the 21st July was collect George's copy of the new Harry Potter. George is an avid reader and has been waiting impatiently for it to be published. He's very excited and I suspect will finish it in record time!



So today is the last day of the winter holidays, and we have survived the full three weeks. It seems like aeons ago that I last did the school run. I am desperate to properly clean the house (and have it stay clean and tidy for a couple of hours) and to hear myself think. I suspect that in the last 4 months I have spent more time with my children than I did in the previous 4 years....and on the whole it has been lovely. As it was a nice day today (19 degrees - that's more like it), I took the pair of them to the pitch and putt up the road. It was rather fun. George won, but I made my own day by getting a hole in one, not once but twice and the first one on the first hole! I'm usually utterly crap at that sort of thing.

I'm feeling a little bereft though - as Andrew went away yesterday and will not be back until next Saturday - Brisbane and Abu Dhabi. He will be passing through Sydney briefly tomorrow, so I will go to the airport and meet him for lunch, then he has a 14 hour flight to UAE. I never used to mind him going away when we were in the UK - it was a good opportunity to have full control of the TV remote and not to have to cook so much. But here, I feel very isolated when everywhere he goes is such a bloody long way away and I don't have the same support network. However, I'm sure that over time I will get used to it.

Right - I'm off to bed for an early night. I'm seriously concerned about my ability to get up at school run time after such a long time! I had the kids in bed by 7.30pm and should have gone off myself then......