First note on SA soil

We've arrived, safe and sound, but very, very tired. Our flight was OK - being right at the back of the plane meant that we had a bumpy ride (and I get motion sickness).

That would have been okay except that the other kids in our section were a nightmare, especially the one right behind us, who was up most of the night, and at one point was determined to engage me in conversation - patting me on the head, saying hello, etc. (For once, I was a rude adult. I completely ignored her and pretended to be asleep.) As a result, her parents had their reading lights on for most of the night and were talking to her (very loudly, but maybe it was just a relative thing... it being so quiet on the plane otherwise...).

The woman in front of me also had friends further back on the plane who came and stood and chatted for ages while I was trying to sleep, until eventually I asked them to relocate to the back of the plane. (One of the them had the gall to pretend she didn't realise that everyone around was asleep or trying to sleep. Yeah, right. That's why we've all been giving you dirty looks for the past hour!)

Nellie was gorgeous. She slept for most of the flight, only being awake for about two hours in the middle. Even then she was quiet and well behaved - just lay on her chair looking around her, or lay in our arms looking around. She didn't eat very well, but that was the least of my worries at that point. She did eat something, and she did graze throughout our trip (door-to-door it took us 24 hours!), so I determined not to fuss about it. She was a darling in the airports - charmed everyone around her (as usual).

So now we're home. It feels weird. It feels like we're just here on holiday and that we'll be going back to the UK in a few weeks' time. I haven't quite got my head around the fact that I start work in a week or so, or around all the things we need to do in this next week (bank accounts, phones, utilities bills, GP, daycare, blah, blah, blah...). I've realised that my business will probably have to be shelved for a little while until we find out feet a bit more. I'm just so tired already, and I have a 10 week term ahead of me. I need to rest or I'll burn out before October!

I have some cute pictures of Nellie, but I can't upload them till our stuff arrives because the cables were packed for shipping. Bummer! Anyway, thanks to everyone who has sent us messages of welcome or good luck - much appreciated!

And a MASSIVE congratulations to my dear friend Vicky!!! Hope you and Steve are very happy together!!!!!!

OK - time to get started on that list of things to sort out....