Back home

We got back home yesterday afternoon after the long journey back. Left Baros by speedboat at 23:45. Got to the Airport at 24:00. Flight took off at 2:30. Got to Dubai around 5:30 local time. Flight to Manchester took off around 8:00. We got to Manchester around 11:30 I think. Then, our flight to Dublin was at 13:30.

The hardest bit was to remain awake in the Hulule airport before the first flight. Hulule is a fantastic location for an airport, with a runway that starts and ends in the ocean, but in the middle of the night, it's not the most exciting of places. Here are some pictures of Hulule airport. If you want to see more pictures, go to Google Images and type in Hulule airport. You'll even find pictures of the toilet facilities from a Japanese web site that seems to be dedicated to "World Toilet Information"!

All flights were on time and there was no problem - we slept for a bit on the Male-Dubai flight, and watched movies on the Dubai-Manchester flight. I watched The Island (which was ok) and Bewitched (which was rubbish). I listened to some music (Alanis Morissette, which I didn't like at all, and the first half hour of Don Giovanni by Mozart, which is a wonderful opera - much darker than Mozart's other operas)

We picked up Willow from the cattery at about 5 pm. He looked very cosy when we got there - all cuddled up on his cushion. He was delighted to get home, as always, and went around his territory to make sure Nemesis (the black and white cat with which he has regular fights) hadn't returned.

I was wrecked - I'm not good with sleep deprivation. But I feel better now after a good night's sleep. I've taken it easy today, and I've tidied up most things. I used to be obsessive about unpacking as soon as we get home. The fact that there are still bits and pieces to be tidied up is a sign that I'm a lot more relaxed than I used to be.

I have tons of pictures and watercolour impressions. I'll post these over the next while. And I'm delighted to say that we even have pictures of an octopus, which we saw on our very last day.