After the first few days here, the rest of our first week back turned a bit rubbish because Nick and I both came down with whatever Devon had picked up on the plane, a nasty gastric flu-type bug.
It meant we spent the rest of the week mostly in bed and had to cancel lots of plans!
Thankfully we are all feeling better now, and have bought a new car (a Renault Grande Modus) that has meant we have started getting out and about finally and starting to feel much more Christmassy.
It's really strange being back. Because we are back at Nick's parents at the moment, which is where we were staying before we left for Australia, it feels at times like we have never left.
But at other times it feels so different, two years is a long time and I know we both feel substantially changed by our time in Australia. Whether that's due to parenthood, being two years older, or living in another country, I'm not sure. Probably a combination of all three!
We've been testing out Devon's new waterproofs, and he loves being outside here just as much as he did in Australia. We bought him some new fur-lined wellies (as it's pretty cold here) and he has been getting right into all the muddy puddles and enjoying all the English countryside.
So far we'e been to Winchester to visit the Christmas markets, Chichester to visit some of our favourite shops, and into Waterlooville for coffee with Boris. Devon is doing really well meeting all these new people, he's been a bit shy to start with but it doesn't take him long to warm up.
And we've been down to visit the local pub, the Fox and Hounds. The pub was empty and derelict before we left, but while we have been gone there has been a successful campaign to reopen it. We actually became shareholders and invested some money towards it. We took Devon down for a quick drink one afternoon.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!
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