Back in the sunshine - for now.

What a mad few days. All I can say is England didn't do a lot to make me feel I wanted to stay there. I left beautiful blue skies, amazingly blue seas, warm lazy Spanish days and roads with no traffic.....

and arrived to an English summer......

.....cold, wet and windy. In the few short weeks we have lived in Spain I'd forgotten how busy the roads in England are - well, I was soon re-acquainted. I was picked up at Manchester airport by friends. As I waited for them to arrive it suddenly hit me that I really do not live in England anymore. I have no car, I have no home here - I am a visitor.

I was staying with friends in Sheffield for the first night, so first thing in the morning I needed to hire a car - OK, now I've got used to driving on the right side of the road so a quick mental note to drive on the left, it all came back very quickly, I've not been away long enough for it to be an issue and at least the gear lever is where it should be.

I spent the few days driving to and from the hospital to visit dad. It was difficult to see him initially but as the days passed he improved significantly. It was also difficult to be there on my own, Neil and the pups being back in Spain. There seemed little point uprooting them for a few days but my mobile phone bill will be considerably higher this month.

As soon as Dad seemed to be on the mend and knowing that he would likely be in hopsital for at least another week, I decided to fly back to Spain and to come back to the UK when he comes out of hospital rather than stay. Again, a very difficult decision, I didn't want to leave Dad but I did want to be back with Neil & the pups.

I booked a flight back for Sunday - ooops! forgot that Spain were playing in the final of the Euro 2008 football and that would mean instead of being in the bar with all the others watching the game, Neil would be waiting for me at the airport.

I cannot explain how good it felt when the plane touched down in Murcia, back on Spanish soil, I was home. Kowing Neil would be waiting for me I took a peek through the doors while I was waiting for my case to come through, and there he was - and he'd brought Brinkley & Brandy too. Luckily my case was one of the first through and I was soon hugging the pups who were so happy to see me.

Knowing I will be going back in a couple of weeks, that I will have the same seperation from Neil & the pups again is difficult, but equally, so is being so far from Dad at a time when I need to be there to help him.