London calling....

I've spent most of this week in London for work, leaving Tim and the kids to fend for themselves at home. At a long lazy sunday lunch last week before I headed to the airport I was asked, work aside(?!), what I was most looking forward to. Of course catching up with family and friends was my immediate and clear answer (even though the work schedule didn't leave enough time to see very many people at all). And that was indeed the highlight of the trip. But it was also just good to be in London again. Here are a few reasons why.....

walking: Our life here doesn't have much room for routine walking. We do some walks in safari parks and I do the occasional short walk to get fruit and veg from the stall on the corner of our road although I more frequently just stop in the car on the way home. But unlike in London, we don't walk to school, or the shops or between work meetings because its too far, too dusty and polluted, too hot or too wet and sometimes just too unsafe (because of erratic traffic including driving on the pavement in the day and fear of crime at night). And it was great just walking everywhere, day and evening.

tuna sandwiches: There are loads of great places to eat in Nairobi and you can get pretty much any type of food you like but I haven't yet found a tuna sandwich to compete with my preferred lunch choice from "pret".

the tube: It may be pricey, overcrowded and hot and full of people pushing and sneezing and not quite as reliable or accessible for all (including if you have heavy bags full of goodies to take home) as we would all like. But there is something reassuringly familiar about the coloured lines on the map. And it works and gets you all over town in a nearly guaranteed amount of time without the need to sit in traffic. Coming from Nairobi that's more than enough to recommend it.

crisp winter mornings: Very beautiful, refreshing and unlike any mornings here. Lovely.

Of course it's not all great - austerity Brittain is clearly biting and although we live with much greater general levels of poverty here, there is something particularly challenging in seeing that the developed world doesn't cope with this any better than the developing one. On a less profound level it was also strange to be cold and I missed Tim and the kids.

And now its really good to be home. Back in time for Katie's assembly this morning where they managed to fit gangnam style into the story of the boy who cried wolf - twice! And for Matthew to do some poetry reading at school tomorrow. The sun is shining, I have replaced winter boots with flip flops and am just about to jump in a pool to shake off aftermath of all those tuna sarnies and an overnight flight. Given that i started off in a row with twins under 1 and a newborn across the aisle, was asked to move to make room for their cots and willingly did so only to find myself amongst a bunch of immigration officers accompanying a few people home, including a baby, it may take more than a quick dip to keep me awake this evening. Nice lazy weekend ahead.

Anne