Last night the staff at school all went out for a meal to say goodbye to me. It was lovely. The speech was very flattering, they had all written a funny verse and my two gifts were Tiffany! I was blown away and totally amazed! My colleagues and the children are going to be hard to leave behind. This restored my spirits as I have been thrown a few curved balls over the last two weeks.

A mixed week of packing, which I hate, power-cuts and pressure.
You would not believe the number of power-cuts we get here. It doesn't just go off for a little time but last Monday for five hours and then again for three hours on Tuesday. Absurdly it happens when it's windy, a bit like the leaves on the track that British Rail always used to suffer from! I would like to say it brings the Dunkirk spirit out in Phil and myself and we spend the hours playing Scrabble, darning holes in socks and gazing romantically at each other in the flickering candle light! Let's get real! We spend the time being bored out of our brains! And of course there are the power interruptions at 6.00am. You are in the shower washing your hair and you know that you are not going to get that slug of caffiene and you will have to arrive at work with wet hair slicked down with soap and conditioner, that you couldn't rinse out, because the electric water pump gives out!
P.S. Forgot the fourth 'P', pigeons! We seem over-run with them. They clonk about on the roof, roost on the bathroom window-ledge and poop all down the wall.

...we are moving to Riyadh.
Phil and I both have new jobs, he starts 1st July and me, 1st September. So it's busy packing yet again! I calculated eight moves in eight years, can anyone beat this? Heck, who in their right mind would want to?

I have always wanted to sleep under the stars and last Wednesday my chance arrived. Feeling so hot in the cabin, Phil gathered up all of the bedding and we headed up onto the deck. We made our nest under the stars and settled down for the night. And it was lovely!

Our weekend was amazing from start to finish and so I thought little of our snuggle on the deck until I turned over on Saturday morning and came face to face with Phil who looked like an inflated Puffer fish! One side of his face was the size of a football!

The medics were baffled until one doctor asked him if he had slept outside. They decided that the huge mass was the result of several bites from species unknown! So he was hospitalised and hooked up to drips and things. The swelling is going down now but the critter that did the deed will remain a mystery.

Just got back from another sailing trip going from Jordan to Egypt. Take a look at the new photographs in my album. I think 'Last Boat Home' is the best I have ever taken. Tell me what you think.