Maybe I lied...

Maybe there'll be 2 more posts.  Yesterday marked the anniversary of arriving in England last year, so I started to read my journal:
'Thursday 1/6/10
Finally I get to write in this beautiful book.  Bought, I think, in Armidale many years ago to be used on our next o/seas visit.
And here I am, at the attic window in Cynthia's, overlooking a muted morning and gardens of lilac, rhododendrons and a huge magnolia, and green, green trees.
Cynthia &John picked us up from Heathrow in the late afternoon.  Mum and I had been up since 5.30 am KL time.  The drive to their home was perfect.  They saw the new 4 lane highway in progress but I saw soft rolling greeness, cow parsley, rogue poppies.  It is a muted canvas, beautiful, like a well worn shawl or throw.  And now a blackbird sits on a drooping pine.  And now he's gone!  But the link to my blackbird family at home is made.
It has been light for hours.  I got up thinking the others must have given up on me & gone out without me.  I made a cup of tea in the kitchen - just past 6 am.  And last night it was still light at 9.30pm.  It is dreamlike.
I have a room perfect for me.  Another eyrie.  This one filled with Enid Blighton books &books on Wales.
I travelled to Mum's (W/W to Adelaide) last Friday by bus.  My jottings:

• wheeling pelicans @ Renmark
• sedate pace - snail's pace - but good speed & I recognise the country well
• fellow passengers always smell of chow mein noodles

 I had seen Lucky the Pelican and my blackbird during the week, so the omens were good.  It had also rained for about a week & I'd realised how I take dust dry weather for granted.  I had not smelled 'damp' for a long time.
At Mum's I walked in spitting rain to the Sushi Bar in Marden & we had sushi rolls for tea.
The flight to KL was good.  The Melia Hotel excellent - and outdoor lift to view Times Square - and Mum had her first paella.  We caught the monorail for a glimpse of the city.  We return to this hotel on the way back - we like everything about it except the location is not best for us - we don't need to be in the Golden Triangle shopping area.  We don't go into any stores, I get ringotts from the Seven 11.  The footpaths are narrow and uneven.  Mum is hesitant to cross the roads.  It was Sunday and the money changers & reflexologists were either having a day off or sleeping in.  Parum, the driver, talked nonstop to the airport on the Monday morning.  The flight was long but just bearable.  Mum told me about cycling around the area as the plane touched down.  The Immigration official noted Mum was born in Hayes & Mum repeated the cycling story.  He said she should write a book...
The blackbird returned to its pine perch while I was writing this but now is gone again.
And the pigeons coo like at Mum's.
Birdsong in the morning & at night.'

It was to be such a magic holiday.  Couldn't blog this yesterday cos the modem packed it in and Steve had to buy another one today.