Beautiful

Now this is what I thought it would be. Wine, warmth and fabulous fireworks for free. Can't quite believe we're actually here - I imagined this evening for such a long time before we arrived. Happy New Year!

Settling

It's a funny thing, but I sometimes feel as though the Australians I see around Sydney have been shipped in by some kind of film extras company. All the stereotypes are there - the old ladies in their 50's polyester dresses, the surfers on Manly beach, even the lifeguards with the little yellow and red hats. It's reassuring but a little surreal.

Yesterday we took the ferry into the city and hung out in Observatory Park, a small patch of green that overlooks the city. It was beautiful. In the other half of the park a wedding was taking place. It was an incredible setting - although all the guests looked uncomfortably hot in their hats and suits. Today was Manly beach - home of the surfers. It was packed with bronzed beauties, volleyball players and tourists, all of them jostling for a place in the sand. When I looked out to sea it was still incredibly beautiful: turquoise and clear. I had to look past the heaving mass of people to see it though, and it made me think about how human beings will always struggle to make anything more beautiful than the sea, the sky and the sand.

My New T-Shirt

So, I bought this t-shirt. I thought it was about cowboys and I also like it because it's sparkly. However, since various people have made rude and insinuating remarks about it, I've felt rather unsure about taking it out in public again. It's a bit of a dilemma.

Christmas Day at Blueys Beach

I really think I could learn to get used to an Australian Christmas. We had the most lovely day, complete with an early church service, a personal visit from Father Christmas (Alice’s dad dresses up in the full Santa suit, despite the temperature, and most of the grandchildren still haven’t realised that it’s really him), fantastic food, and time on the beach complete with dolphin sightings from the balcony.

I thought that I wouldn’t be able to eat as much as usual (my jumper usually hides the expanding stomach), but somehow I managed it. The only difference is that I actually wanted to eat fruit rather than thinking I should eat an occasional orange to balance out the chocolate. Alice is from a family of eight, so there were a lot of people. Alice’s dad sat in the corner (apart from the Father Christmas moment) shaking his head and marvelling at quite how he managed to produce so many people. It was a family at Christmas, with all the usual family interactions and a lot of warmth - and we were made so welcome. We did miss home. It was really good to speak to our parents and Claire and Rob on the crackly phone line at the end of the day

However, I haven’t ever spent another Christmas Day playing in the sand or improving my boogie board technique, and I liked that.

Hot

It’s 40 degrees out there. It really is hot – the sort of hot where you stop being able to think straight and start getting frustrated. Everyone seems to take it in their stride, they slow down, take off more clothes and take a lot of showers. I’m not sure I’m quite so relaxed with it, the English girl in me still feels as though we should be doing more with that afternoon sleep time (washing, tidying, making trips to places of interest). Actually, we’re just sleeping too. I guess any good Mediterranean would tell me that this is the way life should be lived. I think I could learn to love it, you end up getting two days in one.

We went to the Green Cathedral today – a church completely set outside on the lakeside. Wooden pews and alter under a canopy of trees. It was utterly beautiful, completely still and with that sense of awe that you get in a place where people have prayed and worshipped years. Mum had the results of her biopsy – the mass in her bowel is a secondary from her breast cancer. Standing there, I could pray and know peace. It’s going to be a long road ahead for her, but if anyone has the resources and the strength to do it, I know she has.

Bugs

Well. The reality is that there are a lot of flies. And mosquitoes. I also believe we may have a flea in our bed. My legs look like I have a seriously infectious kind of smallpox, and much as I love his legs, Craig’s do too. Miraculously, Evie and Barney seem to have got away with it. Perhaps the bugs prefer older blood.

I wasn’t into the use of spray insect repellent at first (full of toxic chemicals surely? – if it’s going to kill the bugs it can’t be nice, even if it is ‘pine fresh’). But now I’m spraying like a crazy woman. I do not want those creatures in my room, my bed or crawling around my legs.

It’s been nice to have four children crawling around my legs though. We’ve been looking after Lachie and Darcy during the day for the last couple of days while Alice has been at work, and it has felt like a chance to reconnect. When Darcy gave me a kiss today, it felt like it was all worthwhile. He was only a baby when they left the UK, so it’s been like discovering a new person. Lachie too – he’s all grown up and keen to show Evie the ropes. She tells me that she’s falling in love with him, but he will have to come back and live in England. I don’t know if he’s in agreement…

Mum is out of surgery and doing well. She’s amazing, resilient and brave. I think it hurts a lot, but she’s not really letting on. People have been so kind, caring and supportive of her and of us. It makes me feel small and humbled, but very loved. I feel a strange mixture of distant and yet very connected.

And a bit itchy.

Missing home

We like it here. We had a few technical difficulties to negotiate along the way, but we now have a dial-up internet connection, with broadband on its way. Craig has been in turmoil and frustration for over a week as he negotiated his way through the Australian internet providers. But he’s peaceful now.

The house is fantastic, the weather is warm (roasting in the sun, cool in the shade) and the people are a strange mixture of warmth and straight talking. Some things are just Australian and can’t be quantified – the couple who run the laundrette up the road were incredulous at our pleasure in the weather. “Oh but you poor things, you must hate it coming from England, it’s so hot here, you poor things, it must be awful for you…”

Some things are more difficult. My mum has just found that she has to go into hospital for an operation following a scan which showed a mass around her bowel (she had breast cancer 2 years ago). We don’t know the full story yet, but it feels horrible to be so far away. Mum has been amazing through all of it, so full of faith and determination (as ever) but I’d like to be able to give her a hug. We’re missing her, missing all our friends and praying hard.

Arrival

We really are here. I haven't checked which way the water goes down the plug hole yet, but apart from that we've pretty much settled in.

We have been eased in to our new australian life by Alice's family (Alice and Paul are the friends who we chased halfway round the world from Chesham). They have collected us from the airport, fed us, provided our home, helped us find our way around Sydney and generally acted as our surrogate ozzie family.

Craig has found a wireless connection at Alice's parents house - where I'm currently writing this. I'll be able to get back into regular reports once we set up ours at home. Until then I'm happy to report that it's all true. It's hot, friendly and very surreal to see Christmas decorations in 80 degree heat....

Timing

It was our last full day in San Diego today. Tomorrow we make our way back to LA and our flight to Australia leaves at 8pm. Somehow (and I have become a little bit obsessed with this) we will lose the 9th December. We just won't have one. I know we are crossing the dateline and we've been through the mechanics of it quite a few times (I sense Craig is becoming a little exasperated by my constant examination of the issue) but it just seems wrong. The fact that we will get a day back on our return is little comfort. It's the whole idea of the thing. Then I start wondering about all those explorers hundreds of years ago. Did they know they were crossing the dateline as they sailed across the Pacific? I doubt it, which means that the ship's entries could all be out by 24 hours. The more I think the more troubling it becomes.

We visited Sea World today (and successfully managed to keep all our children with us for the duration of the visit). They played the Star Spangled Banner as the gates were opening and I watched most of the crowd stand and place their hands across their hearts as they looked towards the flag. I would have felt uncomfortable with this a week ago, but I think I'm developing an admiration for the American sense of positivity and pride.

It's not so much the flag thing that makes me think that - it's the people. We met a lovely group of old ladies in a restaurant today. They go to mass together each day and had met up for breakfast to celebrate a birthday. They were so kind and affirming of Evie (and the rest of us). An old man stopped me yesterday as I was walking Barney around at 5.30am (an early morning attempt to get him back to sleep) and told me that he thought Barney was lovely, then talked warmly about his four grandchildren. To be honest I thought he was going to ask me to keep the noise down. It was hard to imagine the same thing in the UK. Maybe it's just the holiday spirit in me making me see things differently... I don't know. Anyway, I like it.

Pants and Palaeontology

We did our washing today. We can't resist it really - although technically we had enough clothes for the week, we felt nervous at the ever increasing pile of dirty linen and the ever decreasing supply of garments. We pride ourselves on our minimalist packing but minimalist comes at a cost.

So we went to the Laundromat. A kind man with only one eye that seemed to be working told us about the machines in a gentle way which suggested he knew and loved them all; even the old top loaders which others might be tempted to disregard.

While we waited for the washing to dry we sat in Starbucks, trying unsuccessfully to get the $2 slinky we had bought for Evie to walk down the slope. A couple sitting next to us began to chat, telling us all about their grandchildren, their lives in California (she was from Mexico, he was born in San Diego to Italian parents) and trying to help us understand how the weather could seem cold ("it is 85 degrees in the day and 72 at night in Mexico at the moment - you never need a blanket - not ever. And you know, because of that, they are so relaxed - if you need to take something to relax, you only need half of it in Mexico"). They left before we found out their names, promising to pray for us. They seemed pretty relaxed to me.

The rest of the day was spent in Balboa park - beautiful and full of fantastic museums which are all free on Tuesdays. Evie was exhausted by the end of it; marvelling at the stuffed animals in the Natural History Museum and making wonderful discoveries in Newton Science Centre. My favourite moment had to be sitting in front of a painting in one of the art museums, making up a story about the boat which was facing imminent shipwreck.

We have clean clothes, stimulated minds and full stomachs. Time for bed.

Shopping

As I was drifting off to sleep last night I realized that I hadn't written anything about yesterday. This was mainly because we spent the day shopping. (I should make clear that the photo of the boys was taken before our arrival at the shops..) Although I am tempted to write a lot about the experience, I sense it would only be interesting to a few people. So, Amy and Missy, thank you for your wisdom and advice. I'll be in touch.

Hospitality

I loved today. It started with me feeling a bit tired and grumpy (the result of more sleep rather than less...), the frustration of trying to fit in a run and breakfast and getting everyone ready to arrive at a church service for 9.30am (unsurprisingly we were late).

Then we just got overwhelmed by kindness. We had been invited along to the service by Charles and Janet Morris, who had met Craig once before when he was in LA. By the time the sermon was over I had met and talked to 5 or 6 women from the church who had shown me the nursery and baby feeding room, chatted, laughed and generally included me. Over lunch we met some fascinating people including Fletcher (attending seminary (theological collage) from Malawi), Ted and Linda (the pastor and his wife) and Jim (a former military man, now author). Within 20 minutes an big, sparky discussion was taking place over torture, national pride along with American and British value systems. There was a sense of mutual respect and warmth despite all kinds of varied opinions around the table.

Then we just hung out with Charles and Janet. They took us back to their home, fed us, made us a proper cup of tea, gave us gifts, took us across the road to taste wine from a nearby vineyard, cared for Barney, played with Evie, prayed for us and generally made us feel incredibly special. All this from people who work very hard (Charles and Janet produce a daily radio programme, Haven Today)and have very little spare time. By the end of the day I felt so relaxed in their company that I spent a happy 15 minutes idly rubbing the cradle cap off Barney's head as we talked (sorry Janet and Charles.. that was pretty bad form).

We didn't feel far from home because we felt so welcomed. A good day.

Radio Silence

I have realized how dependent I've become on the Apple Mac. I thought that it was Craig's obsession, but now that this is our means of communicating with everyone we love, it has become mine too.
We left the cable at our hotel in LA, meaning that we couldn't e-mail, blog or check our google maps. It has been a hard 24 hours for the Borlases... Thankfully we managed to buy a new cable at a nearby Apple store and we are back online. I know how much things have changed because previously I would have been very disparaging (Craig might even say heartless and cruel) about the need to make an immediate trip out to get a cable. Today, I was first in line to get out of the door.

Evie went out of contact today too. The whole experience has to rate as one of the most horrible 5 minutes of my life. We were having a fantastic time at Sea World when we managed to miscommunicate about who was looking after Evie. I went to change Barney's nappy, Craig went to get the buggy. Both of us thought the other one had Evie, and it was only when we met that we realized that neither of us did. She had run off after Craig, but missed him. For two minutes I remained relatively calm, whilst we searched frantically. After that all my poise went to the wind and I began shouting for her and at everyone else, while my mind raced ahead to all the possibilities.

When she turned up, mildly troubled, but mostly excited by all the fuss I felt so incredibly grateful and gut wrenchingly aware of how much I love her.

I know pretty much anyone could empathise with both of my experiences (perhaps they might see the Mac issues as a little over the top..) and would have some of their own to add in. It makes me think about how much we need to be connected. There is something in our humanity that cries out when we are cut off from relationship. Somehow it seems we were never meant to exist alone - it feels wrong, unnatural, painful.

I'm glad.

I should also mention that we were on the beach yesterday and it was warm and beautiful. I like San Diego in December.

Big Food Day

We are on our way! It's 3.45am in the UK and 7.45pm in the US. My body is very confused about food and sleep... so we just ordered and ate the most enormous club sandwiches ( I think that was our sixth meal of the day... but it has been a very long day...).

Suddenly it feels real. We've been fingerprinted and photographed and endured lots of wisecracks about how light we're travelling (I suppose six large bags does look a bit excessive for a week in California).

Our wonderful children were fantastic on the plane and have settled down to sleep at 7pm US time. I'm just hoping the wake up is as synchronized.... I'll let you know.