Home Sweet Home

Our first phase was over.

We arrived home after a weary overnight flight - the 'red eye' from New York. It was strange having left the UK in early spring with the trees barely budding and returning to lush countryside, warm weather and long summer evenings. Everything else was the same* except petrol prices.

We'd returned to catch up with family and attend the Isle of Wight Music Festival. The first pleasure was sleeping in our own bed. After sleeping in 27 different beds (plus 2 overnight planes) over the past 11 weeks, we were glad to sink into its familiar comfort and lay our heads on fluffy feather pillows.

The time passed quickly. We spent most of it catching up with family, friends and work colleagues - barely giving ourselves time to catch our breath.

It wasn't all joy. In the preceding month, Martin had been in contact with a former NHS colleague only to find he had terminal cancer. On return, he had arranged to meet for coffee, only to find out just hours before the arranged meeting time that he had died just the day before. RIP GB

We also spent the time giving our clothes a good machine-wash and re-stocking with replacements and alternatives to what we had packed previously. Barely a day went by without an Amazon delivery arriving.

The Isle of Wight Festival, which, for us, has become an annual ritual, occupied three busy days. Whilst the weather swung from the sun to rain, our spirits weren't dampened. We saw various bands, Muse, Madness, UB40, Beautiful South and Kasabian - some new and some old. With great company (Martin's brother Stewart), we danced away the evenings and enjoyed our smuggled-in drinks.

Before we knew it, we were saying our goodbyes and travelling back to Heathrow to board our 15th flight of the trip, taking us via Dubai to Thailand.

M&J

https://isleofwightfestival.com/

*Kind of. We will return to this at the end of 6 months.