saigonsays

Saigon was blustery and cold today. That’s news in itself, given earlier this year the city broke it’s own temperature record by plummeting to depths of 23 C degrees (74 F).

However, enough about the weather. It’s July. The Ashes are on. Murray is still in Wimbledon. And it’s summer holiday time. Rejoice we all must.

My efforts in that department for the next two weeks will be not to fly anywhere and to catch up on all those things I’ve put off doing since they first found themselves populating a New Year’s Resolutions list, six months back.

Florence and Martha arrived in the UK a few hours ago, and I will follow them in a fortnight’s time. Squeezing in various family time engagements with them for an initial week or so, before the girls and me embrace the bright orange livery of Easyjet and hop over to Pisa to meet up with Issy, and some of her family, on a campsite in Tuscany for a few special days in the Italian “outback”.

A night in Florence on the way over there is now also booked – it had to be done, if only for the added excitement that Flo will have in these final build up weeks to being in the city which shares her name.

Crucially, also, I am down to slim pickings from the latest box of Yorkshire teabags to be smuggled over by a CARE colleague, and so this particular upcoming fly-by visit to Blighty is timely indeed.

Has it really been three months since my last blog here?

I have managed a few more pieces on the sister site to saigonsays – http://www.definitelymaybe.me – in that time, (pontificating on development issues) however that’s not to say life in Saigon, with Issy and the girls, juggling travel, exploring an apartment move, amongst other things, hasn’t kept me occupied this year.

I was 40 in April, and in spite of missing a cluster of friend’s celebrations of the same milestone, I’m not sure I could have asked for a more memorable experience than was afforded to me, as Issy and the girls and I holidayed in Sri Lanka with Mum and Dad, and indulged in the unique blend of humility, food and landscape that the island so generously shares with its visitors.

In typical, hastily choreographed style, I’ve ransacked my instagram account and posted some “posterity pictures” of the trip below, and also these few minutes of footage, which I hope survive the test of time, and will be displayable in the future when the girls have quite forgotten all about these early years of being transported around the world in a merry haze of happy moments…

In other news Martha, soon after mine, embraced the even more significant milestone birthday which is “4” with characteristic flare – donning a Frozen themed swim suit, complete with sparkly ‘Dame Edna’ style glasses and handbag for her party.

The shy and retiring wall flower that she is.

Flo, meantime, learnt to ride a bike the week before my birthday and then completed her first year at the Australian International School, making lots of new mates and getting stuck into her swimming…

Work travels for me have been quite relentless, however I did choreograph a weekend in Connecticut on one recent USA assignment (coincidentally, almost two years to the week that I was last there) spending quality time with one of my closest school friends, Bobby Dazzler (not his real name) and his family.

Sam, his eldest, and my godson, needless to say, is growing fast (we went to his school rugby dinner whilst I was there) as are his sisters, Sofia and Scarlet.

Whilst their Dad and me did everything in our powers that weekend pretending to be young again – drinking champagne at 2am, after over 50 hours of being on the go from Asia, certainly made me feel young.

So. Happy Summer Holidays everyone!

Wherever you are, and with whomever you are doing it – have fun.