Dear Friends of Ranau

Dear Friends of Ranau,
   It's hard to believe that a week has passed since I said farewell to you all. The last couple of days in KK were a mixture of panic, packing and repacking and then of course more farewells to colleagues who I probably won't see again. Emily and I went into a cafe just before we went to the airport and much to our delight and surprise there were Drs Othman and Lungkiam finishing their meal and so we joined them for our last drink in Sabah.The flight with Royal Brunei Airlines was fine and apart from 2 hours wandering around Dubai airport in the middle of the night, the fifteen hours flying seemed to pass relatively quickly, interrupted by food and films. Andrew very valiantly left Winchester at 5.15 a.m. and was there to meet me when I pushed the trolley through with suitcase, guitar, rucksack and wearing my Dusun hat - not the most smartest traveller in London!

Patrick.....

with proud parents!

The next few days were busy seeing family and then of course the highlight being Patrick's graduation in Cambridge. Andrew and I were both students there and have seldom visited since so it was a rather nostalgic visit as well as being a very proud moment for us as parents of a son with a 1st class degree (sorry if that sounds like I'm boasting but it is!) It was held in the Corn Exchange which is normally the place for concerts and theatre productions and with the pomp and ceremony that you might expect. The actual giving out of the degrees was very quick and the speeches were relatively short so we all gathered outside in the street for photos before making our way back to the University for the celebratory drink. Strangely enough I bumped into Kat Thomson, a mentor on the ELTD project who had left from Tawau 6 months earlier and had just arrived in Cambridge the day before - small world!

Sunrise on the Seine

Le Pont de Normandie

 After leaving Patrick to celebrate with his friends, we made our way to Brentwood in Essex to spend the night with our friends of thirty years, Janine and Glenn, which was lovely. The next day was more visiting family and then finally getting on the ferry to come back to our home in France. As I have only been in France in the winter for the past 2 years, it seemed very strange to see so much foliage and growth. It must seem strange to you the idea of seasons but in winter when there are practically no leaves so it changes the whole scenery, Autumn is just starting and some of the trees are beginning to change colour but mostly everything is green and when I arrived home at La Ferme des Vallots I was delighted to see quite a lot of flowers and roses still blooming.

A rose in the garden

Phoebe who seems pleased to see me!

A wren who flew inside today

Today was a lovely warm day and I wandered around the garden collecting pears, peaches and hazelnuts mostly off the ground but a few still ripening on the trees. I'm just getting accustomed to being home and enjoying everything as if through new eyes. The evenings are cool but on the whole it is very nice to be home!

                          Thinking of you all and missing you.

                                             Fiona