I woke up to a cloudy, miserable morning on the day I was to leave for home, with the rain pelting down, and a strong wind trying to unroof the whole village. As it was so easy for me to get to Glasgow airport, I had waved away both Liz and the Boys's offers to take me to the airport. They were all busy, and by taking the schoolbus to Stirling, then a bus to Glasgow, and from there the airport bus, was child's play, and they did not have to waste  their valuable time. Must admit, with my huge black suitcase loaded to it's limits, and a bitty above my  allowed weight on the plane, it was heavy going, but the bus drivers were very helpful, and the schoolbus driver even got out to help me get it on the bus, and all this to great amusement for the kids, as he was quite slight, and had a hard time getting it loaded.
But, a wee bit drenched, and arms feeling like they had gone through a mill they were so tired, I made it to the airport, safe and sound. It was the first time I had gone from the hotel to the airport, but for the last couple of years I had gone by bus when leaving the plane from South Africa. What I had forgotten of course was that I always came with an almost empty suitcase, as I left all my working clothes ans a lot of other stuff that I don't use at home.
The flight to Dubai was long and tedious, as I had the most sour old lady next to me, who sighed and grunted all the way, making the hope of taking a nap quite impossible! She might have been a bitty dementious, as she also kept talking to herself, and giving short laughs that was more bark than laugh, but it made me jerk back from my slumbers just when I started to drop off!
I had a nine hour wait at Dubai, and to while away the time, I roamed the duty free shops, trying out every conceivable perfume you could think of, and of course ending up smelling like a walking bunch of flowers and other stuff, and even offending my own nose!
After visiting with My sister Lida and brother in law Dries for a week, I flew to cape Town, there to visit my daughter Trienkie and family before driving back to Haarlem.
 I was a bitty apprehensive about Haarlem, as the previous year I had to fight my way through spider webs that hung like silk curtains from the rafters, and the spiders that grows to the size of a saucer scared the blue devils out of me, not to talk of the huge frogs that would be living very comfortably behind every cupboard, sofa and other furniture, and the snakes that got so tame, they sunbathe in my backyard!
But on my drive back the karoo that is a semi desert, was showing signs of waking up from it's long winter sleep, and here and there I could see  new growths on the hard, grey brush, and my love for my country welled up in me, and I started singing: 'Al die veld is vrolik, al die voeltjies sing! (All of the fields are happy, and all the birds are singing). It was nice to be home, even thinking about all the critters in my house that I had to get rid of!