fantastic friday

I have had a right old expat wife day today, and I just want to record it for future reference because I know that one day, in the not too distant future, this lovely life will be taken away from me, and I'll be back in the land of cold rain, washing up and, well, just having to do everything myself.

So, today I dropped the kids off on the school bus and then went for a nice swim in the solar-heated outdoor pool on camp. I was the only person in the swimming pool and I swam fifty lengths (not as impressive as it sounds because the pool is quite short, and I swim pretty slowly). Then my friend texted me to say she'd managed to book me in with her for a Japanese massage, so I said a brief good morning to the housekeeper and trotted off to the massage place. Two diminutive-but-surprisingly-strong Japanese chaps walked up and down me (I was wearing pajamas) for an hour and a half, and then my friend and I went for a drink at a nearby cafe-cum-bookshop. By this time it was almost midday, and we had to rush to school to pick up our children, because it's now the Deshain holidays, and they always break up early on the last day of term. We have six children between us, my friend and I, so the state of deep relaxation induced by the massage was undone slightly by walking back to her house along the pot-holed roads with all the horrible beeping cars and speeding bikes (pavements are a rarity out here), and lunch with all six was a bit of a bun fight (literally). However, then they all went off and played really nicely with Lego and dressing up clothes etc. and my nice friend shared her last six squares of ever-so-precious Green&Black's chocolate with me, bless her (you can't really buy decent chocolate in Nepal) and we had long chat, interspersed only occasionally by Twin 2 wanting to do Cinderella/Snow White/Katy Perry shows or needing her bottom wiped. By half past four we decided to quit whilst we were ahead, and for me to take my kids home before they all stopped playing nicely, so my family wandered off to find a taxi. What a coincidence that our taxi hunting trip took us right past the pashmina shop, which happened to have a pashmina in the exact shade I fancied for this winter (it's called 'pigeon'). Well, hey, I needed the change for the taxi ride home anyhow. And I have almost sold my thing to the Sunday Times. And...well, I'm just a bit of a sucker for cashmere, actually.

By the time we got home, the house was clean, the washing was all ironed and put away, and Meena had prepared some of her super-tasty meatballs for supper.

Hubby came home in a bad mood because I'd forgotten to tell him that the car needed fuel, so I had to apologise a lot, but other than that - pretty good day, hey?

How will I cope when this life is snatched from me and I'm thrust back into the clutches of recessional UK?

Doesn't bear thinking about! xxx