We're back!

It's OK - we didn't drop off the edge of the world! We were out of internet reach for quite a while and then we couldn't find anywhere with a wireless connection and we couldn't remember our password to get on and so forth and so on! Anyway, we are alive and doing well and hopefully I will be able to be a bit more regular with postings from now on.
After Edinburgh, I went to Dorset for 4 days with Jane (old school friend). She had rented a lovely old cottage by the sea and we walked, talked, ate, drank and talked some more! One memorable walk had us following footpaths that didn't exist. "I think it's that way..." so off we went, only for me to fall headfirst into a blackberry bush while Jane was ploughing through a hedge! We also inadvertently frightened a herd of young, very frisk bullocks and one of them broke through a barb wire fence. Where one went, so did all the others. Jane assured me that if you put your hands high above your head, cows are frightened and run away. So please picture two middle aged ladies, running TOWARDS a group of excitied bullocks, our arms above our heads, yelling our heads off! No wonder they stampeded the other way! We kept going, turning round often to see if we were being followed. We had JUST got to the gate, when the galloping hoards appeared over the ridge - kind of like the Allamo (sp?) We ate vaste amounts of fish and chips, pork pies and ploughman's lunches (I'll explain if you ask) and drank large amounts of cider. Jane drives a vintage Morris Minor (Google it - they are cute!) with a soft top and the weather was good enough for us to roar around the incredibly narrow Dorset lanes with the top down, singing Beatles songs at full volume (no radio in the car!)
While I was doing that, John was in Manchester visiting friends and family and we met up in London at Jill's (my middle sister). We had a big family "thing" with brother John, his wife Alison, niece Kerry and her two girls Aisling and Kiera. I went to Hampton Court with br. John and Alison while husband John (gets very confusing in my family - too many Johns, Marks and Bills!) wandered around London. I want my children to know that I managed to avoid the temptation to buy them a memorable gift from Hampton Court - Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn underwear! Henry and Anne appear (looking very regal) on the back of the underwear! Very classy!
We had a day with my ex-brother and sister-in-law and their family which was great fun. Much wine was consumed (Andy and Zoe will know what that means!)
We are off to nephew Guy's new thatched cottage today. It's in an old village which HenryVIII gave to one of the Katherine's for a wedding present.
And tomorrow we're headed for Heathrow and Australia. So no posts for a day or so, but we'll try to get back on track (with photos) in a little while.