It's over!!!!

Just a few snapshots from WTOC which has just finished. This is the first day of my life without TrailO. It doesn't feel as liberating as I thought it might, but there is plenty of time yet for it to sink in.

I have made so many very very good friends that the love I got from them, the grateful faces, the concentration while competing and all the lovely comments make up for the frustrations I have felt over the treatment of all the WTOC team by the central organisation from Miskolc. I suppose one mustn't wash one's dirty linen in public, but it is a never ending source of sadness in my life how irresponsible, unsuitable and downright malicious people can get away with all their nastiness just because the nice people let them. The jury is still out on this as far as I am concerned and we will see what (if anything) I will do about it.

If there are any people out there reading this who have been affected by any of our shortcomings during the last week, I can only profusely apologise. Especially to the one team (they know who they are) who I had to write a very painful e-mail to yesterday and whom I will never be able to look in the face without feeling utterly embarrassed and ashamed. Do please try it in your heart to forgive us!

Now for packing up and leaving. Ber awaits, knee high grass, dead vegetables, tons of post and all the other delights of getting back after nearly 2 weeks.

We are grandparents!!!!

As you can see finally the "wiggly" has appeared, it might still wiggle, but it now cries (I assume) sleeps (I know), sucks milk (I also know) and is generally very cute. We heard yesterday and were very pleased. Alex and Meaghan are together with him in hospital until Monday and the stream of visitors has already started. Shame we will not see him until October, but it should be a memorable visit (we hope!).

They named him Callum Alexander, he weighed in at a fraction over 6lb (2.70kg for you continentals) and he is incredibly cute, but then again I am biased. Alex has already posted not just pictures, but a video on Facebook as well. I might post that video here later, if the download allows it. We are away at the World Championships, so my computing is not without its troubles.

Will post as and when I get further news. Hopefully we can have a proper "wet the baby's head" party tonight, last night we were both so knackered that it didn't materialise.

Home again

Finally I have got home, where Roy awaited me with a very big hug and lots of kisses. He was so pleased to see me and was amazed that I was smiling too. To be quite honest, I put up with the stress of last week quite well and used the World School to take my mind off my troubles. There was a lot of controversy, which makes for exciting sessions and that helped a lot.

Today was spent dealing with the fallout. I managed to order a new bank card, reactivate my phone and bought a new phone. As they do not give you another subsidized one the second time around I had to buy it full price, so I now have no camera in it, but at least it is a phone. The internet banking reactivation was a bit of a pain. I appreciate that they must ask lots of security questions, but most of them were the type of questions you cannot answer without looking it up on the internet. That is the general idea, I do not have any paper about anything and write nothing down, so I was a bit stumped first off. Finally managed it, which was just as well as my Visa card needed paying today.

It is very hot and humid still and the walls are getting heated through. The flat was 26 degrees inside and even the house now is 23/24. Roy is making me roasted peppers, which I adore. Must go now. Still no sign of grandson, so we are hoping for a full term baby, if all goes well. No pictures this time, but I promise some when I post next. That should be either in the Bukk if my dongle will work with somebody else's computer, or after we got back.

Spanish adventures

No pictures this time as I couldn´t upload the pictures anyway. Well, the reason for this is that I had my rucksack stolen and with it my phones, laptop and about 160 Euros. The rest of the stuff that went: passport, documents, spare glasses, diary etc. turned up after a few hours as a public spiritied person handed them in at the nearest police station. That was some consolation that I didn´t have to spend another day in an office getting a new passport. Nearly a whole day went on the police, although I was yet again lucky that the little copper I got was very sweet, spoke good English and looked after me well. The camera is OK, but I didn´t feel like photographing ever since and this public computer has no download facilities anyway.

The weather, as usual, is tropical, although this year there is a breeze, so it is not as humid as usually. The conference I am attending is very interesting, so that takes my mind off my troubles. Needless to say I am still spending long hours answering queries re: WTOC, but then again that was to be expected.

Today is the half day when everybody goes into Barcelona to be a tourist. Well, nearly everybody as I am not going. The local thieves had about 500 Euros worth out of me already, I am not giving them another chance. As they have returned one out of the two books I had in my rucksack I am going to sit in the air conditioned Hotel lobby (where the theft occurred, by the way!!) and read Julie Walters´autbiography. The thieves are obviously fans of Adrian Mole as that was the book that didn´t turn up. Good job I have nearly finished it at the time of the theft.

I bid you all good bye and hope to be in a safer place with upload facilities the next time I post.