The Return.

After a long Pandemic filled, lockdown survived 2 years, we are returning to complete our journey of 2020, with a few changes. The prep for this takes months. I'm leaving my house in the competent hands of another who will nurture my tenants but so many things go awry before I leave. I have the windows and doors painted but when the sun comes up, bubbles appear in various locations - I'm told by my Chinese painter that this happens but I can't work out why from his explanation. He returns the day before I leave to fix it, spending a couple of hours and when he leaves - you guessed it! Bubbles appear. He will return but I won't be there.

Then my veranda begins to fail, rot sets in, the roof cracks and a renewal is needed. I call my Irish builder man who looks like a very nervous, skinnty Irish gang leader but has a heart of gold. Even though we are in the midst of heavy rain and flooding, Irish men appear every now and then, talk in accents that I barely understand, start and then stop, hiding under my eaves in the side garden, waiting for the rain to ease. I finally get it almost finished, bar an unconnected water pipe that unfortunately delivers the water straight into my letterbox. I start stuffing the entry to the box with a towel but my dedicated postman, removes it and slots the letters in where they sink into oblivion in a few centimetres of water.

And then my beloved Fiat 500, Conchita who is half manual, half automatic, had to have her gear box and transmission renewed. I was warned to sell her before 7 years but she just kept going until she could go no more. A very expensive operation taking place over 3 months and at the end of this period, I decided that we should part company. So three weeks before we left, I put her up for sale to find a new loving owner . And I did, a lovely young girl who fell in love with her as I did. Fiat 500's have this effect on you. She picked it up four days before departure. I breathed a sigh of relief and made my money back on the repairs, saving on insurance etc as I'll be away for a year.

We celebrated her departure and then, she texted me to say there was a weird rattling sound she hadn't heard when she took it for a test drive. Now Conchita does have the odd rattle somewhere in the back, it comes and goes, possibly following her moods. For a while, it hadn't been noticeable but it was back. I'd had it checked by two mechanics (one Italian one half my age who asked me out a few times and was very upset when I said: Would it be like mother and son? He texted me to say that Italian men didn't have an age issue with older women and that he was disappointed in me for thinking that would be an issue), and then Covid hit and we didn't get to go on the mother and son walk with a coffee at the end.

I explained this to the new owner and she felt that it was ok. The rattle probably disappeared. We celebrated a second time.

And then the daughter had all four of her wisdom teeth out and lost sensation in her tongue. It has never happened to any of my patients the surgeon said. Yer, right. I put her on anti-inflammatories and vitamins and finally after about 3 weeks, she got her taste buds back!

And then the roof started leaking, in the main house and the granny flat. I had to call up the Irish man and he sent a different Irish team up and things were repaired. By now, the money saved was being spent elsewhere but we were not going to cancel this trip....And then the Ukrainian war started and we watched and waited and calculated the distance from there to where we would be and in the end, we decided just to get on with life. It had been on hold for so long, it was time to take a leap of faith.

So nothing else went wrong. We were farewelled by our beautiful tenants, we were taken to the airport and waved off through customs. But of course, we were x rayed, they were convinced I had drugs taped to my stomach, I was patted down and my bag and shoes brushed over for drugs. By this time, I could have done with some drug support, even a wine would have helped. But no, this is Australia and even though we had managed to upgrade with points from previous trips and were given expensive vouchers to have dinner (as the lounge was closed), all that was open was McDonalds! All bars shuttered and closed. Nowhere else in the world would this happen.

But finally, we are on the plane and we drink the alcohol there and we sleep the sleep of the dead. We are on our way. The relief is palpable. Two years of thinking - will we get back, can we, should we, could we? We are on our way, the lights of Sydney twinkling below us. Onwards and upwards!

Bristol and Llandudno, Wales.

The Pandemic is now official.

Got the bus to Bristol, arrive at my lovely hotel and upgraded to a lovely room with a view over the park.

I walk to Clifton Village but google gets it wrong and I head away from it and then it starts to rain and then sleet and I finally hail a taxi and lunch at the Primrose cafe and have a great mushroom kebab. The little village is beautiful and on the way home there are daffodils everywhere, raising their hatted heads to a patchy blue sky.

That night I meet up with a former tenant and we go to the Florist bar which lives up to its name.

Next day I walk down to the water and old port where there are supposed to be container shops open but everything is closed so back to town I go and find this amazing Gin and Juice bar that not only has the the "mother's ruin" but also great organic coffee. I don't know where to sit it's so beautiful. It looks Edwardian. The girl who serves me worked in Australia and has just come back from Indonesia and isn't concerned about the virus. I stay for ages, drinking in the atmosphere and I return in the afternoon for a Violet gin and tonic surrounded by candles and then meet up with the tenant and her girlfriend for dinner at a Japanese bar.

The next day we're off to her town of Llandudno in Wales. I get an Uber to her tiny cottage where dinosaur books, Harry Potter paraphernalia and cactus plants mingle. On arrival she drops me off at my lovely little guesthouse. Carol, my host greets me and says that the place is empty because everyone has cancelled because of the virus and I can take my pick of rooms. It's still hard to believe this virus is changing the way we live.

I walk down to the sea front and discover Alice in Wonderland statues of it's characters everywhere. It was the holiday destination of Alice Liddell, the girl who inspired Alice in Wonderland. She came here in 1861 at the age of 8. There's beautiful Victorian houses along a promenade, a pebble beach and a very long pier. I feel like I've stepped back into the 50's. I meet up with my tenant and we wander along the pier with it's quaint shops and later that night, I contact the daughter and we decide to cancel our meet up in Scotland. The daughter is coming back from Poland and the borders there are shutting.

We decide to meet in France instead but I wonder how long the borders will stay open. A friend who's in France has decided to go back to Australia as everything is shutting down.I talk to the sister and she says the toilet paper shortage is getting worrying as people are fighting for it in supermarkets.

That night I change all my plans, book a train to London and a flight to France. There's talk of the borders closing soon. The number of deaths in Italy are skyrocketing. Next day we go and look at a castle that a friend of my tenants is trying to raise money to repair. She has two rescue dogs with issues. The British are crazy about their dogs. You see them in their Wellington boots out walking in the fields, by the sea, by the rivers. Cafes and restaurants allow man's best friend in.

That night we dine with my tenants family and I meet her indomitable grandmother. She tells me that during the last war she made cakes and sold them to raise money for the war and that her ginger biscuits scored her a lover. She also has an old dog. A real character.

That night I check to see if the flight is still going and it seems to be. I am strangely calm. The hostess gets up early to make me a full English breakfast and fortified I head off. The taxi driver is ancient but wiry, hauling my bags into his cab. I hope everything is running on time and it is. I get the train to London and then I brave the Underground to the airport, disinfecting as I go.

And I make it to Bordeaux, without even a passport check! Everything seems to be chaotic. I get the bus and the daughter is there to greet me but not to hug me. She wants me to wash all my clothes as soon as I arrive. It's starting to sink in. That night Macron announces that the borders will close at midday the next day. I have made it - just. And now? We wait it out and see what happens. Little did we know...

And tomorrow, after two years waiting out the pandemic, we're returning to Italy. Hopeful but very cautious. One day at a time.

Return to London.

At the station, to get to the right platform I would have to go up and down a lot of steps. I asked a guard if there was a lift and he said there wasn't but insisted on carrying my bags for me. Good start to the day. I arrive at my lovely hotel but the room I'm given again is so small and a bit decrepit but I settle in, check on Corona updates and then lunch at the Theatre pub not far away and after a huge walk I dine later at a Steak House and had hot buttermilk chicken with slaw and sweet potato chips - I feel like I'm in Texas. Got back to my room and rang and asked if I could change and they told me I would be able to the next day. If you don't ask...

The next morning after a simple English breakfast of toast and jam, I'm moved to the third floor to a lovely big room and when I head out and get a taxi to the Tate Modern gallery, I get 40% off for the whole day! The drivers are such an interesting mix. This one is from South Africa but is Irish and is about to have a reunion of 120 in Ireland.

After the Tate, I get a taxi to Borough Markets and the driver is Ethiopian. When he arrived here he was so depressed that he was going to take his life but he found positive thinking and now he has a house here and three in Ethiopia!. He thinks this virus is man-made and that the Americans have used it to stop China taking over the world. There are so many conspiracy theories from the drivers! The other driver said the opposite. Also, they are all wearing masks. I start to think I should be wearing mine a bit more.

The market is fantastic! I wander far, I wander wide. Exhausted I get another taxi, this driver is Italian and he complains about Italians as they don't do what they're told.

That night, I meet up with a homeschool friend of the daughters and his partner. Lovely to see and catch up with them. So far, the pandemic is not concerning them, even though she's a paramedic.

I'm scared of the Underground so the next day I decide to get a cab to Notting Hill whatever the price and the 40% is still active! I go to Farm Girl for their famous rose latte and it is so good! Walked through different Mews and note that cars stop for you here even if you're not on a crossing, different from home. I walk to Portobello, it's definitely an interesting place.

Go to another famous shop, Biscuiteer for a coffee but the cafe is closed so I buy some beautifully decorated biscuits and lunch at 1962 Mike's cafe for a coffee and overhear the waitress saying that a friend's plane to Berlin has been cancelled because of Covid. Yikes. The daughter is coming to meet me in Scotland, will she get here, will we get back to Italy?

Seems a bit unreal still. My sister texts to tell me that toilet paper is disappearing off the shelves in Australia. ??? The first of many tweets and memes about the necessities of life coming down to toilet paper.

Then I head down to the river and lunch at another quirky Bill's and then to another market where they have the best cronut place called Bread Ahead. As I crunch into my Tiramisu cronut, I watch a guy across the way typing out poems for people on an old typewriter. Loving this place.

That night, I dress up and head off to the Royal Albert Hall to see my favourite singer, Bryan Ferry, in his home country. I eat at the bar, have a cocktail, doing it in style for the man of style. The concert is fantastic. I'm so lucky to have seen him as the next day they have cancelled a cancer concert that was to be held there. It is a warning of things to come but the next day I'm off to Wales to see a friend, still thinking that life will get back to normal soon.