After leaving Melbourne Thursday night, with overnight stays in Sydney and Tokyo, we arrived at Newcastle airport lateish on Saturday night. Not mentioning 2 hours sitting on the tarmac at Heathrow waiting for the airport to recover from a deluge. It is great to be back in the Northumberland countryside again, and staying with our friends Ian and Glenis Reid. And lovely that Ailie is at home too. It had been Cathy's 65th birthday in-flight on Friday, but she had no idea that Glenis had a lovely surprise in store. On Sunday, 14 guests for a magnificent birthday lunch party. There was lots of champagne, wine and whisky, music, and of course Glenis' super cooking (not to mention Janey's "jubilee roulade" for dessert - a big hit! Just fantastic to see so many friends all at
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