Arrival

Tiratanaloka, September 2022

I've had absolutely zero time for blogging since coming back from the retreat. It took me three days to get through all the WhatsApp messages and unimportant emails so that I could look at what wonderful and exciting things Lola II and Mr M have been doing in the Far East. I've still got 12 emails that I can't bring myself to engage with, but I'll have to do it soon. And my desk is a mess.

The main thing to report is the splendid news that Ukraine Jane (UJ), my refugee guest, finally made it to Luton on a flight that was only 3 hours late (but that meant we got home at 4 a.m.) There is so much to talk about, but I don't want to overwhelm her so up to now we've covered the recycling bins, kitchen cupboards and the hoover. The thing that really made her day was the fact that I've got a piano - she said that after missing her cat she was missing playing piano next.

Aside from that I've managed to get started on a new job for Mr MXF, which involves converting a large and complex Word document into a different format using an interesting tool called pandoc, at least at the moment that's what I think I'm supposed to be doing. I never can tell with Mr MXF. Plus my car insurance needs renewing, and there are messages from my utility company that I haven't looked at yet, so if I can get those sorted today I'll be ready for my visit to mum and dad tomorrow.

---

It's now the day after tomorrow, the parental visit went well and we got closer to choosing a mobility scooter, and I have tackled the outstanding emails. UJ has been settling in - today she has a Zoom piano lesson with her teacher, which warms my heart. She's been to Birmingham to make a start on getting her biometric residence permit, got very lost on the way back from the train station when her phone battery ran out (so she's finally adopted my paper-based A-to-Z of Leamington), texted me excitedly to say there was a squirrel in the garden, and has borrowed my umbrella and my hair dryer (which probably hasn't been used for 20 years except perhaps to dry glue). She's been into Leamington to the JobCentre and around the shops, and asked me where to find second hand clothes, at which point I enthusiastically listed about ten different charity shops.

This is all very positive, although on the second day when I hadn't heard any movement whatever from her room by 12.30 p.m. I actually sent her a message asking if she's OK. We're living in slightly different time zones as I've usually had my lunch before she has had breakfast. But she's asked to come with me to the Birmingham Buddhist Centre tonight where a Mitra ceremony is being held. 

It's very interesting to see your life and community reflected in someone else's eyes - I hadn't really noticed that road signs commonly use yards, which I don't think are used in any other aspect of British life nowadays. She is still going to the wrong side of the car and laughing about it, and told me she'd never seen a letter box in the door of a house until she saw them in the Harry Potter films. And my front door, which caused quite a bit of trouble for my Commonwealth Games guests, is being no less troublesome for UJ. She'll get the hang of it eventually.