Blimey, what a whirlwind January has been! I am sure the last time I stopped for breath I was sitting at the Mother-In-Law's dinner table on Christmas Day with a pile of 20,000 calories on the plate in front of me! The turkey was closely followed by 10,000 calories of figgy puddin. A wafer thin mint with coffee finally pushed me over the edge into instant obesity - I had
no idea my stomach skin was so elastic.
no idea my stomach skin was so elastic.
Before I sound too ungrateful - I must insist that every mouthful represented a blessed English relief from Jessie's chicken surprise - the surprise always being that its chicken curry!
We, the Family Dumbrell, had what I can only describe as a stonking R&R trip home for three weeks - meeting up with just about all the relatives we have in good old Blighty - as an aside, I found out recently that I have a number of long last relatives in the Botany Bay region of Australia - the government of the time were kind enough to send them there. You to can
track down the whereabouts of your surname on the link below - take a look at the Mosaic demographic description for your name- an eyeopener!
track down the whereabouts of your surname on the link below - take a look at the Mosaic demographic description for your name- an eyeopener!
A BIG thankyou to all those folks who put us up and put up with us - particularly young Heather Fieldsend who never ceases to amaze me with her capacity to host a small army at Badger's Copse during the holiday season. I had a great New Year although losing the Great JF quiz to She-That-Must-Be-Obeyed will rankle until next Hogmanay.
Great to catch up with many of you to experience some old haunts again - The Gutbuster, the Guinness, the steak sandwich at Bill's - by God, I've missed excessive calories!
Really enjoyed slashing around a golf course with Conor and Reg, and slashing around a virtual golf course on the Hill family's ill-gotten Nintendo Wii.
The highlight of the trip back home was undoubtedly seeing Russ Abbott in full costume as the Tin Man in the pantomime version of The Wizard of Oz - what a pro. A 'flying monkey' had become trapped by the flying harness that had failed leaving him dangling in full view of the audience during Russ's big scene. The monkey did such great job of pretending not to be
there that everyone carried on. That is everyone except Russ who laughed heartily and prodded him. The Director at this point decided he needed to stop the show, get the monkey down, apologise to the gathered luminaries of Southampton. Hopefully he also gave Russ the good shoeing he deserved.
there that everyone carried on. That is everyone except Russ who laughed heartily and prodded him. The Director at this point decided he needed to stop the show, get the monkey down, apologise to the gathered luminaries of Southampton. Hopefully he also gave Russ the good shoeing he deserved.
Life back in Mumbai is pretty much the same as before although its winter so the mornings are distinctly chilly, forcing Karen to wear her favourite 'lightweight spring cardigan' - very poor cost-per-wear on knitwear in India. The pollution in Mumbai has two great side effects - in the morning, it sits just above ground level and gives a quiet, misty if not mystical, feel to the trip to school. In the evenings, the vanilla sky is painted the most beautiful rich red hue as the setting sun gets refracted through the layers of cancerous particulate - a delight.
Tenants at Sunte Avenue have decided that they have had enough of the luxury fittings and capacious living space. All prices for a six month let considered for friends and colleagues! http://www.stuartandpartners.co.uk/property_details.php?id=120
A quick reference to the Mighty Spurs- a cup final and the dizzying heights of 11th place! It 
would have been nice to meet Everton at Wembley because they don't get out much, but hey ho Chelsea will be suffering at the hands of The Lillywhites
instead. Ramos looks likely to be a more long term inspirational success than Kevin K will ever be Up North.
Talking of Up North, I did a few days work during my trip to the UK out of the Teesside office. The best bit was the flight home. We were made to queue over Heathrow so I got to see the view up the river from Canary Wharf, Tower Bridge, Twickenham,
etc and so on, at twilight - beautiful England, green and pleasant land. Really nice the first time around. By the 4th time and an hour into queueing, I remembered some of the downsides of its prettiness !
would have been nice to meet Everton at Wembley because they don't get out much, but hey ho Chelsea will be suffering at the hands of The Lillywhitesinstead. Ramos looks likely to be a more long term inspirational success than Kevin K will ever be Up North.
Talking of Up North, I did a few days work during my trip to the UK out of the Teesside office. The best bit was the flight home. We were made to queue over Heathrow so I got to see the view up the river from Canary Wharf, Tower Bridge, Twickenham,
etc and so on, at twilight - beautiful England, green and pleasant land. Really nice the first time around. By the 4th time and an hour into queueing, I remembered some of the downsides of its prettiness !
Things on the work front are looking distinctly UK bound and Conor finishes his school year in June.
If anyone has friends in Melbourne, Karen seems keen to use July to visit our sheep loving friends in that area, then please do drop us a line and we will look them up. Mr. Smith and his young family are our number one target of course!I visited The Witch to suss out the lay of the land for my future career. Standards have slipped and I no longer requireballoons up my jumper to qualify as a candidate for a position amongst the bar staff. It does seem to be the flavour of the moment to deflate - what with Jordan and Pammy taking significant reductions in their measurements.
Toodle Pip - and watch this space next month for some awesome pictures of Karen's oral re-vamping.......
Namaste
Dumbers
