A Return to England II

John Lewis Leicester

It was cold & raining as the plane landed at Stansted but, as we 

journeyed towards Melton Mowbray, the rain

stopped and the sun managed to put in an appearance.

As the English countryside became more familiar 

the closer we got to our destination, the thought suddenly

hit me, "I don't belong here any more".

Don't get me wrong, I miss my family & friends so much and it

hurts like hell when I can't just hop in the car & take off to the 

next village or an hour down the road to see our son or daughter 

when they need me.  But this was the first time I didn't actually 

feel that a return to England was 'coming home'; 

this time I had left home behind in Italy, not just hubby, 

but 'home' - that place where one feels safe & secure, 

a haven from the rest of the world.

It was after my last trip to the UK, 10 months ago now, 

that Il Sogno finally felt like home. On all my

previous trips I'd missed hubby terribly but not

the house particularly. This time I missed everything -

I struggled with even queueing for bag drop at

Naples airport; I was close to tears before I

even had to say goodbye to hubby.

I loved my 'flying visit' - knowing you only have one week

to do stuff in makes you cram so much in; every spare

moment possible was spent with the grandchildren. Saturday 

morning was spent in Leicester town centre - I do miss

'mooching' around the shops & department stores more

than I care to admit to. The afternoon was spent babysitting

the grandchildren so my 'yummy mummy' daughter-in-law could 

visit the hairdressers.

Sunday was spent leisurely at my

Dad's - reading the Sunday Times (which I used to

hate when hubby bought it every weekend),

listening to Radio 2 whilst having lunch & 

then watching the Rugby highlights on ITV4 in the

evening - after an afternoon spent with the grandchildren,

of course.

Weekdays were spent in the office but Monday evening I met up

with our daughter & her BF for dinner at Carluccio's - it's

my 'little bit of Italy' when I'm away from home.

Tuesday evening I had dinner with my friend Viv, whose

daughter Jenni was born the same day as our daughter Flik.

And then Wednesday was a late dinner with Dad as I

needed to bid my farewells to the grandchildren -

our son & daughter-in-law were jetting off to

Portugal early on Thursday morning.

After dinner I did most of my packing, so that I could

spend a couple of hours in the office on Thursday

before Viv very kindly ran me back to Stansted.

And the feeling as I hugged my Dad & bid him goodbye was one of

absolute delight at the prospect of flying back to Naples & coming

home to Il Sogno. My heart belongs here now, and 'home is

where the heart is'.

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