Michelle and Peter met us at Heathrow and drove us back to grandmas. Michelle and Peter are the most warm and genuine family who could have met us and Tik was made to feel welcome immediately. Grandma had, only a few hours earlier, returned from her own holiday so that night we ordered a typically English dinner of Indian takeaway.

Thursday was a day of relaxing and getting over our jetlag. Predictably we rose early – about 6:30 and took a walk to the shops to buy a newspaper. Having an Englsih newspaper greeting me for breakfast has been something I’ve always taken for granted. Grandma cancelled her newpaper delivery years ago in a dispute with her newsagent and I was also surprised to learn that my parents also cancelled their daily delivery too, citing lack of time to actually benefit from it. Are less people getting newspapers delivered these days?

We spent time that day with Grandma in Amersham. Amersham is an old beautifully English town with more gift shops than shoppers. It was fun to wander around and we ate a heaty seafood lunch at a great resstaujrant there. I treated myself to Paella which I’ve not had for years.

It took me a few minutes in Tescos to realize that 3 weeks back here is not going to be enough to eat all the foods I want to. Bangkok is a fantastic place to eat out. There are restaurants of every ethnicity, all well-priced and we have Tesco’s, Carrefores and supermarkets especially for western foods but we have none of the variety that we get back in the UK. I could happily eat my way through the bread aisle alone and despite being hugely averse to candy back in Bangkok I filled our shopping cart with crap, riding on the excuse that I’d not eaten it for at least 2 years.

We arrived home about 3:30, Tik and I both collapsed into deep sleep. By 7:30 Michelle and Peter returned, bringing with them, Rebecca and Stuart. It has only been 2 years since I last saw them both and I’d been warned that they’d both grown but it is hard to really appreciate 2 years of pubescent growth. Rebecca was certainly tall enough to have passed for a girl 10 years older, and Stuarts wrestler-like build blocked out all the light in the hallway. Stuart has matured alarmingly fast, and although only 16 I was always excited to meet up with him again. His articulate speech was rewarding to hear. I was morbidly-curious to see Rebecca again, her role seems to be to keep the family connected with tales of her bad behaviour, and the troubles she tends to attract. Nonetheless she too was delightful company and, after enjoying a full Jewish dinner we opened up a box of wooden puzzles we had bought for Stuart. Tik was the only person to be able to complete any of them.

I knew that Tik would have no problem whatsoever traveling, fitting into an English lifestyle and in getting on with my family. Her English is excellent and despite learning most of it from a formal education she finds it easy to laugh and joke with everybody. I’ve been so proud of her. She has charmed al my family on first meeting and has shown us all enough initiative and independence that I am certain that she will have no problem living here in the future. I’ve spent most of my time trying to pull her hands away from utensils as she tirelessly insists on helping to tidy, clean wash and prepare everything, despite her being my little Thai princess on holiday.

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