An English Summer

On our short trip back, I'm finding that I've become more English than ever in my time in Bosnia. We've spent our afternoons eating fish and chips watching the village cricket match on the green. We've gone to the beach in the Isle of Wight and played french cricket, built sandcastles and eaten ice cream caked in sand. At the end of the afternoon, just as the sun was radiating its most golden light across the sea we sat in front of the beach hut, drinking tea and eating lemon drizzle cake. I've even thought about a little dip, but the sea looks a little too grey for my liking. We've paddled, we've poked around rock pools with a shrimping net. We went to back to our home city and watched the trains fly past, fed the ducks and had a terrific time in the playground. We've seen a few old friends and I was surprised and a little relieved to watch the boys play with their old friends as if they had never been away.

Combined with having the most lovely time has been the most beautiful weather possible. Gentle sunshine, hot but not unbearably so, a feeling of freshness echoed by the vibrant greens of the trees and spring flowers.

We miss Dave though. He must be in Bosnia for a further 2 weeks before he too can sample fish and chips and talk about cricket with someone apart from me (and my knowledge is pretty limited). We enjoy ourselves, but the boys ask after him all the time and I would love to have him here with us. I could talk to him about how wonderful our home country is when I have the outsiders rose tinted glasses on. By the time he gets here, I'll be moaning about the traffic, price of petrol and the economy like everyone else.