You-rope

Finally, arrival. I will never again travel unless I can afford a decent airline with a less circuitous route. 44 hours was pushing it, even for this accepting banana.
China Southern is not an airline I would like to fly again. And I don't want to go to Beijing again. And certainly not to Guangzhou. But I will have to, to get home to Perth.
I have copious notes written on the reasons I was anxious to start this trip, and when I have more time (right now I want to be biting the beautiful Munich summer air) I will type them in.... but it has a lot to do with home, and how secure I feel in the knowledge that I have found mine. That old thing about belonging again, you know?
Mari and I had a great chat on the way back from the airport yesterday about precisely that, and how we need it very much because we come from such tiny families ourselves. The chat was so great in fact that with all the thunder and lightning plus our general lack of concentration on the road we almost ended up in Dachau!
But we got home, and after a luxurious shower I popped half a pill and sank smiling into the land of nod.
At 6am the sun was tickling my feet and I got up and helped prepare breakfast, then sat outside on the balcony with a mug of Paul and a Bill Bryson book on my kindle. I did the breakfast dishes after Mari left listening to Punjabi Bhangra music and shaking my butt in the hope that feeling would return. I am relishing every new sound, smell and taste. Summer tomatoes in Europe - there is nothing like them! Explosions of sunshine in my mouth.
Now I've checked the football scores (we won), sent some emails and updated Facebook and am ready to hit the town when Andreas arrives to pick me up.
Squirrels and bees and birds ... what a glorious day!