Back to Abuja

I returned to Abuja on Thursday after almost a month in the UK. It has been three weeks since I saw Simon and the children, who travelled home to Abuja at the beginning of June, leaving me in London to concentrate on a couple of introductory PhD courses.

It’s great to be back – the security situation in Abuja seems quite a lot calmer than when I left (or perhaps I am calmer than when I left) and the weather is lovely – the rains have begun in earnest now so the temperature is hovering nicely in the high 20s. And although I’m still not used to the UHT milk, the total lack of recycling facilities or the unspeakable rudeness of the lady who rents out the baggage trolleys at Abuja airport, there is a lot about our life here that is very comfortable and I do feel very at home here now. And it’s good to be back in my own bed after a month away.

Simon seems to have coped admirably without me – although admittedly these things are made slightly easier when one has a full-time nanny and housekeeper to help out at home – and apparently the children have been on their best behaviour. They have been having a great time in my absence – although I culdn’t help but notice that a swing, slide, see-saw, little house and large paddling pool have appeared in the garden since I was last here, which may explain the good behaviour. Alex seems to have grown about a foot and Freya is talking even more assertively (read bossily) than ever. I’m trying to spend as much quality time with the children as I can this weekend – and consequently we’re already halfway through reading ‘The Enchanted Wood’ (Alex now goes by the appellation ‘Mr. Watzisname’ and Freya answers only to ‘Silky’) and have already opened the new painting kit and sticker books I was saving for the summer holidays. And – thank you to all of you that have been asking - Alex has completely settled down at school now and has been telling me the names of the friends he’s grown since I’ve been away. The only downside of my return home is that I discovered en route to the airport that enormous quantity of cheese I'd amassed after a raid on the dairy aisle at Tesco's is still in my mother's fridge in Surrey...