From a transit hotel in Addis...

I write from the luxurious surroundings of the 'Top Ten Hotel' in Addis Ababa, where we are in transit en route back to Abuja after two wonderful weeks in Tanzania. The hotel's website proudly informs guests that 'The Hotel will be one of international standard in the 4 star range and offer products and services comparable to that found in many oversees international Hotel', including a 'fast check-in and check-out time on which our guests will only take them 2-4 Minutes of their time'. We have not been disappointed. If only we had hot water, our happiness would be complete.

We spent Christmas with my mother and step-father in Mufindi, our favourite spot in Africa. The highlight of Christmas Day was – for the children, the fact that Father Christmas had managed to locate their whereabouts in another country – and for us, a nativity play staged at the Igoda children’s village. An adolescent Joseph and Mary had a full-on Kiswahili shouting match when he discovered she was pregnant, a live baby was produced from a cardboard box in the stable, the shepherds had a tough job rounding up flocks of human sheep, the three Wise Men rode human camels, and the hoards of visitors calling to pay homage to baby Jesus under the Christmas tree in the corner of the schoolroom caused the entire tree to topple over, narrowly missing the Angel Gabriel.

We spent New Year at the Ruaha River Lodge – our first visit since 2008 - where we met up with some friends from Abuja, went on several memorable game drives, spotted some lions, spent far longer than necessary watching the ball-rolling antics of dung beetles and passed the odd tranquil hour sitting outside our banda watching hippos play in the river.

Despite a beautiful holiday, all four of us are now rather ill - I have a streaming cold, Simon has flu-like symptoms (and told me today he’s been having pains in his kidneys for the past four days; a minor detail he apparently didn’t think worth mentioning before), the children are both snivelling and knackered. I also seem to have sprained my ankle in my sleep last night, which is quite an impressive achievement given that it was fine when I went to bed.

Notwithstanding our various ailments, we had a good flight here from Dar although, writing those words, I realise that the bar for what constitutes a ‘good flight’ has descended somewhat in recent years. It used to mean Simon and I getting through multiple gin and tonics, a couple of decent movies and polishing off at least one novel each. These days it means arriving at our destination with both children intact, not leaving anything of major importance on the aeroplane and making it through arrivals without losing Alex, Freya or our tempers. Rather frustratingly, Freya has recently taken to equating arriving at airports with a seemingly irresistible need to slide along the floor on her knees. (Alex actively encourages this irritating behaviour: When we last passed through Addis airport, we came out of baggage reclaim with Alex and Freya very sweetly holding hands and trundling along behind us. The next thing I heard were screeches of laughter from the assembled Ethiopian meters-and-greeters as Freya dived on to the floor and Alex, still holding her hand, dragged her slithering along on her tummy for a good ten metres).

I must admit I quite enjoy these transit stops in Addis – this is our fourth – as it does give one time to adjust from holiday mode back to gritty reality. And reality will begin with a bump tomorrow as I log on to the internet for the first time in two weeks, gear up for a British Council training workshop we’re running next week and try and catch up with all the publishing-related correspondence. This little breather has also allowed me the time to make some belated New Year’s resolutions, which I hereby declare: 1) Try to be more patient with the children (and Simon), especially when I’m tired; 2) Go to bed earlier; 3) Read a book a week; 4) Admit I’m never, ever going to have time to read the whole of The Economist every week and stop hoarding the back issues next to my bed; 5) Blog more frequently, even if the posts are short ones. Hhhm. I rate my chances with 3) and possibly 5). 1) will be almost entirely dependent on 2); 4) is never going to happen. Let's see how this goes, 2015...