election, dejection, connection

A reasonably uneventful flight apart from 2 hours on the tarmac in Bangkok while BA technicians tried to decide whether to take off again due to 'hydraulic malfunction issues'. If this meant that the landing gear would not work, or the flappy bits on the wings would fall off, then I was all for disembarking but the masses in economy had no vote so eventually we took off.

Still a bit jet-lagged, so I am up at 6am ( those who know me would realise how exceptional that is ) and asleep by 10pm. The biggest problem at my mother's house ( my mother notwithstanding ) is that it is a technological black hole. No mobile phone reception on any network, sending my international roaming facility into meltdown, and no internet access. I have discovered that at certain times of day if I stand in the far corner of the garden amongst the weeds I can send and deliver text messages....sometimes. I suspect that mother has cast a protection spell similar to the one that Dumbledore put around Hogwarts, or that the cavity wall insulation is packed with tin foil, egg cartons and selenite.

So, in the absence of a viable mobile internet option, I was forced to do something I swore I would never do again and spent a week waiting for BT to supply the equipment for me to install broadband. After 2 days of apparent non-delivery (' if you are experiencing problems please visit our website' ) I discovered the BT Home Hub parcel hidden behind the wheelie bin, and today have finally made contact with the outside world.

I am not an internet addict, I can cope without it. 7 days abstinence?....no worries, plenty of other things to do. So now I am up to World 3 level 7 on 'Super Mario Brothers' on my Nintendo DS!

It appears that BT have not improved their service. After a massive 4 hours online, my Wifi is malfunctioning and connection is intermittent.

Meanwhile it has been a fun time to be in the UK with all the general election shenanigans. It is like a fly on the wall documentary about a group of boys in the playground. David and Gordon have new footballs, but they need to be inflated. Nick has the bicycle pump and is everbody's new best friend, so is being offered the team vice captaincy and all the sweeties he can eat. Great fun.

It has been one of the coldest Mays on record here, with no sunshine and even snow in the north east. I went shopping with my sister-in-law today, and she took me to a surf gear shop to help with the home sickness! The guy who runs the shop said he went to Scarborough to surf yesterday and just as he donned the wetsuit he was struck down with freezing hailstones and had to abandon the beach.

.......more tales from 'up over' to follow