Andy's nan - An Amazing Woman

Some sad news. Andy's nan died in hospital in the early hours of Tuesday 15th April after a fall. She was 96 and was one of the most incredible people I have ever known. She was one of those old people that you look at and say, 'When I'm old I want to be like that.' She was always upbeat and positive and everyone who knew her loved her.

There are so many memories I have of Nan, one of my favourites being when we left to go backpacking in 2002. As we went to say goodbye, she insisted on giving us some home-made jam to take with us for the journey - 6 jars of it! This photo was taken the last time we saw her and she had so much life and energy.

The funeral is on Friday 25th April. Andy has flown to the UK and will be there for 3 weeks. He was very close to his nan (his mum's mum) and I'm sure he will want to say a bit more when he is able. I'm still in Australia and have been really touched by the kindness of our friends. Being on different sides of the world (I like to say 'planet' as it sounds more melodramatic!) for 3 weeks at such a difficult time is horrible but I'm being well looked after.

Such sad news. Such an amazing woman.

At last the school holidays are here and after 10 gruelling weeks I can collapse in a heap and sleep! Australian term dates are split into four lots 10 or 11 weeks with no half terms, so you can imagine how tired everyone gets.

Anyway, moving on. Easter came & went! We really missed being at Culford - a youth weekend that we've been involved with over the years. We didn't do much apart from hang out with friends and visit the beach. I got given the biggest Easter basket ever from my uncle - look at the size of MY Lindt buuny compared to Andy's...

And yes, I did share it with him.

Last weekend was a fantastic one - we went to watch the World Rugby Sevens tournament in Adelaide. South Australians are not into rugby as they prefer some inferior game called Aussie Rules (gonna get a ribbing for that comment) so Iwe've felt very deprived of the game. The 6 Nations came & went and because my mum is sending over the games on DVD I have no idea of how England went. If they were anything like our performance at the Rugby Sevens then maybe I won't want to watch.

England were awful! We lost all 5 games that we played. That's right, we didn't win a single game.

That's us playing (and losing) against Wales - and the group hug at the end.

Andy & I cheered our little hearts out, barraking for our team. But to all to no avail. We even gotinterviewed on the big screen about how we were feeling at England's performance. We suggested the boys grab a cold beer and watch to see if they can pick up any tips for next year.

Still on the plus side, I'm half Kenyan (well, my mum was born there and seeing as Kenya beat England - yes, that's right, the Kenyan rugby team beat England, I was happy to claim a dubious connection!) So we cheered for them too. they were outstanding and everyone was cheering them on. It was great.

Our friend Dan (he and is girlfriend Bec emigrated out here a couple of weeks before we did) was also at the tournament but cunningly disguised as Wally the Wallaby - the Australian Mascot. Even though Australia were heaps better than us, it made us smile every time Wally appeared on stage to know the an Englishman was inside and that in his heart, Wally was cheering for England!

A couple of last photos of the day, which have to be my favourites...

I may love living in Australia, but I'm still English

and a sucker for a well built Rugby player!