Back to school

Yesterday was Dylan's first day at his new school, Sam's first day at his new child care and my first day at work.

And what a difference for Dylan, compared with his first day at Hilltop Infants School in England just 10 months ago. For a start, it was warm and sunny and we were more concerned with sunscreen than padded coats and wellies. His pre-school is in the grounds of Annandale Public School, where he will start kindy next January. It takes about 3 minutes to walk from our house, depending on how quickly the traffic lights change on Johnson St - not a 15 minutes drive behind a slow tractor to Ashbourne.

He and Sam were so excited, with their school backpacks and gear, that we were running about an hour ahead of schedule - no mean feat on a Monday morning. Sam raced off to play with the trains at nursery, without so much as a backwards glance - the extra time I had allowed to settle him in was completely unnecessary. So Dylan and I hung out at the school playground for over half an hour, checking out the big kids in their school uniforms. It was the longest 40 minutes of my life, he was just so keen to get to his new class and meet his new friends.

There is no school uniform this year, and two huge playgrounds just for the pre-school. The outside space definitely appeals to him after all the rain and indoor days in England. But of course I have to negotiate the hat wearing - no hat, no outside play in this part of the world.

That afternoon when I picked him up I asked him who he had played with and what he had done that day. Rather than the sullen "no one... nothing" that I usually get, he rushed to tell me about the bike track, the silk worms, the stories, the toys. "And mum... we didn't do reading and writing at all - we just play ALL DAY."

Well, I guess he should make the most of it. Next year will mark the beginning of his 12 years at school. And that is a daunting thought for us all. Now I just have to work out how to compress my work day into the 5 1/2 hours the school run allows me. All advice welcome!

Home sweet home...

It didn't take much for Dylan and Sam to re-adjust to life in Sydney. Two weeks of sunshine, beaches, swimming pools and boat trips, and Yew Tree Cottage, horses, lambs and rolling green hills have been all but forgotten.

Sam still describes his plane journey to everyone who will listen: "I went up in the sky... wooosh... and then down boom boom". This version of events equates perfectly to his experience as he fell asleep as soon as we took off in Singapore, and only woke up when we landed in Sydney with a bump (boom boom). Dylan has slight traces of his English accent, but it is disappearing quickly as he picks up with his old friends again in the playgrounds of the inner west.

For me, though, the re-adjustment has been slightly harder. First of all the crashing reality of unpacking our former life, all musty and mildewy. Once the dust cleared and the boot loads of stuff I forgot we ever had and no longer needed had been taken away - to the tip or to charity, depending on their mould levels - things felt slightly more real. And of course it has been wonderful to see all our friends and family again... but I must admit to the occasional longing for the cosy aga (even when the temperature outside soars to bushfire levels), and wishing we had done a few more of the many things on my "to do list" in Derbyshire.

Which means, of course, that this blog is not over, as our eight feet are still itching to various degrees. Maybe they will travel more across Australia for the next year or so, or maybe we will find a way to get abroad again soon. What I do know now is:

• Travelling with small children gets easier as they get older (what a huge difference between flying with Sam at 16 months, and again at 2 and a bit.)


• Always stopover. Sentosa Island is the perfect place for kids to break the London to Sydney route. Dubai may be the answer for Australia to Europe flight (let me know!) Either way, the result is no jetlag (yes, truly, NO jetlag) and that makes for happy mums and dads.

So... stay tuned for more Howard family adventures!