Less than a week to go!

Into the countdown phase now, last couple of bookings made for Florence and Perpignan (Perpignan being the base for a dash down to Manuel's hometown, Barcelona). I know departure is close because the offspring have started worrying about how they are going to extract money from us while we are gone. Process of extracting self from day to day work matters has almost reached readiness for departure.

Glad to have factored in a couple of days on leave prior to flight as I am certain there will be a flurry of hurry as we throw things in and out of bags, trying to trim down the load to be lugged across the globe. Bought an electric immersion heater yesterday, as we found on our very first overseas venture, in some places it can be hard to just find a way to boil some water for a coffee or even for safe drinking. Guys in the shop say they have heard of a few people falling asleep in a bath with an immersion heater running, resulting in cooking themselves. Apocryphal story, no doubt.