All quiet on the western front

It's been a hectic couple of weeks since I have returned from Wales. Mum and Dad arrived, the contracts have been exchanged on the house, there was a weekend in Devon with UK relatives, three more Aussie relatives turned up, and a whole lot of shopping and planning.

Devon was lovely. We stayed with Ken and Sue, who are my mum's sister's first husband's sister and husband (if there is a simple term for that I haven't found it out yet), and were brought up to speed on (and introduced to some of) the UK side of the family. They live in Harberton, a lovely little village which is all single laned roads into and out of, and has a lovely 14th century pub which was built to house/service the workers who built the church. It is good to know that they had their priorities right. We strolled around the lovely historic town of Totnes, where Brutus reportedly was the first person to land in Britain, and which now is also a commune for the new-agers. We did a lovely walk on the south-west coast path, from Bantham to Outer Hope (almost appropriately named since we hadn't packed snacks for the 8 miles return walk, and got the last table at the pub 10 minutes before the end of lunch). A quick walk on Dartmoor and it was home time for me.

The shopping for new house stuff continues... We have a bed (we hope, no good finance deals for foreigners apparently), tv and lawnmower, so this weekend we need to get a vacuum cleaner and general cleaning paraphernalia as well as the rest of the kitchen basics and we are set.