…and I am. Just. Although a number of things have conspired against me to leave Pink Tape less than in the pink – I am now (finally) back in the country, back in reach of a reliable internet connection and determined to get back into the swing of things. Even if not everybody will be pleased about it. Dammit – especially because not everybody will be pleased about it. Those who know me well will know that the surest way to ensure I keep on talkin’ is to tell me to shut up or to tell me I am wrong. So I’m sorry to disappoint anyone out there, but I’m not going away.

I return to find that our local CAFCASS has a backlog of 155 cases (largely private cases) which is proposes to clear by Mar 2010. Pigs might fly, but then if my other half can get back from far flung states in economy class complete with unexpected new crutches, maybe anything really is possible. Hope springs eternal. As a colleague recently noted – CAFCASS have recently relieved themselves of the services of 70 staff owing to resource difficulties, of which but two were managers. SIGHS…

I also return with a renewed conviction about how important it is to ensure kids know both sides of their extended family, even if they are kooky and even if they are far far away. It’s pretty tough to make this happen when oceans divide but watching my boy careering round the farm with his little cousins and being fed deer jerky by mommaw and seeing for first hand where his daddy grew up was worth the trip, even if it was quite possibly the most stressful holiday I have ever had. For the boy it was nothing but a great big adventure. An adventure punctuated with lashings of chocolate milk and as much spaghetti as a boy can eat.

And finally I return with a unavoidable bump. It is at least 10% baby and only 90% blueberry pancakes. Time flies eh?