Goodbye Weekend (2)

Another weekend, more goodbyes.  The first big event of this weekend was my final haircut before heading out to Rwanda.  For those of you who don't know, I do like my luxuries and I consider regular hairdressing one of those luxuries.   It's not that I don't think that they will have hairdressers in Rwanda, but I suspect that if I want to go to a salon that looks like any of the salons we have here, I will not be able to afford it on my local salary and will have to break in to my savings.  Nobuko looked slightly nervous when I showed her my new trimmer and asked her how I should use it on my hair...maybe I won't need to.  It might grow long in a very neat way and I can just keep scraping it back behind my ears!

So, with the haircut complete, I headed back to Milton Keynes for a small family and friends gathering.  It was my last opportunity to see Robert, Yesim and Ela as they are off to Turkey on holiday (and so that Ela can meet her Turkish family!).  Ela wore a dress I bought her especially for the occasion (she's just about grown big enough for it).  In fact, the four Langton ladies all sported nice Monsoon outfits.  Maybe we should consider some kind of advertising deal...?  Anyway, here's Ela looking scrumptious:

It was a really lovely evening.  It started with Maragret and Christine - some neighbours from the street where I grew up - arriving.  Maragret is 97 and still very much enjoys being out and about:

Margaret had a cuddle with Ela when she arrived, and reminisced about the times she had held both Robert (Ela's daddy) and me at the same age!  We had a really lovely evening of chatting and eating and drinking and I was made to give a couple of "talks" on Rwanda - my new speciality subject!  They mostly listened...  We carried on chatting, eating and drinking until very late and then everyone slowly went their separate ways.  It's quite strange to say goodbye to people and try to get your head around the fact that you may well not see them for a couple of years.  So far it hasn't really sunk in...

...until this morning!  I had to say goodbye to Robert, Yesim and Ela, and it was the first time that I actually had a bit of a cry.  I blame Yesim as she got upset first, and then that started me off, and then Mum got going.  Oh dear.  It's not quite the same, but at least I will be able to see Ela on skype.  Things have come a long way since the 1970s when Mum and Dad came over from Ireland.  Even I remember the times when all the 'phone lines to Ireland would be engaged on Christmas Day!

So, it was back to London for a final week.  I've got lots of packing to do and a few more goodbyes too. It's getting very close now!