Greetings from England and Grandchildren Duties.

 

We are starting to think of coming home and hope that the weather is a tad warmer than here.  We have had fine but quite a variety of weather on our trip.  From the high to mid-thirties in Darwin and Timor; to pleasant high twenties to thirty in Washington DC and then back to cool twenties and below in Kent.  At present the days are generally sunny – warm if in the sun but decidedly cool when out of it!

 

East Timor was a bit of an eye-opener – the third poorest country in the world.  Life in Dili was quite normal by Western standards apart from the traffic and we had some great food at local restaurants, but away from Dili the roads tended to be atrocious, restricting travelling speeds dramatically.  A 4WD vehicle is a necessity just for clearance issues with potholes or water crossings – and this was the dry season!  We visited the area of our intended International Grant and spent a night at Balibo.  Fortunately, we had Angelo and Sue as guides to organise and help us.

 

Then to the USA, the Land of the Automobile with the 6, 8 or 12 lane Beltway (freeway or motorway to us) to go from one community to another.  Glorious weather if a little humid and stayed at Chesapeake Bay with the rich and famous for a 70^th birthday.

 

Then on to the UK staying with my daughter and family in a little village with impossibly narrow roads – where you have to be patient and wait until you can pull out to get around parked cars because there is only a single lane between parked cars on both sides of the road!   In the UK, one always discusses the weather but now there is another topic - BREXIT.  So far I have only met one person who voted to remain in the EU.  The Brits seem remarkably upbeat about their decision to leave the EU – though admitting that they do not know what happens next.  They quote all manner of statistics to prove that the EU needs Britain more than Britain needs the EU.  No one seems to know what will eventuate or how the negotiations will work out – to an outsider it seems that the Brits were sold an emotional concept rather than facts - and bought it.

Anyway, we are about to return to reality this Friday  -> OZ!   (I will wear my hat for ARH Hat Day! on the plane).

 

October will be a full month for our Club after the October holiday break.

Great news from Michael McQueen and the PR support group – our new Rotary BBQ banners are underway and should be ready quite soon.

 

Well enough for now, I guess PP Bruce and Ian have done well and look forward to seeing you all next week.

 

Regards