Day 40 - Tuesday 4th September

Before breakfast, I went for a long walk to Alexandra Park near Muswell Hill. On the way, I stopped at the Barclays Bank ATM at Muswell Hill to get more UK currency.


Amelia was awake when I got home. Later, after Alexis had been fed, Nicky wanted to take her for a walk in the pram. Amelia sat in the toddler seat and all four girls set off for Muswell Hill.

I was still booking a car for the airport tomorrow and paying the toll for yesterday's trip on the Dublin motorway. So I said I would catch up with them. When I got to Muswell Hill, I couldn't find then anywhere and so I went for a walk along Parkland Walk. Along the way I got chatting to a local man who was out for his mid-day walk and he proceeded to tell me how much he likes Australia.

I found the others on way back to East Finchley. Apparently they'd been to a cafe for morning tea.

Suzy had arranged to meet friends for lunch at Jamie Oliver's restaurant in Covent Garden. After lunch Nicky was also meeting up with friends and took Alexis with her. So my job was to look after Amelia.

I woke her at 3:30pm because I thought two hours was enough sleep. Everything was going well until she started saying "gone" and "I want my mummy" and "Grandma's gone". By this time she was crying.

I managed to console her by letting her play with games I'd downloaded on my iPad. Originally I'd planned to take her to the park but he said she didn't want to go because she wanted to watch TV.

Later, after Nicky, Alexis and Suzy had got home, Amelia decided that she did want to go out and so I took her to the nearby playground at the end of the street rather than the playground at one of the parks. She was excited to be there and was keen to make friends with other kids of her age.

Suzy cooked dinner for us all. I spent the evening packing my bags in preparation for returning to Sydney tomorrow via Tokyo. John had downloaded a couple of episodes of his favourite political comedy show.