Well that was fun.

We arrived home from Barbados on Monday morning, jet lagged and delighted to see that the temperature was in single figures and the rain was horizontal. It was also lovely to see that everyone else in the world had decided to drive around the M25 at the same time as us, obviously to welcome us home. Very thoughtful of them. We had all the time in the world and weren't tired at all!!!!! Home sweet home.

Actually it had not all been plain sailing in Barbados. Two days before we arrived the much loved and very well respected Prime Minister of Barbados passed away. The island was in mourning.

Four days after we arrived the island was hit by Hurricane Tomas (yes folks it was a proper hurricane, with a name and everything). Not being local and not being privvy to the local televison news it was a complete surprise to us.
When we awoke on Saturday morning the island apparently had been picked up, roughly shaken, dunked into a large bucket of muddy water and then tossed haphazardly back into the Caribbean. Not only that but we had intermittent running water and no electricty for the following four days. As we were in a self catering villa that means no air-con, no cooker but worst of all, no fridge and no freezer. Warm rum punch was not on the list of things to try whilst there!

Still, overall we had a splendid time and came back batteries fully recharged and bank account very empty.

Today I have been grappling with the herd to check that they are all in good stead. Actually I missed them so I was keen to get reacquainted with my lovelies!
Everyone seems in fine fettle, all were condition scored, checked for jaw abscesses and generally squeezed and probed for any sign of illness. The cria fleeces are changing and there were a few surprises as some had improved and some had fallen back a little. All are apparently fabulously healthy and I have stopped worrying. I do, a bit, sometimes.
I was going to take some photographs but have had a bit of a nightmare with assorted cameras today. The first camera ran out of electricity. I then fell back to my Blackberry but for some reason the pictures will not come out of the phone into the computer. I have given up for today, it was safer for all concerned!