Arrival...

The kiwi has landed and slept! It's just past 6.00am Saturday 17th. My trajectory in the past two days has been Christchurch, Auckland, Shanghai, Amsterdam, Rijswijk. I swear - every time - that I will never do these straight-through flights EVER again. And then I do. The delay leaving Auckland and the subsequent rush in Shanghai where I had to collect my bag and check it in again (no straight transfer) was stressful. But I made it and Air NZ was solicitous in seeing that bookings were changed and people were as little disrupted as possible.

Shanghai airport has this amazing, futuristic construction. Should there be an earthquake (and I heard of Seddon's latest on arrival in Amsterdam) it could be difficult to know where to turn to avoid being impaled!

On the Shanghai-Amsterdam flight I sat next to 'Jesse' - a 22-year old Chinese lass (she looked about 12) who has been studying in the UK (latterly at the London School of Economics) for the past five years. She is a product of the one-child policy, and the obligation to her parents for funding her education is clearly huge. We had such an interesting conversation about China and the balancing of older Confucian social expectations with the demands and opportunities of increasing global engagement. Jesse was a sweetie. I wished her all the very best.

And then, in the baggage retrieval area at Amsterdam, who should I see through the glass but Lauren and Merel, waiting for me...

Whisked off to Rijswijk by car (and remembering last year when I wearily navigated train and tram to get there), it felt very much like coming home. Nina even deigned to sit on my lap. I hoped Tabby and Van did not experience long-distance jealousy...

That is herbal tea I am drinking!!!