August 2015 we packed our bags and moved our family 5000 miles to Blantyre, Malawi, to begin our 2-year African adventure.

Today, 5 years later, we touched back down at London Heathrow, ready to start the next chapter of our family life back in the UK. We have come back to my roots, back to North Yorkshire, 25 years since I left to begin my university studies.

As we flew, first to Addis Ababa, then to Heathrow and as we sped up the motorway to Yorkshire, I was asking myself, “Have we changed?” and “What’s it like to be back?” I fear the first question proved far too philosophical for the amount of sleep I managed last night, so I had more success answering the second.

If anyone is now worried I am about to make poignant remarks on post-Brexit Britain or how COVID-19 is affecting our world, you need not worry…perhaps this is content for another blog…but no, my comments tonight are merely observations that we, as a family, have made in our first day back in England since 2018.

1. The officials at security were really interrogating travellers…it took quite a while before we heard any civilities, “Good morning, how are you?”, certainly no ‘welcome to Britain’…and progress was exceedingly slow. 4 baggage handlers wore luminous vests. One said to the other, “We’re not allowed to touch these now, are we?” And he sat down.

2. There are a lot of lifts and escalators (the last escalator we were on in Blantyre, the lady in front of me sat down on it – she was a novice and was too scared to stand).

3. I could pay for breakfast with contactless payment (Ethiopian didn’t serve us a drink or breakfast this morning.) In Blantyre I’m lucky if the normal visa pin POS machines work 2 out of 3 times!

4. The roads work. People follow the rules of the road. Ok, we saw 2 ‘boy racers’ on the motorway but it feels staggering how people stop at red lights, give way to the right on roundabouts, overtake in the right hand lane and there were ZERO people walking in the road.

5. ALL the vehicles are road worthy! All of them. I didn’t see one car or lorry that would not pass its MOT. It’s amazing. 223 miles and we didn’t see a single broken down car blocking the road!

6. Beside the road, there were healthy cows and sheep in the fields as we drove north and to Piran, that was exciting. Like a small boy, he pointed and said, “Cows!”, “Sheep!”

7. The grass – English grass – in the fields is so green and beautiful (so well watered – it has rained multiple times already today)! The crops in the fields also looked so healthy.

8. The rain is cold! The day was warm but I was so surprised when the rain wasn’t warm! What’s that about?!

9. Linked to 7, if you put the washing out, you have to keep checking the weather…just because it has rained once, doesn’t mean it has finished raining!

10. The distribution centres here are enormous, for Amazon and other big retailers. Big business.

11. There are a lot of windmills.

12. Family is priceless. It doesn’t matter how much your journey cost, seeing your family again, even at distance and without hugs, is worth every penny a hundredfold.

13. The variety and quality of food available here is incredible. The range of goodies stocked in the fridge and cupboards for us is out of this world: from mature cheddar to Longley Farm yogurt; from olives to cherry tomatoes; from tiger loaf to apricot wheats…all such a treat. Divine.

14. Haribos still make children incredibly happy.

15. Cadbury’s Giant Buttons still make me very happy.

16. It’s 9:45 at night and it’s still light! In Malawi it has been dark for 5 hours and they are only one hour ahead.

17. We’ve been watching a few programmes we’re used to watching on Netflix. It hasn’t glitched. Not once. Not even a little bit. No buffering…at all.

18. My brother in law assured me there is no load shedding programme. Not even little 4 hour ones. Up here, electricity is pretty much 100% guaranteed. Imagine that!

19. I can drink beautiful cold water. Straight from the tap. I haven’t filtered it. Or boiled it. Or left it in the sun. Just turned the tap on. It tastes amazing.

20. I will go to bed in a normal bed. Without a mosquito net. And what’s more, I haven’t heard the buzz or felt the nip of a single mosquito. Yeah.

So, for those of you who are feeling for us, having to quarantine here for 14 days, honestly this is pure joy! We have much to celebrate. Much to enjoy. Let’s see what else our first fortnight back will bring…