I think most people have now left this place. Judging by the emptiness of the cafe this morning (breakfast out as a holiday treat since Daddy is away and can’t make us pancakes!), the expats are not the only ones to have gone.
My students for whom this country is home were all buzzing with plans for the summer in the last week of the semester just as much as the expat students. Lots of these local ones are heading to London for two months, with their families. I assumed they would be staying with relatives there, but the talk was all of “our house in London” – a reminder of how rich these families are, especially given the centrality of the London locations!
The teaching staff at the school left in two groups – there was a large group which flew out the evening of the last working day (when they found time to pack, I don’t know, although I always look at these things from the perspective of having three small children) and the second group flew out two days later at the end of the week.
And other women and children have been leaving, even if their husbands/fathers have to remain. There are not many of us left. Still, this means that we will have the school pool to ourselves this afternoon, the service at the cafe this morning was not as awful as it sometimes is, and the roads even seem emptier, although that may be because I’m driving around at times of day that I generally wouldn’t. Add to that the five-day holiday that we’re going on next week and, all in all, I’m feeling quite positive about the month that’s left before we too leave, to spend July in the UK and Europe.
