Today I fly to Scotland

It will be great to see folk, to meet ,new churches and to share what God is doing here in Bordeaux.

At the same time it's hard to leave the church here just a few weeks into the new session, and so very hard to leave the family.

And right on cue we have a practical problem - once more with the drains. We have this wonderful internal waste system that takes water from the shower-room upstairs and kitchen and bathroom downstairs through the walls and under the floor out to a drain at the side of the house. But it clogs up with nasty consequences. So we're poking bamboo sticks and "ferrets" - long wire springs - up the drains to clear the thick clots of clay-coloured gunk that are stopping the stagnant water draining.

YUK !

It is one area where Pat's experience as a nurse stands her in good stead. "This is not the worst place I have shoved my hand", she says.

We had a farewell pizza party last night - the kids had predictable pepperoni and we had duck and apple.

Back soon !

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