To Malpensa Airport (and back)

Saturday 19th April

This evening we have received the great news that our friend Judith is showing signs of improvement and has been out of intensive care for a few days.  Our mutual friend Terry, printed our photo of Adam lighting a candle in the chapel on the hillside near Stresa and took it to Judith yesterday.  She was delighted to receive it.

Here by Lago Maggiore, our weather has turned upside down.  We knew that rain was expected and late last night it came with a vengeance - thunder and lightning included.  The children had not long gone to bed, so they were well asleep during the noisiest time.  The rain continued all through this morning - my new brolly had its first airing while helping Hannah to finish her packing and tidying the cabin by 10 and moving everything into our van - including the children.  Then after scrambled eggs on toast, we set off with them to Malpensa Airport for their flight home to Gatwick.  The children were very excited to be going on a plane as this was a first for them.  (Actually a second time for Emilie, but she was only 7 months old at the time.)  Big hugs later, we waved them goodbye as we drove back via the lakeside road rather than the motorway.  Not that the views were very impressive on such a dull day, but what was noticeable was that the mountain-tops were covered in a lot more snow. 

Camping friends will know that we have a small storage tent that we use when staying in one place for several days - well, it is possibly no more.  When we returned, the wind was quite strong and it had snapped one of the supporting rods on the roof, so was flapping about rather a lot.  So we had to dismantle it and put all the stuff we keep in there back in the van underneath storage.  John will see if it can be repaired when the weather is calmer again. 

So we are spending a very quiet evening indoors - oh boy, do we miss our grandchildren ... and Peter and Hannah of course.