Lateness... Purple Tern is dogged by lateness at the moment. Partly because we've been busy since we arrived home (four days ago in PT time, but over two weeks ago in real time), and partly because our web hosting service is going through one of its incredibly irritating flaky patches. There's nothing more infuriating than earmarking some time to actually sit down and post something, only to find you can't access the website...

Anyway, the last substantive post got us back to Douglas. And, of course, there was the (late) review of the month.

Now I need to try to catch up on the first half of September.

So let's start with the first week back, which included the following:

1.


2.

Spending an evening with our Kuching-born-but-IoM-resident friend and the guests who'd been looking after our house in our absence (whom we first met in Kuching). To me the Sarawak-Isle of Man connection is very special, and it was a great catch-up.

3.

Applying for my old person's bus pass, and receiving it in the space of a couple of days. This entitles me to free travel on off-peak buses, and offers a useful reduction on steam trains and electric trams.

4.

Having coffee and scones at the Noa branch we go to less often (the one opposite the Sea Terminal). I don't know why it's less often, given you can watch (and smell) the bread-making activities, and they have a cute giraffe:


5.

Taking another horse tram ride:



6.

Redoing the Union Mills and Strang loop (the one that goes along the old railway line):



7.

Reflecting on autumn, the signs of which are everywhere now:




So that's all been very good. We're not back for long before we're off again, but I'm enjoying this little interlude of home comforts and home routines.