And 4 months later.............................

Coooeeeee - did you miss me?

I am alive and not succumbed to some nasty tropical disease.

No, I didn't jump back on a plane to home, I stayed on in Chennai, although I must admit I've been fighting the temptation to wander into the departure lounge of Chennai airport for some time. The endless traffic jam to the airport always seems to stop me literally in my tracks.

I shan't bore you with all the gory details of the past few months, no, that shall remain bottled up firmly in my British proverbial backside. Stiff upper lip - best of British eh? Accompanied with a jolly good swear every night when I turned out the lights. That's what the Brits do best 'make the most of it'. Although in a nutshell if I HAD and DID try to put words down I'm afraid that along with my other 15 attempted posts it they would have run a bit like this:

Looks like....., smells like......, feels like........... (you can fill in the blanks in your comments)

So let's face it who wants to hear about that - So I shall leave you with some photos.

THE EARLY DAYS

The infernal wait at the immigration office with Mr Maddog just about to lose the will to live with the youngest baby Maddogs.

Meanwhile Mrs Maddog sat in her own bubble as the hours ticked on reading the latest Country Living mag - dreaming of green fields and roses.......

The car got a makeover -Indian style for the Pooja festival - you actually drive your car around town like this. Banana leaves and all. Imagine, they do this to all vehicles, appliances like my refrigerator and washing machine! Something to do with asking the gods for another year of service and pleeeeease don't clap out on me. Judging by some of the early specimens on the roads you can't help but understand why - they need all the help they can get.

Eldest baby Maddog on her first day at school sans school uniform - note the jumper tied round her waist - it was in the high 30's deg c when we arrived but Arctic conditions (allegedly) in the classrooms with the A/C.

Going for a walk on our local 'clean' beach at a 5* resort, taken in November. Note the lack of thermals - people back home :)

Youngest baby Maddog going for a spin on the driveway with Gus and her favourite friend - the guard.

For all you folks back home - please note baby Maddog has not lost her perchance for dressing up for the occasion - like collecting your big sister from school in your flamenco dress. Middle baby Maddog with some of her chums from school.

Our trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during Diwali/end October on the Petronas Towers sky bridge - very smiley here aren't we? I wonder why?

More on Malaysia to follow.