Coming full circle - from when this was taken in 1991, we are back here in France and the barbeque is the one in our garden.
We left the farm and we left Africa and the leaving was hard, but there was no point longing for what could no longer be. I went on ahead and for a year, I worked in various jobs until John could finalise the sale of the farm and join me.
For three years we lived in England, battling financially and never really feeling as though we fitted in. John was amazed to see Englishmen who dressed up in collars and ties to mow their lawns and I had the feeling that very little had changed since I had left thirty years ago.
It was by sheer chance that John was offered a position in Miami, and feeling that we had very little keeping us in England, we bought our tickets and prepared to leave. All our personal possessions went into storage until we could send for them, and I agonised over leaving as my father suffered a massive stroke less than a week after we had done our bookings.
We spent the next five years in Miami, living in relative luxury in a seventeenth floor apartment, fascinated with the oddities of American living. We met some interesting people and made some great friends, but after five years, it was time to get our feet back on the ground, and once again we packed up our possessions and boarded a plane for the south of France.
To find out how we are settling in, have a look at my blog - "Diary of a French Housewife". I really do hope that this is our last major move, and its great to be once again growing beans, but this time we don't have to do battle with the sheep!
"Lambs Love and Laughter" was serialised in the South African Country Life magazine over the course of a year, and I was invited to lecture aboard the QE2 on several occasions, talking about Lesotho, the farm, and all the strange things that I had learned. The greatest joy of these voyages was that I managed to get back to South Africa, and although I never made it to the farm, it was good to feel the pulse of Africa once more, and somehow make my peace with having had to leave.
I have made my peace with a great many things since leaving, and in due course, another blog entitled "Cannibals to Croissants" will be uploaded and you can find out about those 23 missing years in Lesotho.
Au Revoir - Montpellier August 2008
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