Well, we’ve been utterly rubbish at updating our blog recently. Somehow it was always busy during the summer – so many people came to visit us and we had such fun on Alpine walks with Z and Sandra, canoeing on Ljubljanica with Jo, rowing on lake Bled with Helen & Keith, watching dramatic mountain helicopter rescues with Matt & Pip and drinking cocktails in more colours than one would think is physically possible with John.

And seemingly suddenly it’s not summer anymore. The trees have turned yellow and red, covering the ground with dry leaves, and the nights are certainly getting chilly. It’s already snowed in Finland, which is a good sign after last year’s pathetic winter so hopefully there’ll be white stuff here too soon.

Of course we won’t be enjoying Slovenia and its wintry delights much longer as, in just two weeks, my contract is coming to an end. Tim & I will stay in Ljubljana for a couple of more weeks to pack up and drink some more Slovenian red wine before leaving for pastures new in Central Asia. Needless to say, there’ll certainly be snow in Kyrgyzstan even if there are questions around accessing decent wine.

With work this transition from South East Europe to Central Asia is happening rather quicker than I imagined. A phone call yesterday settled the dates for a November visit to Pakistan where we’re in the last stages of an emergency programme. I’ll be traveling with a colleague from the emergency team, which is reassuring in so many levels even though these people always leave me perplexed with their speed. They do everything so fast. They talk fast, they take decisions fast, they even have fast names. They are all called Bob or Pip or Bill. By the time I’ve articulated my full name, Bob’s erected a row of tents and vaccinated a village.

Still, there’s no doubt we’ll miss lots of things from Ljubljana and Slovenia. It’s somehow so reassuring that so many friends & family have visited us here – we will always be able to talk about this time to people who have shared some of our experiences here. The Julian Alps have been one of the absolute highlights; being able to just hop in a car and drive to the stunningly beautiful mountains in an hour or so is quite amazing. But I’ll also miss
1) My duck. I’m convinced there is one particular duck on the river outside our flat that I can hear quacking last thing at night
2) Atlantis. The best ever sauna complex, here in Ljubljana! Nine different saunas, outside plunge pool, no hang ups… Everything just melts into mushy contentedness. The path to world peace is actually paved by saunas
3) Cycling around Ljubljana. The cobbled streets, the old town, silly old bikes everywhere
4) Our flat. We have the loveliest view of huge trees and the river and it feels like home. Besides it’s the first place Tim & I have actually lived together

(There’d better be saunas in Kyrgyzstan)