The visas arrived at 9 this morning. I love FedEx, and I love the British Consulate! I can't believe how quick the process was! I am very relieved, not only to have the visas, but also to have all our documents back safe and sound : they had requested every single official type document that we possess. Our marriage certificate. The kids' birth certificates. Our US visa documentation. (They needed to see that because they wouldn't have let us enter the UK if our status in the US hadn't been legal). The kids' expired passports. The kids' current passports. Bobby's passport. My South African passport and my British passport. Even our degree certificates. I shudder to think what a nightmare replacing all of that would been if the package had gone astray.

Went shopping with the girls today (I took Stephen yesterday, sans sisters, so it was relatively painless). I tried on a couple of those flirty knee-length skirts that are in all the shops at the moment, but they looked horribly incongruous atop my battered legs. I still have a huge bruise from the Tennessee climbing trip on one of my calves, and the umpteen insect bites on my ankles and shins which I acquired at the same time have gone from itching to oozing to scabbed. So I left empty-handed (camping; it really is the frugal choice) but all three kids have their summer clothes.

Tomorrow we are taking Moo to his new home. We decided it would be kinder this way; the alternative would have been to leave him home alone this weekend, while we are in Richmond, and then take him on Monday or Tuesday next week when the moving frenzy is in full swing. At least this way he's not going to be upset before he leaves.

Emily is being very mature about the whole thing. She is sad but she understands that this is the best of a bunch of bad choices. She has typed out a whole page of information about Moo for his new owner, and has collected all his favourite toys together ... I'm sure there will be tears from every single family member tomorrow, though.