jenny Hi Rosin, had a good time last wednesday, you have a lovely home to come back to , Steve has really treasured every moment living there. Do hope we can all meet up early in the new year. Have a good trip home and bring back all those wonderful memories to tell. lot of love

Diann & Dave See you tomorrow at 1705. Have a safe flight.Love Diann and Dave. Really looking forward to seeing you.

Diann & Dave

Diann Hi Thank you ever so much for my birthday phone call, its was a great surprise, and great to hear your voice, you still sound the same. I had a very nice day, it didn't even rain & Dave cooked me dinner in the evening( well put it in the microwave ) Please let me know the details of your flight ASAP. Take care, enjoy your last few days in India, Love Diann

Joel Marrinan Hello Roisin, Glad to see you are still going strong. If you feel like doing some volunteer cleaning my garden is a mess and there are leaves all over my drive. Heh. Only joking - good on you for doing all you can. I got a copy of the latest Real Gap brochure through and was flicking through all the volunteer projects they have whilst in the bath and saw one that sounds familiar to what you are doing. I'm thinking about doing one in Africa myself - just need to be made redundant again though..... Speaking of which, started my new job at James Hay last week and all going well still. Test will be at the end of the week with the month end though. Do you miss that pressure at the start of the month??? Please think of me on Friday.... Off to do a spot of painting now as I am doing up the third bedroom after my brother moved out and left it a mess. I have a lovely cream colour for the walls. So original..... but not as vibrant as all the colours I'm sure you are seeing over there. Take care Joel

Hi All, just a quick update; Working with the nanagement on the Tea Estate at mo to identify ares for development, first project -'to clean it up' it's such a beautiful place - teraced tea gardens all along the mountainside, but, just like verywhere else in India, the area is overunn with 'rubbish', so we're starting an anti-litte campaign to educate the community, and put some responsibility n the management to clean it up and keep it clean - have already started by cleaning up the whole area around the local hospital (wooden hut built on stilts on mountainside)-very very basic conditions - Diann you'd have a fit!!! or maybe you could come out and help!! This weekend Tracy and I came back into Darjeeling, had a fab time, invited to 2 separate lunch parties - met loads of interesting people, mostly litrary i.e. journalists and writers, heading back to the plantation this afternoon. Oh, also managed to look up some old college friends of my ex boss's wife, who grew up in Darjeeling, one is a proffesor in the local college so am meeting her there shortly to have a look around. Looking forward to seeing you all soon. Lots of love Roisin xxx

Diann & Dave Hi, I have just read what I wrote last time, what a lot of spelling mistakes, I hope you got the jist of it anyway.The weather here this weekend is dreadful, wind and almost constant rain today(Sunday) Went down to Frinton yesterday to see Mum, she is well and was very interested to hear about all of your adventures and she sends you her love. We still have'nt gone live with the new It system, what a mess it all is, Dave thinks it will be the end of January at least before its ready.We are running the Bric a Brack stall at the christmas bazzar on Saturday, so the house is full of boxes of "things" which hopefully we will be able to sell at the barrar. Dave has been elected as the treasurer for the Twinning Society( he had his arm truely pinned behind his back by Terry Foreman) still its nice to get involved with something different. I am going to meet up with Samantha on Tuesday, Dave didn't have any more holiday, I expect we will go to the pictures and have lunch out, I shall miss not seeing you on my birthday, I wonder where you will be this time next year????????????. Well thats all for now I have a mile of ironing waiting for me next, oh the joys of being a women. Take care Rosh, see you very soon. Love Diann

Alex J Hi Rosh, Glad you are still having an amazing time. I'm looking forward to having you back - not long to wait now. Send us a text if you get the chance. xx

Diann Hi this will now be a short letter as I have just written a long one and when I went to add it I was disconnected, I can't remember what I said now, hope you are still fighting fit as you don't mention how you arer physically. You will find life b;and back in the UK after all of your exciting adventures. We saw Andrew on Saturday and on the Sunday he cooked us dinner with vegtables, I nearly passed out with surprise, Nikki is obviously a good influence on him, We saw the baby scan, it really brings it home to you. I will write again soon Take care Love Diann

Hi everyone, am now in Darjeeling, arrived here yesterday after flying to Bogdagra from Calcutta, followed by an amazing 3 hour drive up and up into the mountains to arrive here. Last night Tracey (another volunteer) and myself stayed in a late Maharaja's palace, now used by his family as a summer home. One of the Maharaja's sons and his wife were in residence and made us welcome. The Wife is an incredible lady, very down to earth with lots of stories to tell about their life. Later today we're off to stay at one of the tea gardens (plantations) where we'll be staying for the next 3 weeks to do our community work. It's really nice to have this clean mountain air to breath after the pollution of the last few cities. Before I left Calcutta, I went to visit Mother Teresa's house, a very humbling experience! and a very beautiful one, I was lucky enough to attend a special mass while I was there. I also went to see the latest Bond movie (with a few of my group) which itself was another experience as the cinema was on the top floor of a very modern shopping complex, not far from our hotel, but in the midst of the poor district where people were living on the streets and pavement vendors were scrapping a living, this just showed that even though Calcutta is basically a more modern city (legacy of the Raj) it is still very much a city of contrasts like Mumbai and Delhi. Well, I now have only 3 weeks left of my adventure, so I need to make sure that I make the most of them. Will check in again soon. Love to you all Roisin xxxxxxxx

Diann & Dave Hi there, I have sent you an e mail instead. Love Diann

Hi all, have moved on quite a bit since my last message. We have been to Udaipur, Pushkar, Agra and am now in Varanasi; later today we take the overnight train to Calcutta where this tour ends. Briefly, we visited the Amber Fort at Udaipur, The Holy Lake and a very peaceful Hindu Temple (at Sunrise) atop a mountain overlooking the lake. Next was Agra, and of course, the highlight of the tour 'Taj Mahal' - it truly was breathtakingly beautiful, we made sure we were first in the Q at 5am to be first in at sunrise - well worth the early morning start.  We are now in Varanassi, taking in the many sights along the Holy river Ganges - a very vibrant place with what seems to be the whole of Indian life going on here.  Tonight we're off to Calcutta where I have a few days to explore before joining my next voluntary project up in Darjeeling.  Hope all is well at home, looking forward to catching up with my family and friends next month. Take care all - lots of Love Rosh xxxxxxxx

Joel Hi Roisin, Just keeping you updated on the situation here for me. I finally managed to secure a permanent job so no more temping for me at the unholy Capita. I am now a slave to the system at James Hay....so big change there. Heh. Only took 4 months. Spoke to Nicole today to see how she is getting on at JP Morgan and I don't think she is too happy. But I'm sure she'll go into that when you talk to her next. You must be nearing the end of your trip by now aren't you? Back in time for christmas I'm sure I heard you say. Hope you are still making the most of things as the weather here is getting pretty miserable and those lovely dark evenings are here again. Joy! As for everything else...I think Salisbury and such have not really changed that much since you left. Not sure about where you live but you aren't missing that much (aside from the odd child birth in your family it seems). Take care. Joel

Alex J Hi Rosh, Excellent photos. You look so at home on a camel! Oh and by the way - the guy who is helping you, he's hot, can you get me his number?? xxx

Diann & Dave What great photos, you look really well Rosh, I hope thats a true reflection of how you are feeling. We celebrated firework night as usual at Albury Park, it was very cold but dry, and Sunday afternoon I spent at the church hall wrapping up shoe boxes in christmas paper and filling them with small gifts that all the churches in Alresford had colected, they go to children all over the world, so I was thinking of you and the children you have been teaching, maybe some of the boxes will make there way to India, I hope so. I have spoken to Rachael and and I will send Jake & Joddie a card and the cardigan I have made for the baby. We are on holiday in Kent from Friday, so as I don't have a lap top I shall not be able to send any messages for a while, so keep safe and try not to have to much fun as I want you back here eventually. Love Diann