"As I write these words, I am sat on a train somewhere between London and Aberdeen, with a glass of wine by my side enjoying the benefits of First Class service. I feel I can borrow the words of London Transport ("once again can I apologise for the delays to the service..."), and say sorry for having not written for 10 months and leaving you not knowing what's been going on. Holidays, moving, Big Brother and various IT issues have been the main reasons for the delays (rather than signal failure and technical difficulties experienced by London Underground...) but that is all changing now.

For those of you who are still not in the know, our time is up in the Colonies and after spending the summer in Scotland, we are joining Scotland's friends and allies (united against the English because they are both rubbish at football and rugby) - the French. Our 'hardship posting' of Indonesia is being replaced by an 'Africa-warm-up' posting in the south of France - Pau to be precise. The house is organised (complete with panoramic views of the Pyrenees), we just have to finalise the bed and breakfast rates for our guest suite...!

So what should you be looking out for in my final update from the Colonies? Of course, we have updated our address and telephone numbers, so find out how to get hold of us (and to get the first photos of the house!) by taking a look in Contact. Or take a look in the Travel section to find out about our tour of New Zealand and train journey accross Australia on the Legendary Ghan. Don't forget, Elizabeth celebrated her second birthday with a 'Bob the Builder' party (she dressed up as Wendy) - find out more about our favourite 2 year-old in Elizabeth. Finally, have a look in RWYA and Indonesia for my final thoughts about Asian Expatriate life.

As this is my last Message from the Colonies, I would like to thank all of you who have taken the time to read my ramblings, and particularly those of you who have said they enjoyed what has been written. If it wasn't for all the nice things that you said to me, I probably wouldn't have bothered! Whilst I am pondering the future of the site, I will leave you with the numbers which made up our expatriation in Indonesia....

3 operations on Alex's knee in Singapore

61 total number of stamps in Elizabeth's passport

1,425 days of expatriation for Sophie

79 Family Hashes walked by Sophie

1 game of golf played

25,000 Rupiah left in my purse

10 Indonesian Islands visited

18 cubic metres of shipment leaving Indonesia