Is it possible I may be just a little bit homesick?

I embarrassed myself today.  With everything that's been going on and another confrontation regarding another missed deadline I ended up having to excuse myself as I got overwhelmed and upset.  The lady and man present were very sweet, the lady coming to offer me a tissue, me apologising as it was the first time I'd met her and I didn't think I was making the best impression!  At the end of the meeting, affirming to the man again the importance to me of a quick turnaround and him prioritising the work, they replied I should join them at the beach sometime!  I'm really left wondering if that is the answer to everything here and also the cause of so many of my frustrations!  I can see the allure when you have beaches on your doorstep that look like this...

heaven

...and I love that their work-life balance is so much better than in UK but is it possible the pendulum has swung too far the other way here?  Is that just an over-efficient, still ridiculously-punctual Brit talking?!

I had another meeting just afterwards with an agency who want to help us rent the ground floor apartments this summer.  Lovely couple, I've rented through them before, and they concluded their meeting by insisting I should come join them for breakfast on their sea view terrace sometime.

It's so nice to know I make a good enough impression (even if a bit over-tired and emotional sometimes) that people invite me to join them socially, and after a second dinner with some new friends on Saturday night, I'm confident that slowly but surely I'll build a new social network out here.

As a (relatively!) normal British girl, such a network of friends is really important to me.  (I think it's a girl thing to enjoy and appreciate the company of others so much, as Mr RR could quite happily sit with his computer all day!)  With so many of us in UK living away from our families, I think friends for us take a focal place in our lives that family do for most Italians here (our electrician in particular finds it very strange that I'm living so far from my family - he even asked after my parents' recent visit if they'll be moving out here!).  I've been reminded of that this week chatting away for hours to so many of my wonderful friends and dear mum back home on Skype and Facebook - one even making me cry today at the story of her 2 year old daughter who kept saying my name when she saw the electric mixer, as we so often end up baking cakes together when I'm over at hers!

(Just a little boast - check out just some of the cakes we made on our last day together.  Was really excited by how this "red for Arsenal" icing came out!)

and so yummy too!

Very occasionally, hearing stories like that of my friend's little girl, I yearn for the comfort and familiarity of home in UK, legs curled up on the sofa with a friend, tea and cake, putting the world to rights, but in reality, I couldn't ever swap this adventure for that.  And, hey, one of my best friends is coming out to visit later this week so before long it'll be like the best bits of the UK are brought to me!

P.S. I'm sure I'll accept the lovely offer of breakfast on the sea view terrace, but the beach invitation?  As long as I need help covering this pasty English skin with SPF 50, I won't be going with anyone but Mr RR!

There are some things that just don't need to be shared!