Idul Fitri

G'day,

Been back in country for the last 5 weeks - time for another holiday.

This one is the most deserved of the entire year.

We have ENDURED 3 1/2 weeks of 90% of the population fasting from 4:30am - 6pm every day. That's right - every day. No food, no drink, no cigerettes (as if).

Do you know how much energy people have at the moment? That's right - NONE. Like an empty duracel battery........everyone is flat.

Whereas you might have a reliable driver who turns up on time and takes you somewhere, now you have a driver who arrives late, is tired all day (because you have to get up at 3:30 to eat), gets really confused and although - he doesn't fall asleep - he is a bit doppy this month (no food does that even to the best of people).

Same goes for everyone around you - office boy, security, nanny, gardener (the other day I opened our gates because the security man was praying (fair enough) and the gardener was sound asleep - ssshhh wouldn't want to wake him while our garden dies from neglect.

Anyway - believe it or not - that isn't the worst of it.

I usually leave work at 5. I usually get home just before 6. During Ramadan I get home between 6:30 - 7 (last night I walked the last 1km and beat the driver by 10 minutes).

Everyone is trying to get home so they can eat - fair enough I know. But it makes what is normally bad traffic - impossible traffic. Like - stand still and not move (J got out and stood in front of oncoming traffic the other day, we had been stuck trying to go through it to the other side, cars just kept ignoring us.

LUCKY for me - I worked Monday and Tuesday and I am now officially OVER IT.

Best part - I got through it. By this time the last 2 years I was ready to kill someone, this time - I'm calm and collected.

Going on holidays (along with the rest of Jakarta) very soon. By CAR believe it or not. We are planning on leaving at 4am to avoid traffic. Wish us luck.

The following two photos are why the youngest in our family are collectively known as the "monsters". First photo is after silence fell on our house one saturday afternoon in Australia (they used all of C girls makeup she had been given for her birthday (there is a god).

On our last trip to Aus, they wore these masks for about 3 hours at seaworld. Note the distance that C girl is sitting away from them?????