They don't want me to leave.

I’m sitting in Edinburgh airport, and true to form the easyJet flight is delayed. Twice. I’ve watched it crawl its way up a screen and a half of the ‘All Departures’ monitors in the roughly two-and-a-half hours I’ve been sitting here, and departure is still a distant prospect. There’s a guy sitting behind me who I overheard telling someone he bought a Nintendo DS just to alleviate the boredom - the funny thing is, I was sitting here considering exactly the same move. Must be how duty-free make their money: collusion with the airlines? :-)

But the reason I am here is that today I watched three guys pick up all our stuff (in something like 80 boxes plus all the furniture) and pack it into the back of a great big lorry. I was astonished by the size of the truck, but quite relieved when I saw they only managed to half fill it.

So here the adventure begins in earnest, if I ever get back across the water. I thought flying back would be the quick and easy option, but that truck will be most of the way to Belfast by now. Perhaps if I’d packed myself into a box…

It’s a little bit hard to believe we’re finally here, but this is an exciting time. New things, and in a very real way a new place, I suppose - it’s that long since I left Belfast I think I’m going to have to buy a street map!

But it looks like there may be some movement at my gate, so here I go…