Last weekend saw Phil fulfilling his Springtime urge to slog along 26.1 miles of tarmac. As always he was 'not fit' and 'feeling very slow' and then proceeded to complete it in the amazing time of 3.05 hours coming 13th. Not quite London marathon organisation but very impressive. The race was run along largely main roads including the Kathmandhu road – so Tata trucks, buses, taxis, tractors and cows all charging past (well except the cows – those are obstacles to keep your mind alert). Officials at strategic points were trying to hold back the masses but every now and again they would lose the fight and traffic would pile across a junction whilst some poor runner tried to scramble through – does nothing for your PB time!

The last week has been frustrating. We were meant to be in the mid-west of Nepal just now visiting other INF projects but due to general strikes and a lot of unrest in that area it is impossible to travel and we have stayed put for now. Many people in the Terai, the strip of land to the south of Nepal along the boarder with India are feeling under-represented in the new governmental arrangements so are dealing with it in the only way they know how – blocking roads and threatening anyone who tries to travel. This quickly has a major impact: Nepal's gas and petrol come from India by road and blocking the roads quickly leads to shortages.

Evie is now crawling forwards in a kind of belly / commando style with associated grunts – not attractive but very effective. If sound effects are anything to go by, she'll make a great tennis player! It gets her where she wants to be amazingly quickly. She also makes her own way walking round a low table we have. She has put on a sudden growth spurt and I have now found it impossible to contain her quietly within a 2 foot square space at church.

The coming week will be our last in full time language learning. It has been a great four months, getting a basic understanding of Nepali, learning a whole new script, making friends and settling down to life in Nepal. There is a whole lot more to learn, we are happy here and really looking forward to starting work.