back home....

.. head still full of Mum and Dad... it was a truly special week.... got back yesterday afternoon - found my Mum's walking stick in my car when I got to Liverpool! - today has been quite a hard working day ... called round with a bacon butty for Rob - as he has no kitchen - and ended up working with him to tile the kitchen floor! We worked well together - the pressure is building up - he goes to Croatia a week on Saturday - and the house is still serious 'work in progress' - though after today he does have a tiled kitchen floor!!

But it was lovely to be helpful.. cos I've not really done anything on his house - and he has done so much... on his own.. he has never really done much DIY - so to completely gut and refurbish a house in 2 months is pretty impressive - and a lot of hard work - I think he has really missed his dad - as Chris was a great person - 'to be there' - when you needed him - to talk through stuff etc and I haven't been there for Rob - too busy flitting around the world - doing my own thing - also in some ways - Rob had to do this on his own....

Yes .. am so proud of Rob... also know that we have (as does he) unresolved stuff - but also love the fact that we are just getting on and living life with this knowledge - recognising that we can 'cat and dog' very easily - though neither of us knowing quite why... and hey maybe we will never know ...... and that sounds like a way forward!

So - here I am daughter - and mother - doing both the best I can - but also recognising that I have to be me first - can only do the other two when I am happy being me.........

Healing.............

....tonight - my beautiful Father - a man of few words these days - because he is so deaf - just couldn't stop talking .... for wonderful hours - he just talked and talked and talked....... about his childhood, his parents, his brother and sisters, his friends, his uncle and other members of his family, his early married life, his daughters, his life, his regrets.... it was a truly wonderful night...... feel very overwhelmed by it .... but also feel it was a night of healing for him and for my Mum ... who listened ... she didn't always want to ... and that was part of my role to over-rule her ..... so my lovely Dad talked and talked and talked.... and me and my Mum listened to him.... buffffffffff.

Loving this.....

.... life feels very fragile - and am very conscious of this.... have had wonderful deep conversations with both my parents - and my lovely cousin Lizzie - the fragility is the time - so short - our human lives - and the sense of opportunity - to be here - and to be able to have these conversations...... wonderful.

Last night I talked with my Mother in a way I have never done before .. totally honestly and totally open - both of us - really really beautiful. I had been dancing in Totnes with Lizzie - her first time and a pretty intense session to start with! My parents had waited up for me and my Mum just really wanted to talk - so we did !!!!!! The dance had left me very open and I think my Mum saw this and wanted to come with me - there are lots of ways of describing our conversation - and they are just that - descriptions - what I want to say is what it 'felt' like - which was such a precious feeling of how both of us were totally connected - it was truly wonderful (full of wonder.)

Today was lovely - one lost walking stick and a bit of a slow start - but the strong sense of rightness and treasuring of the joy of today - conversations, closeness, details which if not right are wrong! - eating together and a lot of laughter - buffff - holidays with nonagenarians are something else!!!!

Poignant day ....

Finding this very emotional - and I'm just doing this for a week - recognised today - that I have friends who have put their whole lives on hold whilst they cared for their elderly parents - made me feel very humble - and in genuine awe at the sacrifices they made.

I suppose I am also feeling very close to my parents mortality - everytime they climb the stepladder stairs to the 'Crows Nest' - for a start!! - also trying to treasure every moment of preciousness - like going to the pub with my Dad - and yes he did the stairs after 2 pints - amazing!!!! The joy of cooking for them - loving their appetite - wasn't really too worried when my Mum got lost this morning - it's been a long day!!!

But wonderful 1st, 2nd and 3rd cousins being here and being family - that's special - being close - by being open - buffff!

bufff emotions....................

Am in Devon with my amazing and very elderly parents - lots and lots of emotions involved with this - on so many levels - which also includes lots of hard to face stuff.

Where I am and where they are - their current total dependence on me - as they are in such a completely strange environment - but also so up for it - and embracing and coping with this - I do love them so much for this - my Mother's wonderful lack of recognition of the reality of their physical capabilities - my Father's humour - harsh - and poignant - the knowledge that I will never have another holiday like this in my life.........................

Details - a completely inappropriate house - on three levels with galley like stairs - wonderful views - but down a cobbled pathway - with no parking........ an amazing house of seafarers with flags and barometers and model ships - but for two frail elderly people - bufff bonkers!!!! - so glad I am here - this would have just been impossible without me - and my Mother's recognition of this - was not easy for her - my Father's acceptance is inspirational.

So I am here - can't remember ever in my life feeling so needed - and what else can I say - think I will have to blogg more this week..............

Getting back to normal..................

........................but hey - what is normal? OK am in Liverpool - that's not always normal for me - and actually feel physically well - and that combination just hasn't been here for several weeks - so it is Sunday morning and I have new music - Jim brought a memory stick of music for me yesterday - which I am loving.

Yesterday was a lovely day - Jim and Rob came round for breakfast - early afternoon - and I cooked a huge fried breakfast and we did the quiz - with Alex and Lara in Cambridge via Skype - it was great - we just had the computer on the table and it was just like Alex was sat there - though he was on his lunch by then!

Then we decided what we will do at Christmas and New Year - as of course we no longer have a big family house to do things in - so we are all going to my parents for Christmas and then Rob, Alex and I will go to Lara's family in Gigon - so I spend ages booking flights - complicated as Rob will be coming from and going back to Croatia.

All change - he is going to work in Varazdin leaving on the 2nd of October - race is now on for him to finish his house before he goes - as that will be rented out - it's currently a shell - though it has now got central heating, water and electricity - which is an improvement on last week! Alex has to submit his PhD by the 30th of September - so the end of September is going to be another point of change for the Jenkins family. Except maybe for Jimmy who is starting his second year - and is just so laid back and happy - and looking so big and gorgeous - shortish hair and a beard!

So Friday night - I made dinner for Hector - we are now friends not teacher and student - we talked about the last nearly two years - as I spoke more to Hector during this time than anyone else - usually twice a week. We laughed at quite how bonkers I have been during this time - truly wonderfully bonkers!! He also said that I had been a good student and how much I had learnt which made me feel good - though I know I can talk in Spanish so much better - but still struggle to understand the spoken word - reading I'm getting a lot better at - well in terms of understanding the generality - booking flights on a Spanish website tested my skills yesterday - will you be taking a pet with you? - is not a standard Easyjet/Ryanair question!!!

Hector should have been leaving for India this weekend but is still in visa no man's land - but hopefully he will be going in a couple of weeks - that's another amazing thing - because when Dr Viswanathan said conversationally he was looking for a native Spanish speaker to head up Spanish in the VIT - I texted Hector and by 11 the next morning he had been offered the job!!! So we will always be good friends as our lives have now become really intertwined.

Saturday night out with Gilly - lovely as we hadn't talked for ages - and of course we did - drink wine and talk - wonderful - I am just so lucky to have such wonderful friends. Today it's family - a lunch for my Dad's 93rd birthday - can't help saying it - how lucky, lucky lucky am I.

So feeling very happy - recognise the responsibility that goes along with that - feel like I glow with happiness - I think that I do pass this to others - would like to think I do - have been thinking about this - consciously passing happiness back - the meaning of life!!!

Exhausted...

.... which is not surprising - also full of cold - came on yesterday - back home and it feels like the sleeping sickness of two weeks ago is back! Went to work but got Robbie to pick me up at lunch time and then I have just slept - he's staying here cos there is no electricity or water in his house - and he has made me chicken noodle soup and been very attentive - which I have been very appreciative of - when awake!!!

Well - last week in the Valley of Dreams - with Spirithorse has been absolutely amazing - and the reason I'm so exhausted is I didn't want to miss a precious second of it - so haven't slept more than a couple of hours a night for a few days. So know I must sleep this off and get back to work properly as I have a lot to do - with deadlines looming.

Spirithorse is going through a period of transition and there was much discussion and recognition of changes occurring. Although I have not been involved for so long - less than two years - I am very much part of the community/family - and that is truly extra-ordinary. Also the times when I meet Spirithorse folk are also extra-ordinary - EIs, Cauldron of Plenty, India - so no half measure or chit chat - straight to the heart and truthful speaking - fierce searching and pure truth. - a heady combination. Also so much fun!!!

Hours of wild dancing for several nights followed by early morning breakfast crewing - and working on the bucket chain to bring slate up to floor the Women's Lodge - has left me in a different place - a beautiful place - but a pretty knackered place!!

Good few days..

Though I have been in a strange place, sleeping hours everyday, waking up and being quite lucid, working for a couple of hours and then drifting off again. Love my new bed - we have really bonded!

In one of the books I read whilst away, the author discussed the three states of existence: Acceptance, Enjoyment and Enthusiasm - and when you are Present you are in one of these. So from the minute I realised I wasn't well - I actively tried to Accept it - and then that did lead, at times, to a state of Enjoyment - can't say I enjoyed the stomach cramps - but as I was trying to listen closely to my body - in a strange way I did! So won't say I am in a state of Enthusiasm for gastroenteritis but I have certainly Accepted being unwell and Enjoyed aspects of it - like my new bed - like being still - like accepting that the work will get done.....

So have decided to stay at home again today - am feeling a lot better but still quite fragile - have started to eat but only small amounts - but can hear my body saying - let's just take it gently Trish!!!

China was really the final leg of a whirlwind few months - very physically demanding as well as a roller-coaster of emotion, change and activity. Looking back I Accepted what was happening pretty well, Enjoyed most of it and was definitely Enthusiastic about parts of it! But roller-coasters have dips as well as peaks and they are important too - as these were the points where I went down and the only way out was to recognise and to feel from my core - gratitude for this life that I have been blessed with.

Teachers have helped and I love the Teachers in my life - and there are so many of them - I am increasingly seeing this - and yesterday when talking to someone - in Hong Kong - like you do! - I said 'Parents learn more from their children than they teach them.' And it was a beautiful moment - as both of us stopped - and from my perspective as a parent and his as a son - the world changed.

But apart from learning from my beautiful sons I am also learning so much from so many people and things around me - including this gastroenteritis bug!! I suppose I am consciously looking for teachers and am open to learning - and using time - like writing this blogg to recognise what I have learnt.

Wow wow wow - I just live in such an amazing world - we all do - learning is about being open - and being open is about being happy - and happiness comes through Accepting what we have, Enjoying what we have and being Enthusiastic for what we have - which cannot occur without total gratitude for what we have! Lucky lucky us!!!

..... and today four young men move into Cheltenham Avenue - my once family home......

Not well!!!!

I obviously picked up something - somewhere on my travels and after a period of time in denial - I have accepted that my body has to be given the time and rest to fight it!

Never have done 'not well' with any grace - Chris used to say I was an awful patient - and I can see why now - I fight my body rather than accepting that it just needs time to get better.

Went into work but left early afternoon as I finally accepted how rough I felt and I could also feel myself falling asleep. Back home I have been drifting in and out of sleep in a strange world. I had been popping Imodium for several days but last night found my homeopathic kit - I'd got for India- and took something - read the instructions carefully which said only take a second one if your body does not feel it is improving. so even though I felt rough all day I felt I was improving - but this evening I took a second one!!

Time to drift away again....................

Back from China.... and what time is it???????

... nearly 6.30 in the morning - so clearly time to cook and eat a huge breakfast from the strange things in my fridge and freezer and then blogg - well I have been awake for over three hours - and finally given up on sleep!!!

Jet lack combined with a buzzing brain is just not conducive for sleep - I was also ridiculously hungry!!

Rob picked me up and I got home 9.30ish last night - luggage to follow - my flight had spent 2 hours on the runway of Pudong airport, before an 11 hour flight and a mad dash across Schiphol - but hurray I'm home - somewhat spaced out - but joyful at being back in my beautiful little flat.

Well - what can I say about China......... well absolutely amazing will do for a start....... and absolutely amazing for a second and a third and wooooooow - it was amazing, I had a fantastic time, learnt so much, completely shifted my whole perspective on... well everything really.... yes - so a pretty huge learning journey!

OK - I did work - am now officially the Director of an International Centre for Excellence which was launched in the World Expo, Shanghai - that's pretty damn cool!! It was also a bit nerve-wracking - organising an event - so far away with a completely unknown audience etc etc - was actually brilliant - I had great support and my fellow speakers were fantastic and it all went very well, including being on Chinese telly. Like all these things - it is what they are perceived as - is actually more important than what they were - so the Centre has now been officially launched and this fact has now gone into the annals of history.

The rest of the time I took part in other University events and just had a huge opportunity to think and to talk and to reflect on my work from the other side of the world. In one of the books I read - I was going to look for quote but still in an airport somewhere in my bag! - the author talked about travel and being out of 'normality' having an accelerating effect on embracing change and all that goes along with that. I've known this for a long time - I think - and I always say to the TRiO students you learn more about yourself and where you've come from whilst you're in Liverpool than actually about Liverpool. But being in China I was very conscious of the process - that might also just be where I am - increasingly conscious of the process of change as I embrace it.

I also spent some great times with friends and colleagues, old and new - the all you can drink cocktail happy hour (2 hours) on the 40th floor of the Marriott - with the most stunning view of Peoples Park and central Shanghai was well used!!!! I also went dancing twice in nightclubs - one on the night of the launch - when I was as high as a kite and dressed in one of my Indian outfits, which later on I realised people thought was Chinese National Dress!!! So the newly launched Directora had an amazing few hours dancing on a third tier podium, with anyone who would dance with me, or just on my own, in Chinese National Dress, in a huge techno club, no-one batted an eye and I had a ball!!!!!!!!

So back to Liverpool - wonderful - grateful and happy - looking forward to seeing and talking to friends and family - and yes maybe some sleep sometime would be nice - I'm tempted to go for a run round the park - but think on top of such a big breakfast I'd be pushing it - so maybe back to bed!!

In Hong Kong!!!

Wow - feeling quite amazed by the whole place!

Mind only arrive this afternoon - but I've walked miles - through markets, streets and to the waterfront - I've been measured for a top and skirt and go for a fitting tomorrow for delivery on Monday, bought a camera from a funny little back street shop, taken some pretty awful picture, been absolutely bowled over by the view from the waterfront of Hong Kong island - at night - wow - amazing - had prawn dumplings and am now drinking Belgium beer - given to me by my two companions of last night - who made a long flight a lot of fun - I also managed to get put in the best seat in the plane - and we talked, drank wine, laughed and slept and had a great flight! Staying in a completely bizarre hotel and having a ball - ought to feel sleepy as it's nearly midnight here but my body clock is several hours behind!

So nothing new then - bufff - I am such an amazingly blessed person - to be here - to be making connections all the time - Friday morning before I left was also full of very strong Australian connections - and now when I see them - I do just go straight into connect mode and go pretty deep, very quickly - only way to be!

So hope the Belgium beer makes sleepy - but actually feeling very buzzy and happy - wow wow wow!!!!!!!!!!!

new bed and table

Three lovely firsts!!

First first! - am writing this sitting at my beautiful new table - made for me out of 150 year old oak - recycled beams! It is just stunningly beautiful - circular but with the two sides dropping down - really wonderful!

Second first - just been camping at Amanda and Gareth's - in my new bell tent - which is just amazing - I can stand up in it - and it even has a candelabra of different coloured glasses for tea lights - it also really easy to erect and get down and is slightly pink in colour - and I have fallen in love with it.

.... and third first - tonight I sleep in my new amazing bed - which also arrived on Friday - it is made from recycled wood - but only 100 year old oak! They were made in Yorkshire by a guy called Stuart and it is very special to have new furniture - that has been made exactly to my specifications and just for me - so very very pleased with this.

The weekend has been lovely - not sure quite how to describe it - but a weekend of friendship, feasting and joy - sort of sums it up!! All new friends in the sense that they are part of my new life - but feel very close to many of them and really value their presence in my life - they are just wonderful people - open, non judgemental and great fun - with a passion for dressing up!!! I wore some of my Indian clothes - have decided to take them to wear in China.

Wow - I'm going to Hong Kong on Friday - and then will be in China for a couple of weeks - buffff - another first - so many beautiful firsts and another euphoric blogg!!

hard evening.........

........sometimes life is hard ... even when you are a wonderfully blessed, happy and open person - aka transformed Tricia (Alegra) .... sometimes it is still very hard.

Had a really hard night ... not sure why.. probably the move and being the other side of so much change - finally hitting home - also reflected tonight on the night Chris died - triggered by something - and recalling and remembering that night ....and then talking that through with a lovely person - thank you...

Bufff - lots of stuff there!!

Okay - recognition of the fact that I am a wonderfully blessed, happy and open person - is just amazing - cos I haven't always been that person - bufff!!

Also am proud of the way we - as a family - me and the boys - how we were there for Chris's death - I'm proud of the way we did that - we were there - wonderfully there - for that last awful night, as he breathed his last - before dying......... bufff I am so proud of us - we did that so well!!

Then where am I now? - last night an unknown dancer asked me if something had happened to me yesterday - because I had danced so full of happiness - but I had just danced!! .........and intrigued by his question I asked other dancers - and apparently I dance with 'childlike happiness' - another big bufff here - cos I know I am myself when I dance - and I know I am very free and open when I dance - and I think they may be right- but I just dance!!!!!

OK so I recognise that I can be so happy - for example when I'm dancing - but also can go where I've been tonight which was pretty hard ...but I suppose that's what life is all about and the wonderful resistance of us - human beings - aren't we just amazing!!!!!!!!!!

back home...

... and it's feeling like home..... arrived lateish last evening after a lovely day in Vienna with Chris, Karoline and Deonne and then uncomplicated travel - though my suitcase has yet to arrive - but hopefully later today - which of course has within in a very large jar of honey - which I bought off a woman in the street in the middle of Friday night - it was one of those nights!!! It was one of those few days - magic!!!!!!

Talking to Karoline yesterday - about how we will be working/being together for at least the next 4 and a half years - friendship of course - but in many ways beyond that - my Viennese family - and it goes well beyond me - seeing Deonne in Vienna - watching her join - and I connected very strongly with Sonia and re-connected with others. We share a passion - I think that what connects us - and those who don't - who stand and watch us - can see our shared passion - as it whirls and twirls around us - the energy and joy of being together - whoooooo!

It was also amazing to be part of KinderUni 2010 - I learnt so much from doing that - I would have done my powerpoint completely differently - but that's good cos I now know what to do. What I can see clearly is that I really really want to do that again - with bigger groups of children. I have agreed to do it in Poland and again to a bigger group in Vienna - need to think through language - but I think with lots of pictures and key aspects translated and with someone to translate questions - it can be done with children who only have 2/3 years of English - wow aren't children just absolutely amazing.

The opportunity to spend time - like that with children - was just so good for me - and the whole big project - which of course is called 'Children as Change Agents' - this has yet to find a good German translation - but a child somewhere will come up with a good one soon!

Wonderful trip has filled me with energy - and this week my bed and table will arrive - made especially for me by Stuart - in an old mill in Yorkshire - the table has been made out of 140 year old wood - I'm so excited to see it - but hey I'm just so excited about life!!!!!!!!!!!

Being in Vienna

Just arrived after a long day of delayed and missed flights - but actually it worked well as I sorted out my presentation - which I have had translated into German and then, helped by Deonne, really thought through one of the last big questions I needed to answer re the EU project. I think so much better when I'm talking - well I can think on my own - but I really get so much out of having someone to bounce ideas off.

I was thinking about this on the second flight - about having a 'shared task' - it links back to connections.

A connection is just that a connection - BUT when a connection is joined by a 'shared task'/working together - it becomes an amazing opportuntity for creativity - (if it is allowed to) - BUT creativity itself doesn't go anywhere - but when ideas/creativity get put into action/motion they then become innovation - and that does change the world!!!!

I was also reading Paulo Coelho on the plane and in particular one thing that struck me: Seize every opportunity that life offers you because, when opportunities go, they take a long time to come back. Struck home to me that I have been living by this for quite a few years - probably consciously from 2000 - and that it is really important - not just for me the individual - but for the bigger plan of things - and that I have been seizing every opportunity that I am given - even tough ones like losing Chris - but seizing all opportunities with two hands, love and an open heart - and the more that I do this - the more opportunities I get offered!!!

Am excited about being in Vienna - because have had some of my best thinking with the Viennese recently - I just love it when I'm buzzing with ideas - and I am so privaleged to be me - surrounded by wonderful people - making connections both with work and friends - and seeing those connections bear fruit as creative ideas which then make things happen - like Hector going to India!!

It's quite late here - but not so late in UK and I'm wide awake - but how lucky am I am to be here - or to put it in another way to have been creative and made the most of the chance connections that I've made!!! Way to live!!

First full weekend in new flat.....

Could not have been better - 2 parties and a day of dancing!!

Feels like a bit of an oasis from work - which is very full on at the moment - the combination of launching the new Centre in Shanghai and negotiating a massive European project - crazy - but wonderfully crazy - but I can only do my best - so that's I am doing that - my best!

So first full weekend in new flat - was lovely - I am beginning to love this flat - went back to the house yesterday - which I was actually not looking forward to - but once there it was good - the house is a bit lonely cos it's not got tenants - but they will come.

But lovely weekend full of people - special people, some in my life - all their lifetimes like Sam and Jess - wonderful to see them - and also some new people - Hector's party and dancers.

Dancing all day - has left me wonderfully joyful. Andrew Holmes is an amazing teacher - and to dance deep, with like minded people - is just a room alive with dancers - energy and connections!!!!

Thinking a lot about connections at the moment - because they are very strong for me - have decided that all the connections - I have both old and new - have two important aspects - complete lack of expectations and absolutely no obligation.

Love this - I am increasingly connecting with more and more people - and I just do that - but I have no expectation that they will 'do'/'bring' anything into my life - they have to just be cherished for what they are - a connection.

The second aspect is a complete lack of obligation - people are not in my life because of what I will do for them - or what they will do for me - they are in my life because they are........ a connection.

....... and I just love them all - the ones that have been in my life for years and the new ones!!!!

Happy day today...... also used the name Alegra first time in public!!

buzzing!!!

It's late but I'm no where near sleeping - even though I have to be up early tomorrow - because I am just buzzing with energy!!

Just been out with this year's TRiO students - I was full of what my boys would call 'old hippy stuff' but got a real buzz from it! Tonight I also had a lovely long conversation - thanks to my free 300 minutes a month anywhere around the world phone deal! - with Bobbye in Houston - she was one of the very first group of Black Roots students - in 1998 and we have become good friends over the years.

Making and treasuring connections - which of course is what it is all about! Some individuals are wonderfully open and I got so much from talking with them - others more hesitant and though they seek - are locked in their own cage of thoughts unable to really engage with me - especially when I'm happily serene and more than a bit bonkers - but I also got so much from those conversations too! Had a bit of a dance and some excellent spicy chicken - so a really lovely night out - lots and lots of work tomorrow - starting with a very early call to Shanghai - ok - time for bed!

Wonderful sons!

Rob came round for tea tonight - and we talked about his future plans - which was great - and after he left I thought about how the changes I have been going through must have had an impact on my boys - and how brilliant they have been!!

If Chris hadn't of died - I would probably have been very similar to what I was 4 years ago - sensible married woman, wife and mother - not the very different woman that is their mother today.

This thinner, blonder, wilder woman, lives the life of a single woman, a dancer with different friends, more spiritually aware and much more open to everything - including seizing every wonderful new opportunity that passes her way - etc - wow way to live and loving it!!!

But from my sons point of view this really cannot have been easy for them - mothers are just not supposed to have so much fun!!! But they have just been so wonderful coping with me - really supporting me - for example when I decided to move out of the house - they never once said 'Are you sure about this Mum?' They just said 'If it's what you want - we'll help you do it.' And they have - every step of the way.

Just had an email from Jim - he's in Ljubljana - one of my favourite cities with some mates - going onto Varazdin - which will be great - amazing how that city is part of my life - Alex is in Cambridge - moved in with Lara - his plan to move back to Liverpool being thwarted by the fact that there was no house to move back too! And Rob leaving his job in 11 days time and then a whole new life to lead - my three boys are also going through big changes.

But I think we all are - our world is changing so fast - and we must all embrace changes or be suffocated by them - I increasingly think that most important thing we can teach our children is how to embrace and love change - they will be the survivors.....

in my new home....

... is still a bit strange - I suppose because I've moved but not actually lived here for the majority of time I've moved out of Cheltenham Avenue - and then there is just so much happening in my life!!!

I also don't feel that I've actually left Cheltenham Avenue - I suppose that will grow on me as I come back here - from work - nights out - being away - the shops - just normal stuff - living - so I guess when it hits me that I actually live here - I will realise that I no longer live there!!! Well it makes sense to me.....

Still so much stuff to do - the 21st century slug trail of addresses and links which need to be moved and tidied - how many things have my address on them - passport, driving licence etc etc.....

My old email address was also closed today - just stuff - but stuff that needs to be sorted!!

Got my Internet working - achievement - hence blogg - which is good - not yet sorted out the washing machine - though a trip to Tescos has meant that I have food in the house - and great new phone package means I can talk to people around the world - 300 free minutes a month - just talked to Rene - so have started!!!!