English Journal Excerpt

I promised I would start sharing journal entries (and a little other stuff) from my trip so I am going to try to paste the first one here before my ISP gets knocked out by this storm again. I enjoyed making these memories. I hope you enjoy reading them too.

Excerpts from an English Expedition Journal,
Part One

March 4: It’s been a nice, leisurely day. My flight doesn’t leave until 10:50 p.m. so I’ve had plenty of time to get all the little last minute details finished with no stress.

Correction: I thought it was without stress when I wrote the first entry. My second son J**** came to take me to the airport and thank heavens, he was early. Too early I thought at the time but this proved so not to be true. We discovered one of my suitcases was a few pounds overweight by weighing J**** with and without the case in his hand. Weirdly, Delta imposes wicked charges on a bag overweight by a few pounds, yet will let you take two that weigh 50 pounds each. Go figure!

No matter, this necessitated pulling stuff out of the larger one and packing it into a smaller case. That in itself wasn’t bad, but my only other one had jewelry, camera, medication and other things I wanted to carry with me on the plane. We hurried over to my son D**’s apartment (he was in California on business) and “appropriated” a backpack with wheels and quickly repacked. Finally done, we headed to Hartsfield still with time to spare.

I’d checked in online so things went swimmingly easy. Too easy. I was directed to the wrong gate and by the time I walked miles to the correct one, the plane was already boarding. What was supposed to be a partially filled cabin was brimming over due to an aborted flight to Munich. Seems there were mechanical problems and lots of folks were trying to get to Heathrow to make connections there instead of waiting for the next direct flight. We were boarded on time but wound up having to wait about 15 minutes for the Munich bound folks’ luggage before we could take off.

March 5: The flight was smooth, even arriving about half an hour before the projected time of 12:15 p.m. GMT but wait time for a free terminal caused us to deplane a few minutes after then. The only real glitch coming over was a gabby seatmate who hogged the supposedly shared armrest and talked. And talked. All. Night. Long. Seven hours of constant chatter revealed way TMI about someone I didn’t know. I’m grateful I forgot his name by the time I left the plane but I still remember some of the gritty details. Yuk!

I was fatigued when we landed but I’m not sure how much was from jet lag and not sleeping and how much was due to the incessant chatter. R***** was waiting for me though and we stopped about halfway to Chelmsford for tea and sandwiches at a beautiful old hotel dining room. Well, he had tea but I opted for Diet Coke. The food was good as was the service. The service part was a pleasant surprise because I’d heard from natives as well as outsiders that food service in the UK is not usually that great.

We’re in Chelmsford now and just had a light supper (after a quick bath to rid myself of airline “aura.”) R****** has a nice home. His front garden (yard) is postage stamp size like most here but the back garden is much larger and both are neatly kept with flowers blooming in both. His home is decorated in beautiful, inviting colors that feel warm and welcoming and comfortable, but I have to admit having faucets that turn counterclockwise threw me a little. Wonder how long it will take me to adjust to that!

He’s already cleared a dresser and closet for me in the guest room but I think I’ll wait until morning to finish unpacking. I’ve taken out what I need short term and the rest can stay in the suitcases until tomorrow. I’m so tired I wouldn’t know where I put anything anyway so it’s off to bed for now. We’re going to use tomorrow to relax and let me rest up from the trip before we start visiting around and sight seeing. Good night, John Boy, good night Mary Ellen, good night Elizabeth...