Friday 25th August
Cooler today as we wake to say our early goodbyes to Calista and Justin, these guys are on the go it seems 24/7 up early around 6am and out for band practice then home briefly around 5-6pm then out again an hour later to another party. The energy of the young, don’t remember having such energy myself at that age.
Next to depart are Abbey and Cadence off to summer camp not so energetic these two looking more like they could crawl back into bed. Camp it must be though, cost of sending the kids to these summer camps must be restrictive but most kids go especially when young, sort of like child care with entertainment.
Only Aubrey remains, happy to have the day to herself, she likes her socialising but likes her own time too! Troy is working from home today, essentially so that he can see us off, Heather too is coming home early to say her goodbyes.
We finish off our final packing, then spend the morning with Troy until Heather returns around midday. We sit outside chatting on the patio, the humidity now has completely disappeared, replaced by a cooler air temperature that is refreshing after the past weeks heat. Amanda hungry decides to have a snack, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich her last meal on US soil harks back to her childhood.
Fifteen minutes ahead of time our ride arrives to take us to Philadelphia airport for the next leg of the trip. We say our final sad goodbyes with lingering hugs to Troy, Heather and Aubrey, then load ourselves into the car to be whisked away through quiet suburban Holland and surrounding suburbs until we eventually meet up with the i95 that takes us towards the more densely populated outer suburbs of Philadelphia and the airport. The traffic flows pretty well as sometimes up to nine lanes feed vehicles in and out of the city. The road works are minimal today making the ride an easy one. Once at the airport checkin through British airways is a breeze, as is security except here we have to remove shoes, hats and laptops before a body scan, then on to the British airways lounge where we can relax for a couple hours before our flight.
The Boeing 737 flight is a little delayed but we are soon on our way, there is a strong tail wind reducing our flight time by an hour, a result of the hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Dinner is served, an over cooked piece of beef with chorizo spiced potato rosti, some cheese and a glass of Australian Barossa Cabernet. We settle down for the night on the seats that lay flat at a touch of a button. The cabin temperature again is cold so the blanket provided put to good use. In four hours we will touch down in merry old England for eight days of sightseeing and fun.
Saturday 26th August
Three hours of sleep and we are awakened as we make our approach to Heathrow airport, the local time 6.00am. Breakfast of yoghurt and muffins is served plus an unappetising looking bacon roll. We are not used to having breakfast shoved in our face at what to us is 3.30am in the morning. The flight was shorter than the usual trans Atlantic crossing due to that tail wind, but landing is another story, the ground is busy with planes arriving at a rate of knots, we have to go into a holding pattern while ground control clears the circling birds in front of us. After three Heathrow aerial loops we are told we can land, down we go to a shuddering landing. We disembark, the airport is busy, very busy, we descend several floors by escalator, then a crowded shuttle train and a walk to baggage claim. I decided to use my British passport to enter the UK this time, because Amanda is entering on her Australian we are shunted to a long queue of aliens, bypassing the electronic system. I notice a board that advises we could have registered Amanda as a foreign entrant, that would have speeded things up, but no one tells you these little bits of important information. Thankfully the line is fast moving and after ten to fifteen minutes of shuffling along we are through to collect our luggage.
Our ride is there waiting, he looks at our luggage, sizing it up, that has me worried, but the bags fit easily in his Mercedes E class sedan. As we leave the airport the sky is crisscrossed with hundreds of jet streams an indication of the flights coming and going across London. We are soon on our way towards London, traffic is light, early Saturday mornings the reason I am guessing. We cross the Thames via the ornate Hammersmith bridge making our way through the leafy suburbs of Merton. Up in front of us is a red London bus with a number etched in my memory the 93, that as a kid took me most places I needed to go, the bus is more modern than I remember though. Our driver has a slight malfunction as we near our hotel, Cannizzaro House, we end up passing my old school that I instantly recognise then turn into a blind alley. I have to redirect him back down the road and in the direction of the hotel that is just around the corner. I tell the driver I haven’t visited this area since 1983 but lived here from 1955 to 1961 he is impressed, that I still know the way, just quietly so am I.
We check into the hotel and are shown to our room, “The Oak Room” is as it’s name suggests heavily panelled in dark oak, with a stone fireplace that has a beautifully hand carved oak surround. Portrait paintings of 17th century figures hang from the walls, leather high back armchairs are a feature. It’s all very old English, just want we expected of the former home built in the mid 1700’s and mostly leased from the early 1800’s to Sicilian Francis Platamone, Count St. Antonio and his Scottish wife Sophia.
The enormous bed beckons, we crawl into it not waking for another five hours. I wake to warm summers day and try to fix our mobile phone connection issues spending an hour talking to T-mobile before we are finally connected, although the the connection is not very satisfactory. Amanda sleeps on, but I wake her to try and put her back on track. We book dinner in the hotels restaurant, that faces west over the beautiful park that the house is set on. As the sun slowly sinks in the sky we toast our arrival in England with a glass of champagne then enjoy a beetroot and goat cheese appetiser, chicken liver parfait and a chicken Cobb salad main course. Wine is an Italian Verdicchio served in a small carafe. We have room for dessert, chocolate ice cream for the princess, and an afogato, hot espresso coffee poured over vanilla ice cream for me.
Back to the room we try to catch-up on some news, particularly the hurricane affecting the Gulf of Mexico, but there is not a lot of information available, before turning in for the night.