We landed on schedule, just before 9am to an unsurprising
overcast day at Heathrow. Our lift, Si’s
Dad, timed our collection perfectly so that we could grab a coffee before
meeting him and heading off. I remember
dreading being reunited with the British roads after the spacious and empty
American roads, but thankfully the M25 behaved itself today and we made it back
to Rochford for 1130am. As we approached
the house, out came Simon’s Mum, Ann, along with our spaniel, Ralph for a
reunion in the street. I had my concerns
that Ralph would have forgotten us in the last nine months but he seemed
pleased enough to see us. This was despite him having been dressed up in
ribbons with A4 posters of himself tied to his sides as decoration! He had no idea what was going on and you know
what dogs are like? I don’t know if the
welcome we got was precisely the same as if we’d popped to the shops for ten
minutes! Ralph appeared to have gained some
weight during our time away but was clearly very happy.
It was great to be reunited with another important part of
my life that I had missed dearly – a decent cup of tea! We both felt a little ‘vague’ due to the time
difference and lack of sleep. The plan
to defeat the jet lag was to allow ourselves a couple of hours nap before
forcing ourselves to stay awake until a reasonable UK hour. The first part worked like a charm, I was
even able to join Ann for a dog walk. Then we were spoilt by being given a roast
dinner before I knuckled down to try to catch up with this blog – no rest for
the wicked!
It is probably just as well whilst we are jetlag zombies…
but we are 'in hiding' until the weekend.
We have been in cahoots with Simon’s sister-in-law for months in order
to surprise Simon's brother, Andrew, at his 40th Birthday party this
Saturday night, the 15th. It
means that we have resisted the usual temptations of social media updates and
photos indicating our return. A few
people are in the know, but we are still trying to create the impression that
we remain Stateside. Hence, I have been
posting belated sandwich updates on Facebook to cover up the fact we are
back! Sneaky, eh?!
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