Week 1 back in the UK (13th-20th July)

It appears that nine months in a different time zone makes getting over jet lag quite tricky.   That must be why, despite feeling absolutely exhausted and having achieved only about 5 hours sleep over the last 36 hours, Simon and I were in the ‘wide-awake’ club until at least 3am on our first night back. This pattern continued over the next few nights.  But still, a tiny price to pay for 9 months of awesomeness!

The first couple of days back consisted of the usual post-holiday stuff, just on a larger scale – unpacking, getting through a stack of mail and starting on some admin to try and reclaim some money for baggage and unused American road tax for example.

Ralph being all obedient with Ann at agility class

It’s great to see Ralph so happy and I’m reassured to see how enamoured Simon’s Mum, Ann, is with him.  The guilt of leaving them with the burden of looking after an additional hound was increased when we heard, only a matter of weeks after we had left, their beloved golden retriever, Caspar, had to be put to sleep.  This would have left Ray and Ann free from the ties of owning a mutt had it not been for the fact that they were now responsible for Ralph and everything he entails – daily walks, trips to the vets and not being able to leave the house for more than four or five hours at a time.  No matter how you look at it, dogs are a massive tie.  But Ann enrolled her and Ralph onto some agility classes and their friendship is going from strength to strength.  I went along to their Thursday night session to witness the spectacle for myself. 

Safe to say, I was very impressed with them both.  Ralph for actually doing what he was told and Ann for having the energy to run around an agility course with him!  Plus, they both seemed popular with the staff and other owners who were keen to tell me how much progress they had made since they joined the classes. Maybe leaving Ralph with the Newmans isn’t too painful for them after all…?

Simon got busy very quickly sorting us out some temporary wheels.  Having sold both of our cars before heading to the States and with Simon’s parents’ one car being in very regular demand we would need something to tide us over until we head off again so we wouldn’t be over-reliant on a parent-taxi!  As luck would have it, Simon had spotted a ‘run around’ car up for sale on Facebook because the owners were relocating to Canada.  A sixteen-year-old silver Corsa with boot space for the dog and 80,000 miles on the clock would do us just fine.  So, after a little haggling on the price and sorting insurance, we were back in business and on the British roads within three days of getting back.  Driving on the left and using a manual gearbox came back to us both like riding a bike.  It may not be the smartest or quickest car in the world but as long as it gets us from A-B and for only a couple of hundred quid, that’ll do.

We may have been in hiding until Saturday night but that didn’t stop us from arranging a low-key reunion with some of our closest friends on the Friday.  It also gave us the opportunity to hatch plans for how we were going to arrive at the party the next night and surprise the Birthday boy.

Saturday 15^th July came and, despite a few last minute near-misses, it appears that we managed to keep off the radar.  We wanted to wait until the party would be in full swing for our arrival and the plan was to pretend to call Andy’s wife from the States to wish him Happy Birthday whilst sneaking into the building to surprise him in person.  It went pretty much to script.  Whether or not he had an inkling that there was something going on as he claimed we’ll never know, but there is no doubting that he was overwhelmed to see his brother make it to his 40^th Birthday party.  Simon had told him straight that we wouldn’t be there because we couldn’t afford to change our flights.  I had a lump in my throat as we were welcomed by so many friends and family members who were also completely in the dark about our return.  A great night was had by all, even if it did descend into the typical family party event…. Yes, I am talking about ‘Oops upside your head’!

We managed to rein ourselves in enough to prevent serious hangovers the following day.  We had a rare family meal with my side of the clan on Sunday 16^thin the Midlands.  Having completely missed the 2016 gathering due to running late which in turn lead to us getting marooned on the M1 when a lorry jack-knifed blocking the entire carriageway, the pressure was on this year to make it!  We successfully arrived first, taking with us our trusty USA road Atlas to make explaining our activities of the last 9 months easy and they were going to be told about it whether they liked it or not!  It was good to see my Aunt, cousins and their families.  We may only get together every year or two because of geography and everyone’s busy lives, but when we do, we do it properly and everyone thankfully gets on well.

A chaotic and sociable first weekend back setting the stall for the next few months.  Unfortunately for them, most of our friends and family have to work Monday to Friday so we will have to make the most of our weekends to cram in visits whilst we can.  The weekdays are a different matter.  Time to get back to the gym, get some serious dog walking in and see what unemployed people fill their days with…. Shouldn’t be too hard!