We nearly started out disastrously here in London. Last weekend, my brother and his family were in Seattle from California for a wedding. My brother became so sick with some kind of awful stomach thing that he was unable to attend the wedding, and instead lay around hardly moving on Saturday evening, and then staggered onto the plane Sunday morning. Very scary to three people about to take a nine-hour flight! He felt sick at home for two days, finally getting up and around on Tuesday. ACK.
Alaina and Claire and I had an uneventful flight starting at 7 p.m. on Monday, and it actually didn't seem to last forever (by some miracle, since none of us slept a wink). We tried from 10-11:30 to sleep, using earplugs, eyemasks, and neck pillows. We were even in an upgraded seat level for the flight here (World Traveller Plus) that gave us more legroom, additional reclining, and pop-up leg rests. To no avail. We ended up frustrated and tired at nearly midnight, with the girls almost in tears feeling the beginnings of restless leg syndrome.
So I said cheerfully, "Okay! We tried to sleep, and it didn't work. So let's watch movies all night." The girls got out their video Ipods, each with about twenty of their favorite movies, put on their noise cancelling headphones, and happily settled in. Every time they asked me what time it was after that, they were amazed that another hour and a half had passed so painlessly, and that they were still wide awake and cheerful.
At three a.m., the lights came on and breakfast was served, a disappointing egg-sized cold meat and cheese sandwich, yogurt, and orange juice in a box, made more disappointing by the sounds and smells of those in First Class one row ahead of us eating eggs and sausage on actual plates with real forks and knives. But we had brought lots of snacks, so we didn't starve.
Descent and landing were miserable. No movies to distract us from our exhaustion, and we all felt the beginning of nausea from lack of sleep.
As soon as we arrived at Heathrow and were walking out, we felt much better. Getting through immigration was a breeze, and took about five minutes. I wasn't sure where we were meeting David, so I called him on my cell phone, imagining charges like a dollar a second for the call. It was great to see him after twenty years.
We drove an hour to get to their house in Anerley, south of London. David and Sandra babysit their grandchildren on Tuesdays, so the girls had fun playing with three-year-old Amy and seven-year-old Ben. We all napped for about an hour so that we'd have some hope of staying up until a normal bedtime.
Richard, the Hynes' son who was nine the last time I saw him, came to pick up his children at 6:30, and we after we talked for a while and he left, we headed out to dinner at a four hundred year old pub in Kent called the White Bear.
The girls enjoyed the drive through tiny narrow roads lined with high green hedges. Claire said it was like driving through a garden maze. Unfortunately, I felt worse with every passing mile down the road. I felt as though I was holding a goldfish bowl, and my stomach was a ping pong ball floating in it. By the time we'd stopped, it was difficult to get out of the car and walk in. We sat inside and had a drink while I turned increasingly pale, until I finally admitted apologetically that I needed to be home lying down as soon as possible.
Not good! I had visions of lying in bed for two days with a stomach bug instead of seeing all the sights we'd planned to see in London. If I hadn't been concentrating every second on willing my stomach to calm down, I would have been pretty depressed.
David drove us straight home, dropping us off so he cuold run out and pick up fish and chips to bring back for everyone else, while I gingerly made my way up to my cozy third floor bedroom. Sandra and the girls made sure I had everything I needed, and then left me to try to sleep. How very wonderful it was to have a sweet grandmother feeding the girls dinner instead of having them snacking on trip food in a hotel room!
I tell you, I did a LOT of praying last night! I finally fell asleep, waking up three hours later without having moved an inch.
And I felt MUCH better! My faith in the power of prayer was renewed, and I was filled with joy. WHEW.
Of course it was just after midnight London time. So I took a Benadryl and was able to sleep until 6:30. I'm the first one up, and it was nice to be able to type at David's computer in the quiet.
I didn't have the strength to ask someone to bring my camera in from the "boot" of the car last night, so I'll upload some pictures later.
Our plan is to go to museums in South Kensington all day. We'll catch a train to town about ten minutes from here as soon as we're ready for the day.
Kathy