Alyssa did not sleep at all last night. She was complaining about her tooth hurting. I eventually found myself standing in TESCO at 5:00am to see if I could find some Tylenol or Ibuprofen. I stared at cold medicines, stomach medicines, allergy medicines, but no acetiminiphin. “What do they use for simple pain relief?!” I thought with frustration. I finally found something that looked like liquid Tylenol, but it was called paracetamol. What is this? I later found that this is ANOTHER name for acetiminiphin. Why don’t they name them the same thing?
I came home from my medicine adventure to find Alyssa had finally gone to sleep. Yeah! However, she woke 2 hours later and her lip above the sore tooth and cheeks were very swollen. The swelling even affected her left eye making it look like she had a shiner. I felt so bad for her! I gave her some Ibuprofen and that seemed to take away the pain and she went back to sleep. We got a quick appointment for her up at Lakenheath, but it is about a 45 minute drive from Hardwick. Dale shoved Alyssa and I out the door a little before 8:00am and we headed for Lakenheath while Dale searched for a bus to taken him to work in Brampton. We made it up to the base by 8:59am thanks to Cambridge traffic. We hustled to make our 9:00am appointment. At 9:30 we were still in the waiting room so I called Dale. The 9:10 bus never came so he had to take a bus into Cambridge and then take another bus out of Cambridge to Brampton. I think it took him nearly two hours to make it to work.
As for us, Alyssa’s tooth was in bad shape. It was a permanent front tooth, but not fully developed (as explained by the dentist). She needed a root canal, but they could not do a full one since the tooth was not mature enough to fix. They ended up doing an abbreviated root canal so that they could inject medicine into the tooth and hope it would stabilize enough to mature. When they gave her the first novicane shot, I think the entire base heard her scream and that was one of two. My heart was in my throat and I felt so helpless. I know how much those hurt and I know that her love of the dentist was ruined.
We arrive home nearly five hours later. Alyssa slept until dinner and when she woke up she thought it was morning time and that she had missed Halloween. She cried for 5 minutes before I could convince her that the sun was not rising, it was setting.
Everyone made it out for a little trick or treating. We had a lot of trick or treators and we ran out of candy. We got the kids little Halloween buckets which turned out not to hold much candy. Yeah! The candy they did get was unlike any brands of candy that I had ever seen. It was very interesting.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
Search for furniture
Two weeks have passed, but it feels like we have been here for months. Today we have to find some furniture for the house since we are getting tired of sitting on the floor. Dale is staying home from work today so that we can continue our search for furniture. We did not manage to find any yesterday, so we plan to go up to another RAF base to try to find a couch and chairs. We also plan to register for doctors and dentistry at RAF Lakenheath. Alyssa has been complaining about a tooth for the past two days, so we need to get dental arrangements made.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Felixstowe
We went to Felixstowe, a port town on the east shore of England touching the North Sea. It was cool, overcast and windy, but still a nice day. It took about 1 hour 20 min. to drive there. The beaches were covered with rocks, with about 10 feet of sand leading into the water. This was before the tide came in and it came quickly. We arrived around noon and departed around 4:00 and in that time, the tide had covered all the sand. The town itself was up on a tall hill over looking the Sea. To get there from the boardwalk (actually a cement walk), you had to walk up several sets of steps or go up a VERY steep street. Along the walkway next to the beach, we saw a series of small houses that were probably 8 ft. X 8ft. They looked like little storage sheds and they ranged in colors and had names on them. We guessed that they might contain a family’s beach umbrellas. We soon came upon some old photographs of the beach on a community bulletin board. In the pictures, it looked like the houses had been moved to the beach side of the cement walkway. Each house had a little fabric dividers that stretched six feet in front of each of the houses to provide a private area for the family of that little house. People were sitting on chairs in front of their houses, having picnics and there was room inside the little house for people to get away from the sun. Pretty clever since the beach slopes down to the sea and there is very little sand to play with when the tide comes in.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Day 10
Today, I got my ID card to get on the military bases for grocery shopping. We also traded in our rental car for another one. We are still trying to figure out how we are going to manage our car situation since we only get a small daily stipend for a car. Renting cars is too expensive in the long term, so we have to figure out a way to get a long term lease or buy a car. We have no idea how we are going to manage this, so another rental will postpone this process until we have a chance to do a little more research. We are supposed to get our internet access on Friday, so I am hoping that I will get a chance to read up on car options once that happens.
We also got our checking account today! Yeah! Now we can start organizing our life. We can get a cell phone, pay for our utilities, sign up for activities, etc. Everything here requires a direct debit account. Without that, you are stuck paying cash for everything and most of the time that is not acceptable. If we did not have access to military facilities, we would really be stuck. The regular banking system does not allow us to get a bank account until we have 3 months of utility bills and we cannot get three months of utility bills until we have a direct debit set up. Everyone here acknowledges that it is a problem, but no one can offer a solution.
We also got our checking account today! Yeah! Now we can start organizing our life. We can get a cell phone, pay for our utilities, sign up for activities, etc. Everything here requires a direct debit account. Without that, you are stuck paying cash for everything and most of the time that is not acceptable. If we did not have access to military facilities, we would really be stuck. The regular banking system does not allow us to get a bank account until we have 3 months of utility bills and we cannot get three months of utility bills until we have a direct debit set up. Everyone here acknowledges that it is a problem, but no one can offer a solution.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
The first bus ride...
I looked out onto the patio this morning and it was still wet from yesterday. I don’t think anything truly dries here. The sun has shown its face a few times since we got here, but never stays for long. It rained most of the day on Sunday and has intermittently since we arrive here. I understand now where England gets it reputation of a rainy place. It is cloudy most of the day. I am trying not to let it get to me, but with another day of no car, no bike, no internet, no stuff, no school to look forward to, my outlook is pretty grim. I am going to try to figure out the bus system today and try to find a library for me and the kids. I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time waiting since I don’t know the bus schedule, but I am going to try!
As predicted…
I figured out the bus schedule for the stop at the top of the street. The kids and I packed a lunch and we went to the top of the street to wait. We waited about 2 minutes and a bus arrived. I was so excited that we found a bus so soon! We waited 45 minutes for a bus when we were trying to return from Cambridge over the weekend. We hopped on and found out that the bus was going to the Tesco in Bar Hill. I knew there was a library right next door, so we happily set off in that direction. As we got off at the Tesco parking lot, I was bombarded with requests for Halloween costumes. Being that we are days away from Halloween with no costumes, I told them we would go take a look before going to the library. They skipped into the store and rushed straight to the Halloween costumes. They both had already scoped out which costumes they wanted the last time we visited Tesco, so in less than 15 minutes we had two costumes selected. Nathan was going to be a sorcerer and Alyssa was going to be an angel with a fluffy, sparkly halo.
We packed up the costumes along with a few more clothes for school and we headed for the library. Upon arriving at the library, we found out that it is closed on Tuesdays. Our disappointment last only a few minutes since the library was right next to a big park and playground. We headed over to the park and the kids played for about an hour.
The weather was windy and overcast making the day a little chilly. Alyssa and Nathan suddenly decided that the park time was over and they were very anxious to try on their costumes. Looking at the time, it was 12:45. I had overheard the bus driver tell one of the passengers that the next bus time was 12:20 which was an hour after our drop off. I assumed that the bus must run hourly, so I explained to the kids that we would probably have to sit at the bus stop for 40 minutes until the next bus. They both were so interested in their Halloween costumes that they said they did not mind the wait. So, we waited… and waited… and waited. It turns out that there was only ONE bus that came back to that stop that went by our town and we had missed it. We asked each bus driver as the buses pulled into the stop if they went through Hardwick. They all said no. We asked at least 8 bus drivers about their routes. Pretty soon, we started to see the same buses again. The kids kept pushing me toward all the arriving buses begging me to ask the drivers which way they were going. I did not want to ask since I did not want to hear them say no again, but I asked for the kids. Finally, I had to explain to the kids that our bus was not coming. It was 2:00 in the afternoon and we had to figure out a way to get home. I looked around the parking lot to see if I saw any taxis, but none were in sight. I walked into the Tesco and sheepishly asked one of the security people watching the exit alarms if they could give me a number for a taxi. The first number I called just rang and rang with no answer. The second, the taxi service said they were not available until 4:00. The thought of waiting for another two hours just about made me cry. I then called Dale at work. I explained that we were stuck at Tesco and that we had no prospects of getting home anytime soon. He said that he planned to come home a little early since we had to go grocery shopping at the commissary anyway. We were saved! ONLY 30 more minutes of waiting! We were so excited. When he picked us up 30 minutes later, I was so excited to leave the bus stop, I was giddy.
As predicted…
I figured out the bus schedule for the stop at the top of the street. The kids and I packed a lunch and we went to the top of the street to wait. We waited about 2 minutes and a bus arrived. I was so excited that we found a bus so soon! We waited 45 minutes for a bus when we were trying to return from Cambridge over the weekend. We hopped on and found out that the bus was going to the Tesco in Bar Hill. I knew there was a library right next door, so we happily set off in that direction. As we got off at the Tesco parking lot, I was bombarded with requests for Halloween costumes. Being that we are days away from Halloween with no costumes, I told them we would go take a look before going to the library. They skipped into the store and rushed straight to the Halloween costumes. They both had already scoped out which costumes they wanted the last time we visited Tesco, so in less than 15 minutes we had two costumes selected. Nathan was going to be a sorcerer and Alyssa was going to be an angel with a fluffy, sparkly halo.
We packed up the costumes along with a few more clothes for school and we headed for the library. Upon arriving at the library, we found out that it is closed on Tuesdays. Our disappointment last only a few minutes since the library was right next to a big park and playground. We headed over to the park and the kids played for about an hour.
The weather was windy and overcast making the day a little chilly. Alyssa and Nathan suddenly decided that the park time was over and they were very anxious to try on their costumes. Looking at the time, it was 12:45. I had overheard the bus driver tell one of the passengers that the next bus time was 12:20 which was an hour after our drop off. I assumed that the bus must run hourly, so I explained to the kids that we would probably have to sit at the bus stop for 40 minutes until the next bus. They both were so interested in their Halloween costumes that they said they did not mind the wait. So, we waited… and waited… and waited. It turns out that there was only ONE bus that came back to that stop that went by our town and we had missed it. We asked each bus driver as the buses pulled into the stop if they went through Hardwick. They all said no. We asked at least 8 bus drivers about their routes. Pretty soon, we started to see the same buses again. The kids kept pushing me toward all the arriving buses begging me to ask the drivers which way they were going. I did not want to ask since I did not want to hear them say no again, but I asked for the kids. Finally, I had to explain to the kids that our bus was not coming. It was 2:00 in the afternoon and we had to figure out a way to get home. I looked around the parking lot to see if I saw any taxis, but none were in sight. I walked into the Tesco and sheepishly asked one of the security people watching the exit alarms if they could give me a number for a taxi. The first number I called just rang and rang with no answer. The second, the taxi service said they were not available until 4:00. The thought of waiting for another two hours just about made me cry. I then called Dale at work. I explained that we were stuck at Tesco and that we had no prospects of getting home anytime soon. He said that he planned to come home a little early since we had to go grocery shopping at the commissary anyway. We were saved! ONLY 30 more minutes of waiting! We were so excited. When he picked us up 30 minutes later, I was so excited to leave the bus stop, I was giddy.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Day 8
As I typed out this entry, I see that we have ONLY been here 8 days. It seems like FOREVER when you are living in a foreign place with NO STUFF. I am trying really hard to be flexible and patient but it is not coming easy. Today was a sad day for me. The cracks are starting to form and I am not sure how I am going to keep it together. There is still a week, at a minimum, before we get our stuff and my bike. We have five more days with no internet since our phone number got entered wrong for our internet service. I am feeling very cut off from my former life. I am afraid to call anyone for fear of bursting into tears on the phone. I feel like I am being selfish for wanting my life back. I know that if I am just patient everything will right itself and I will feel fine, but this waiting until then is very depressing. All I want to do is ride my bike for hours on end away from this stupid house. I am really sick of picking up, doing laundry, cooking with one spoon and one tiny pot, and just wasting time wandering around the house until bedtime. There never used to be enough time in the day! I use to beg time to move more slowly. How could I just waste time now?! I feel like I am throwing away valuable treasure! Now a minute lasts and hour and days feel like weeks!
I spent my third day out back, this time trying to clean up the patio. The stones are mixed in with pebble details that would be beautiful if they were not covered with mud. I found a stiff broom and started sweeping away all the leaves and moss. I collected a mass of empty pots half filled with dirt and weeds. I moved the moss covered picnic table and chairs out of the way and spent two hours trying to remove all the debris off the stones. I found a severed hose connected to a hosepipe on the side of the house. Apparently there is a hosepipe ban in Cambridge so this must have been their way of cheating. I did the best I could to spray down parts of the patio to wash away the mud, but my range was very limited. I was excited to see different colors appear as the stones started to show their true colors.
I spent my third day out back, this time trying to clean up the patio. The stones are mixed in with pebble details that would be beautiful if they were not covered with mud. I found a stiff broom and started sweeping away all the leaves and moss. I collected a mass of empty pots half filled with dirt and weeds. I moved the moss covered picnic table and chairs out of the way and spent two hours trying to remove all the debris off the stones. I found a severed hose connected to a hosepipe on the side of the house. Apparently there is a hosepipe ban in Cambridge so this must have been their way of cheating. I did the best I could to spray down parts of the patio to wash away the mud, but my range was very limited. I was excited to see different colors appear as the stones started to show their true colors.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
The "pond"
We live with a swamp in the back of our house. It has green gunk covering the top of it and the trees are overgrown with wild raspberry vines that are growing into “the pond”. The pond has little hoses that run across the patio into a little shed that blow water in it. I cannot see how anything can live in it with all the green stuff on it. There is a plastic bucket in it and a few plastic flower pots. There are buckets on the pavers next to the pond filled with water and green stuff too. The pavers are no longer flat since roots from the bushes surrounding the pond have made them unstable. It is surrounded by a wrought iron gate that the owners suggested we padlock so that the children don’t slip on the pavers and fall into the pond. I cannot even look at it. My dream of a nice garden slips away as I walk across the moss covered patio toward the pond. I don’t have the slightest idea of what to do with this pond. It looks as if it had been a nice place at one point in time. Now it looks like it has been neglected for about 5 years.
I wandered to the back shed and found a bunch of rusty gardening tools including a pair of hedge choppers. I tried them out on a dead limb of a tree and found that they were still quite sharp. Hearten by this I headed over to the pond area and started chopping back the bushes so that the pavers could be seen. I created a huge pile of debris as I chopped things back. My hands and legs were covered with scratches from the wild raspberry vines. The vines were over an inch in diameter in some spots and my hands and arms were getting tired. The mosquitoes near the pond were feasting on me making my job that much more uncomfortable. I finally gave in after two hours of work. As I stepped back, I could see the pavers beneath all the leaves, but the bushes at the end still leaned over and touched the pond. I had managed to remove a lot of trash out of the pond and now I had to figure out what to do with all the clippings.
I wandered to the back shed and found a bunch of rusty gardening tools including a pair of hedge choppers. I tried them out on a dead limb of a tree and found that they were still quite sharp. Hearten by this I headed over to the pond area and started chopping back the bushes so that the pavers could be seen. I created a huge pile of debris as I chopped things back. My hands and legs were covered with scratches from the wild raspberry vines. The vines were over an inch in diameter in some spots and my hands and arms were getting tired. The mosquitoes near the pond were feasting on me making my job that much more uncomfortable. I finally gave in after two hours of work. As I stepped back, I could see the pavers beneath all the leaves, but the bushes at the end still leaned over and touched the pond. I had managed to remove a lot of trash out of the pond and now I had to figure out what to do with all the clippings.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Day 5
Today we woke up at 9:20am. If this were a weekend day, I would have felt like I was finally catching up on my sleep, but it was the kids second day of school and it started 20 minutes ago. I jumped out of bed in a panic. All I could think about is what kind of impression our family was making on the “new” school. I silently cursed the stupid hotel since they forgot to put in our wake up call. I dared a hotel comment card to show its face in front of me at that moment. We ran down the hall to grab some last minute breakfast and then jumped in the car to begin our crawl to the school. The school secretary gave me a curious look as I knocked on the office door. I explained our troubles with the wakeup call and still being on US time and she looked like she forgave our tardiness. The kids waved goodbye and I walked out of school once again feeling bad that they are in the whirlwind life. Next week is term break, I reasoned. We will have some nice down time next week. I went back to the house and continued to organize our lives.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
New Mattresses and a run
We set the wake up call for 7:30am. We stumbled out of bed at 7:25am. It definitely felt like my body was still on Maryland time which would have been 2:25am. The kids seemed to feel the same way, but the prospect of their first day of school motivated them to get up. We were supposed to be at school at 8:45am so that the headmistress could show the kids to their classrooms. Time seemed be running extra fast that morning. We ate breakfast as quickly as we could and left the hotel at 8:30am. The school is only 5 miles from the hotel, but the roundabouts and single lane town entries make travel anywhere much slower. We had never timed our trips to Hardwick from Bar Hill, so did not anticipate how long it would take to get there. We arrived at the school at 8:50am. I dashed in with the kids explaining to the headmistress that I had their lunches and school forms at our house in Hardwick and that I would bring them over after dropping off the kids. I gave Alyssa and Nathan each a quick hug and a kiss and my heart felt heavy as I turned them quickly over to the headmistress for their first day of school. I felt like I was abandoning them in this foreign place to fend for themselves. They reassured me with a cheerful goodbye and they turned to follow the headmistress. I watched them disappear through the door. I wanted so badly to go with them to reassure them that everything was OK, but I knew that reassurance was more for me than for them. Watching them go through that door made me suddenly realize that this whole trip was for real. It was not some strange dream that kept going. We were in England with our everyday life and this was not a vacation to return home from. I wandered over the bulletin board next to the front door. Posted on it were notices about community activities, kids’ activities for the term break coming up the following week, pilates classes being held in the community hall (a room off the front lobby of the school), and “child minder” services. I wandered back to the house making the three minute walk last 5 minutes and hoped the kids were doing OK. I spend the rest of the day staring at the thermostat in our hallway. This is the only place in the house I could find a clock. The minutes seemed to creep by. I passed the time by unpacking suitcases, putting away a pile of kids books left for us by our landlords, and looking through kitchen cabinets trying to figure out what we could use for cooking. I did not want to go back to the hotel that night. I wanted to stop living out of suitcases. We were going on week two for our suitcases since we started the day our stuff got packed up. I think that some little angel was listening because I then heard a truck pull up and it was our mattresses.
The mattresses smelled like glue when I pulled them out of the plastic. The delivery man had just leaned them against the bedroom wall wrapped in plastic. I had to use my keys to cut the plastic since I had no other tools at my disposal. I imagined the lawsuit that would have resulted if the same thing happened in the states. I put both single mattresses in Alyssa’s room to be so that the kids could sleep in the same room the first few nights. I opened one of the glass doors in here room that served as her window. They opened to a railing that looked over that back patio. The cobwebs were thick above the window, but the air smelled good and the smell of glue faded. I continued pulling plastic off mattresses and opening windows until 2:30pm. At this point, I could not stand doing any more house stuff. I put on my running shoes and decided to go for a run. I was desperate. A week of no exercise was making me anxious and crabby. I was starting to hate my new life and I was afraid to eat. My thoughts were piling up on each other and rational thoughts were losing ground fast. I knew running would hurt since I had not run since high school, but it was my only option. It turned out to be more of a hard walk. My legs were not pleased and immediately let me know that I had promised them no more running 15 years ago.
The mattresses smelled like glue when I pulled them out of the plastic. The delivery man had just leaned them against the bedroom wall wrapped in plastic. I had to use my keys to cut the plastic since I had no other tools at my disposal. I imagined the lawsuit that would have resulted if the same thing happened in the states. I put both single mattresses in Alyssa’s room to be so that the kids could sleep in the same room the first few nights. I opened one of the glass doors in here room that served as her window. They opened to a railing that looked over that back patio. The cobwebs were thick above the window, but the air smelled good and the smell of glue faded. I continued pulling plastic off mattresses and opening windows until 2:30pm. At this point, I could not stand doing any more house stuff. I put on my running shoes and decided to go for a run. I was desperate. A week of no exercise was making me anxious and crabby. I was starting to hate my new life and I was afraid to eat. My thoughts were piling up on each other and rational thoughts were losing ground fast. I knew running would hurt since I had not run since high school, but it was my only option. It turned out to be more of a hard walk. My legs were not pleased and immediately let me know that I had promised them no more running 15 years ago.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Day 3
It is a good thing the kids did not have to start school today. The hotel fire alarms went of at 3:30 am. At first I did not understand why there was a strange noise going off in our room. However, after about 2 minutes of continuous noise I figured out what was going on. I sat up in bed and spent the next minute hoping that the alarm would go off and we would be able to go back to sleep. Alyssa and Nathan woke up and immediately wanted to know why we were still inside the building. At this point, Dale and I figured it was silly to risk staying any longer and we threw on some shoes, grabbed our jackets, our bag with our passports and a blanket to wrap up the kids and headed outside. The parking lot was full of people, some in the hotel bathrobes. Everyone was staring blankly into the dark night air. We headed for our car at the back of the lot so that the kids would have a place to sit down. The fire department showed up 5 minutes later. Nathan was ecstatic about the chain of events and was hoping that they firefighters would be able to use their ladder. The fire alarm shut off about 10 minutes later and we were allowed back into the building. We climbed back in bed and I was just starting to doze off, when the alarms went off again. “This cannot be happening,” I thought. The kids jumped out of bed, threw on their shoes and were ready to head out the door immediately. Nathan was acting as if saw flames, so out we headed for the second time. Once again the fire department appeared in their yellow and orange checked truck. The alarm lasted about 15 minutes, turned off and we were allowed in again. This time the hotel staff was out taking room numbers down and letting us know that there was a malfunction in the fire alarm system. He told us that it was very likely that this would happen again and that we were to evacuate the building as usual. On cue, after getting back in bed, the alarm sounded again. This time Dale stood on the bed and held a pillow over the alarm in the room. This made the noise in the room much more tolerable, but we still had to figure out if we were going to leave for the third time. Then, for some reason, the alarm in our room turned off, but the one in the hall still sounded. The kids had fallen asleep almost instantly when we returned to bed the second time, were sleepily asking if we had to leave again. We waited in the room hoping the alarm would go off. The fire truck arrived out front in record time most likely because it had not gotten back to the firehouse yet. I pleaded silently to the alarm system hoping it would turn itself off. Suddenly, there was silence. I quietly exhaled a breath of relief. The kids were quiet and laid there waiting for the alarm to go off again. We woke up with 15 minutes left for breakfast and once again dashed down the hallway to grab something to eat.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Day 2
We woke five minutes before breakfast ended at 9:25am. We raced down the hall to get cold cereal and a little fruit. Today we took a tour of Alyssa and Nathan’s new school. The headmistress, Mrs. French, was very nice and introduced Alyssa and Nathan to their teachers. We decided that Thursday would be the starting day for the kids since Alyssa’s class was having a field trip on Wednesday.
We wandered into Cambridge to find a store to buy beds. As soon as we had beds, we would be able to sleep at the house. We spent a lot of time driving around Cambridge trying to figure out what street we were on. Dale had seen a few bed stores on his way to pick up the rental car, so we were trying to find our way back to them. This proved to be a very difficult task. We kept ending up on streets we had been on 10 minutes before. It was hard enough to make sure we were on the right side of the road. We would make one turn and then have to turn again twenty feet later. After about an hour of wandering, we stumbled across a bed store that we knew nothing about and decided that we would give that one a try.
Dale’s company gave us a small allowance for beds. We were to expense it on his company credit card so that we would not have to pay for it and then get reimbursed later. We found that the budget was not overly generous and that the beds we initially picked would not be delivered for 15-20 days. The prospect of staying in the hotel for that length of time was more than we would stomach. Dale asked the salesman what beds could be delivered ASAP. Our selection was quickly reduced, but we reasoned that three years is not a long time for mattresses so we made our selections. He told us that he could deliver the mattresses to the house on Thursday and the bed frames would be delivered the following week. Good enough for us. We could sleep on the floor until the bed frames arrived. That’s still better than the hotel!
We wandered into Cambridge to find a store to buy beds. As soon as we had beds, we would be able to sleep at the house. We spent a lot of time driving around Cambridge trying to figure out what street we were on. Dale had seen a few bed stores on his way to pick up the rental car, so we were trying to find our way back to them. This proved to be a very difficult task. We kept ending up on streets we had been on 10 minutes before. It was hard enough to make sure we were on the right side of the road. We would make one turn and then have to turn again twenty feet later. After about an hour of wandering, we stumbled across a bed store that we knew nothing about and decided that we would give that one a try.
Dale’s company gave us a small allowance for beds. We were to expense it on his company credit card so that we would not have to pay for it and then get reimbursed later. We found that the budget was not overly generous and that the beds we initially picked would not be delivered for 15-20 days. The prospect of staying in the hotel for that length of time was more than we would stomach. Dale asked the salesman what beds could be delivered ASAP. Our selection was quickly reduced, but we reasoned that three years is not a long time for mattresses so we made our selections. He told us that he could deliver the mattresses to the house on Thursday and the bed frames would be delivered the following week. Good enough for us. We could sleep on the floor until the bed frames arrived. That’s still better than the hotel!
Monday, October 16, 2006
Day 1
Travel from Washington Dulles to London Heathrow
We drove to Dulles Sunday afternoon armed with 8 suitcases and four carry-on bags. We had to pay a charge for one bag as we found out that the weight limit per bag is 50 pounds, not 70 (this is what it is on OTHER international flights). After we handed each bag across the scale for the lady to tag we then had to recollect everything and drag them over to the baggage check in line. For WHAT do they use the little conveyor belts behind the counters now? Their paperwork?! After dropping off our bags at the security area, we started searching for the end of the security check-in line. I am pretty sure I have never stood in a line this long in my life! Not even for a roller coaster on a Saturday afternoon! No kidding, the line nearly wrapped around the entire Dulles International Terminal and it took 1 hour and 50 minutes! Along with the rest of the passengers on our flight, we raced to the “people mover” and then we nearly got trampled by the people behind us to get to our gate. We boarded the plane only minutes later.
Safely aboard we started preparing for our transatlantic flight. After the plane closed its doors the captain informed us that we would be waiting about 30 minutes more due to some baggage issues. We took off an hour later. Our flight arrived into London at 7:40am. It took about 7 hours 30 minutes of which Nathan slept zero minutes and Alyssa slept about 30. Tired but excited we arrived ready to stand in more lines. We did the best we could to prepare the kids for yet another marathon of line standing. However, after about 30 minutes of waiting in the customs line, an official took pity on our family and took us to the front of the line. We could not believe our luck!
Our next adventure began with our shuttle drive to the hotel. Our driver “forgot his wallet” so he had to ask us for money to pay for parking. We were too tired to question this, but we were very concerned. Then we proceeded to sit in traffic for the next hour while trying to get out of London. Once out of London, we stopped again to get fuel. The driver had to ask us for money again because he of course had no money for gas! However this time he assured us that this was “most unusual” and he apologized for the inconvenience. I took pity on the guy after he told me that he was taking all of these charges off our fare. We finally arrived at our hotel at 11:00 am.
Nathan slept for most of the car ride and was barely awake enough to get out of the van. He stood precariously in front of me while I checked in at the counter losing his balance several times since he was too tired to stand stably. The woman behind the counter, oblivious to our exhaustion, told me that my room had been cancelled since we were scheduled to arrive yesterday and we did not show up. As I tried to explain the oversight, Alyssa plunked down in the middle of carpet silently laying her head down on top of her bag. The woman must have noticed this because she managed to find another room for our family.
Our room was filled with housekeeping staff when we made it down the hall. They were busy preparing a cot, a hide-a-bed and the regular bed for all of us to sleep in immediately! Yeah! They were no sooner out the door than Nathan was asleep under the bedspread, shoes and all.
As the kids slept, Dale was busy getting the rental car in Cambridge. He arrived about 2 hours later after struggling with the left side of the road and the stick shift on the left hand side. He said that he grabbed the door handle several times on his trip to the hotel trying to shift the car.
Dragging the kids out of bed two hours later, we stumbled down to the realty office to collect the keys to our house in Hardwick. After taking several laps of Cambridge, we found our way out again and drove to our new house. Everyone was very happy about the house, the yard, the proximity to school and the neighborhood.
We reluctantly left the space of our house to return to our little hotel room. We were ready for a good night’s sleep.
We drove to Dulles Sunday afternoon armed with 8 suitcases and four carry-on bags. We had to pay a charge for one bag as we found out that the weight limit per bag is 50 pounds, not 70 (this is what it is on OTHER international flights). After we handed each bag across the scale for the lady to tag we then had to recollect everything and drag them over to the baggage check in line. For WHAT do they use the little conveyor belts behind the counters now? Their paperwork?! After dropping off our bags at the security area, we started searching for the end of the security check-in line. I am pretty sure I have never stood in a line this long in my life! Not even for a roller coaster on a Saturday afternoon! No kidding, the line nearly wrapped around the entire Dulles International Terminal and it took 1 hour and 50 minutes! Along with the rest of the passengers on our flight, we raced to the “people mover” and then we nearly got trampled by the people behind us to get to our gate. We boarded the plane only minutes later.
Safely aboard we started preparing for our transatlantic flight. After the plane closed its doors the captain informed us that we would be waiting about 30 minutes more due to some baggage issues. We took off an hour later. Our flight arrived into London at 7:40am. It took about 7 hours 30 minutes of which Nathan slept zero minutes and Alyssa slept about 30. Tired but excited we arrived ready to stand in more lines. We did the best we could to prepare the kids for yet another marathon of line standing. However, after about 30 minutes of waiting in the customs line, an official took pity on our family and took us to the front of the line. We could not believe our luck!
Our next adventure began with our shuttle drive to the hotel. Our driver “forgot his wallet” so he had to ask us for money to pay for parking. We were too tired to question this, but we were very concerned. Then we proceeded to sit in traffic for the next hour while trying to get out of London. Once out of London, we stopped again to get fuel. The driver had to ask us for money again because he of course had no money for gas! However this time he assured us that this was “most unusual” and he apologized for the inconvenience. I took pity on the guy after he told me that he was taking all of these charges off our fare. We finally arrived at our hotel at 11:00 am.
Nathan slept for most of the car ride and was barely awake enough to get out of the van. He stood precariously in front of me while I checked in at the counter losing his balance several times since he was too tired to stand stably. The woman behind the counter, oblivious to our exhaustion, told me that my room had been cancelled since we were scheduled to arrive yesterday and we did not show up. As I tried to explain the oversight, Alyssa plunked down in the middle of carpet silently laying her head down on top of her bag. The woman must have noticed this because she managed to find another room for our family.
Our room was filled with housekeeping staff when we made it down the hall. They were busy preparing a cot, a hide-a-bed and the regular bed for all of us to sleep in immediately! Yeah! They were no sooner out the door than Nathan was asleep under the bedspread, shoes and all.
As the kids slept, Dale was busy getting the rental car in Cambridge. He arrived about 2 hours later after struggling with the left side of the road and the stick shift on the left hand side. He said that he grabbed the door handle several times on his trip to the hotel trying to shift the car.
Dragging the kids out of bed two hours later, we stumbled down to the realty office to collect the keys to our house in Hardwick. After taking several laps of Cambridge, we found our way out again and drove to our new house. Everyone was very happy about the house, the yard, the proximity to school and the neighborhood.
We reluctantly left the space of our house to return to our little hotel room. We were ready for a good night’s sleep.
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