Sunday, July 26, 2009

Solid ground

Thank you for all your good wishes and messages during our travels! We arrived last night after 36 hours of sitting in metal tubes of various descriptions, feeling exhausted, shell-shocked and filthy. The second flight was a couple of hours longer than the first, and felt interminable. LOML and I were near the window, and the man on the aisle seat drank glasses of Scotch all through the flight. The smell of Scotch is a powerful one at the best of times, and it's even worse in a confined aeroplane cabin. Luckily, though, no one vomited on me this time (it has happened before). Such a relief to finally land! We sat in the coach station for a while watching various mangy London pigeons fight for crumbs (apparently they release trained hawks in the station regularly to catch them), then made the three-hour coach trip down to Highcliffe. After a shower and a good night's sleep, I feel much more like a human being. No jet-lag yet! I think I may have escaped it this time.

Today we have been relaxing and catching up with my grandparents and great-grandmother. My great-grandmother is 98, but hasn't changed a bit in all the years I have known her. She's a very elegant lady - when we arrived last night she had just finished painting her fingernails a glossy red, in honour of our visit! We walked down to the sea this afternoon (as you can see in the picture), and unpacked. Our room is just lovely, and the little wardrobe is already full of all my paraphernalia.

I'm sorry if this is a little incoherent - I think my brain is still somewhere over the Pacific! It will arrive eventually. Thanks so much for all your comments, and I hope to catch up with all your blogs very soon.

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