Back in England

So I missed three nights posts in the end when I only said two. I had a longer journey than I had imagined it would be. My first flight to Newark was cancelled and I was given a flight 4 hours later to Kennedy airport where I would connect with a Delta flight to London at 8:55 pm to arrive in London at 9:15 the following morning. This was only a couple of hours later than my original plan so seemed fine.

In the end, the flight to Kennedy was delayed by two and a half hours. There were apparently many delayed flights coming and going at Kennedy so everyone on board who had a connenction was told their flights would be leaving late so not to worry. Well, we arrived at 9:25 and when I ran to my gate I found that the London flight had left on time. Back at the Delta desk I met up with four other travellors from the late flight whose connections had gone.

After an hour wait to get to the desk as many passengers had missed flights, I was given a seat on the next flight to London - at 8:55am to arrive at 9:15 in the evening. So that meant a nights wait at Kennedy airport. Fortunately, I met up with a nice young man who also had to wait until 9 the next morning. We chatted for a bit, then wandered off to Dunkin Donuts to get a coffee. We found seats next to a phone charging pole to sit. Another lady with a young son, about 3 years old who had also been on our original flight, had to wait until the following afternoon for her flight. She settled her son down with a DVD player and Cars to watch. Once he drifted off to sleep, she was able to rest.

I tried to sleep a bit, but found it impossible. I needed to call L to let her know what was happening but had to wait until 3am so it would be 8 here in the UK. I told her when I was to arrive at Heathrow and asked her to check the time of the last train to Colchester where R would pick me up. I did lay down on the floor for an hour after that. No sleep, just resting.

After getting an egg and cheese bagel with a coffee at 5:30am, I had to wait until 7am for the duty free to open so I could buy some cigarettes and a bottle of vodka. Then I wandered around until it was time to use the bathroom and the call went out to board the plane. From then on everything went smoothly.

The service and food on the Delta flight were both excellent. I managed to get 3 hours sleep after lunch, and dozed a bit more as well. We landed on time, when I called L while we taxied to the departure gate. It took 20 minutes from the time I left the plane until I was on the underground leaving the terminal. The whole departure area was empty. This was the only flight landed at that time so it was easy to go through passport control, wait a few minutes for baggage, and walk through an unmanned customs.

I got to Liverpool Street with 10 minutes to go before the train left. Just time to buy my ticket, get settled into a seat and call home to tell R what time I would be at Colchester which was 12:15. By the time we got to the house after having to find a 24 hour petrol station it was 1 am.

I got to bed at 3 am and slept until after 1 that afternoon. I had a wonderful hot and strong shower and relaxed for the rest of the day. After a second night of sleep I felt alive again.

On Sunday L and r went out so I had the house to myself from 12 onwards. I managed to unpack most of the boxes in my room which I was happy to get done. I now have 3 bags of clothes left to sort and hang.

So, I am happy to be back in England and with my family again. I just have to make sure circumstances are such that I stay here for at least the next year if not longer.