Good flight across to Dallas. Arrival into the USA is always interesting! The first people you meet are Border Control (BC) and my entry went like this:
BC (unsmiling, aggressive voice) Stand on the blue spot and look at the camera!"
BC: "Put the fingers of you right hand on the pad."
BC: (tone has risen) "Don't press so hard!" OMG I'm thinking!
BC : "Why are you here?"
LW: "Visiting family."
BC: "Where are you going."
LW: "Aiken."
BC: "Aiken, South Carolina."
BC: "Where?!"
LW: "South Carolina." (I don't know who is more exasperated! Probably me on a 15 hour flight with only 4 hours sleep!)
BC: "What have you bought your family?"
LW: "Nothing!"
BC: " Go!" No welcome to USA!
Unfortunately I had close to 5 hours to wait before flying to Atlanta! All I really wanted was a cup of tea (never drink tea on a plane!) There were plenty of bars but I couldn't face them. Finally found my cuppa and eventually boarded the flight to Atlanta. I kept looking at my watch and when the pilot said we'd arrive at 11:55 pm my watch read 10:30 - the thought of flying for another hour and a half was not a joy. About 5 minutes later the pilot told the flight attendants to prepare for landing. My very tired mind suddenly realise that heading east we lost an hour! I finally got to my hotel about 1am - so glad to be able to get into bed!
Friday morning another airport! Luckily this flight was only an hour and it was to my final destination - Augusta! Justin met me there and we made the 40 minute drive to Aikin (Where?). It was about 34C, very hot. Rooster the dog was very antsy when I arrived and it took some time for him to 'recognise' me and stop the growling. He is such a big dog - very intimidating!
I quickly took over pool duty from their grandfather, who was now a wrinkled prune from being in so long worth Benny! I was happy to dive in and get some exercise after all the flights! Ivy was out at the stables helping out after her horse riding lessons.
They are both taller and have changed somewhat in appearance. It was like I'd seen them last weekend and not a year ago! They often say " Do you remember when we did ..... together" - remembering things from last year.
There have been some new additions to the family in the form of 8 chickens. Ivy is mad on animals and is happy to have them around her! It appears that these chooks can fly further than expected as one flew up into a tree when Ivy took it out of the the house! She was distraught until Lauren managed to coax it down - disaster averted!
