When I'm editing travel blogs for Spear Travels, the format is always the same: 'day 1 and we boarded the whatever plane from whichever airport etc.' So my plan is to do a daily blog on this fabulous, much-anticipated, once-in-a-lifetime trip, but... I may need you to cut me some slack here because I might not manage every day...
So day -1 and we have a lovely pre-adventure family dinner planned at home cooked by JS and number 2, and number 4. And this is preceded by a self-indulgent trip to the Curzon to see La La Land with number 4. Regular readers will know I go to the cinema a lot - as in, sometimes more than once a week. So the question is: was La La Land worthy of all the hype? Well, kinda yes, kinda no. It is the perfect antidote to the many car chase, explosion-packed blockbuster films. It was a hark-back to the fifties and the golden age of cinema musicals - which was quite probably before that - and it was lovely. The best film of the year - no, probably not but it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon which had already begun remarkably well with the surprise return of number 3, alias the boy twin. He had been expected home overnight on Wednesday and stood me up at the last minute but presented himself as the surprise package on Saturday lunchtime dressed attractively in pjs having driven down from university in them. So lovely to have them all rattling around my kitchen, getting in each others' way and cooking up a storm - which proved to be the undoing of any pre-holiday slimming programme and with apparently twice as much garlic as the recipe intended!
So, today, which is officially day 1, began with a church service for me at which I seemed to have so many roles that my bum scarcely hit the pew. Handing out the service sheets, counting the communicants, reading the lesson (Old Testament with very, very long sentences - remember to breathe...) and taking the collection. My beloved thinks it is hilarious that I seem to have signed up an increasing number church-related jobs. Trust me, it stops here!
Meanwhile, back at Packing City, my beloved has lost the folder with all the tickets in it. Never fear, it turned up in the end and order was restored. Then with number 4 in the car we drove to Harrogate where number 2 had agreed to drive us to the airport. Except that we were early (well, the first time in 33 years of marriage is bound to shock our kids) and number 2, JS and Milton were out for walkies so a little wait was required.
I make it a rule never to rant in my blogs but I'll make an exception for the Ladies lavatories at Leeds Bradford Airport. On busy days in the height of summer it's not acceptable for the loos to be messy and dirty but it's sort of understandable. On a day like today when the airport is really quiet, there are still bits of loo roll on the floor and I reject the first two cubicles on the grounds of cleanliness. Hmm...
So as I write we are at the Hilton at Heathrow Terminal 4 (room ok, gym very scruffy) about to have something to eat before an early night for our early flight tomorrow. This is the most exciting holiday of my life.
Stay safe, children. Number 1: don't get hurt playing rugby, numbers 2 and 3: drive 5 mph slower than normal and imagine I'm in the passenger seat, and number 4: you'll be brilliant tomorrow - I absolutely know it!
Bon voyage!
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