Our trip - day 1

Those of you who don't want a blow-by-blow chronology of my trip to England can just skim or skip these posts.

We arrived in England on August 6, very early in the morning. The kids barely slept on the plane, which meant that I barely slept. Eventually, Calum did fall asleep about an hour before we landed, and man was he EVER asleep. We were both wearing heavy backpacks, and I carried him for about 15 minutes from the plane to the customs inspection point in Gatwick airport. He weighs about 46 pounds, and was not awake enough to hold on to me with his legs or arms. I became keenly aware of what poor shape I'm in. My dad has a bad back so I didn't want to ask him to carry Calum - and besides, he and Carol (my stepmother) were travelling with UK passports which I am too cheap and busy to get for myself and the kids, so we had to go to different places anyway. This was a very tiring way to top off a sleepless night.

Eventually, we got our bags and got out of the airport. We had to wait for the hotel shuttle to come and pick us up. Of course, by this point, when I would have been happy to sit and hold Calum while he slept, he had perked up, eaten a bit of chocolate and was climbing around on some railings near the shuttle pick-up area at the airport so I had to monitor him pretty closely.

We arrived at the hotel to find that since it was so early in the day, our room was not yet ready for us. The staff got the room ready as quickly as they could and invited us to sit in the breakfast room and eat some fruit and yogurt. We were assailed by the odor of cigarette smoke as soon as we entered the building, because the British idea of a smoking area does not include walls and ventilation to prevent the smoke from moving around the building. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long for our room, and it turned out to be in a separate building behind the hotel, which was bright, clean, comfortable and smoke-free. I wonder what the original purpose of this building might have been - from its architecture, it seems like it might have been a stable or something.

The first thing I did was dig pajamas out of our suitcases and put the kids to bed. I was out like a light with the help of my trusty travel friends, Mack's Pillow-Soft earplugs (which are so wonderful and awesome that I buy them in bulk when I visit the States) and my black sleeping mask. Three hours later, Carol shook me awake in a panic, telling me that Calum was missing. I was extremely groggy so I was mostly bemused and puzzled rather than feeling panicked myself by the disappearance of a five year old boy mere hours after arriving in a strange city halfway across the world from his home. Eventually we located him fast asleep underneath my bed. After he woke up, he explained that he was playing hide and seek with me and was waiting for me to be done sleeping so I could find him. I had to explain to him pretty firmly that you need to make sure the other person you're playing hide and seek with knows that you're hiding before the game starts.

After our nap, we took a walk to the local Tesco store. This is a UK supermarket chain that is sort of what the "Real Canadian Superstore" *should* be. This particular Tesco was a 24 hour "Tesco Extra" which means it was enormous 2 floors of shopping fun and included books, clothing, stationery and household items as well as food. We picked up some groceries for a late lunch and I got my first taste of their excellent "FreeFrom" line of gluten-free products. Possibly the most exciting thing about this shopping trip was the overwhelming selection of English cheese, which is very difficult to find in Canada and always ridiculously overpriced. In Tesco we could get enormous chunks of our favourite cheeses for about $2-3.

Back at the hotel, we hung out and ate our food, playing cards, reading books and unpacking a bit. Carol, Calum and I decided to walk to the local Cool Old Church (TM) - St Bartholomew's - and take some photos in their graveyard. When we went around to the back of the building we found a pub in the most incredible old building and decided it was worth a visit for dinner. The place is called "Ye Olde Six Bells" and is oozing with quaint charm (pics to follow). We discovered, however, that the quaint charm does not extend to the employees. We enjoyed the food and admired the original flagstone floor and cool old wooden beams in the walls and ceiling while being abused and ridiculed by the staff of Ye Olde Six Bells. I just googled the place and learned that an employee there was arrested on a charge of murder back in June. Verrry interesting.