The flight tracker maps finally showed us over Ireland, and then over Britain, approaching Heathrow Airport. We’d had a strong tailwind and so landed a bit before the scheduled 8:05AM arrival. We’ve been in Heathrow at all times of day, and it’s usually a 7x24 madhouse. We trundled along several miles of people movers filled with harried and hurried people. But immigration was pretty quick (just a scan of the passport for us), baggage retrieval went smoothly, and customs was not staffed at all, so we were through.
Sarah was dying for a cigarette and so we headed for the nearest way out and smoking area, though this meant we had no clue what direction the Underground was in. It was a delicate, warm but foggy Spring morning and it was good to have a few minutes to just relax after the long flight, breathe exotic air again at long last, and to look around at the teeming mass of all kinds of people you see in London.
A Heathrow employee out for a cig break directed us to the Underground, and after a lift, more endless corridors filled with rushing people, and an array of escalators, we got to the correct Piccadilly line platform. We’d had to buy tube tickets with cash the last time we’d been in London, but by this point it was all “contact-less” (a ridiculous adjective in my opinion), and we could get past the turnstiles by tapping our credit/debit cards.
Well, it’s 32 or 34 stops more or less from Heathrow to the Arnos Grove tube station, depending on what train you’re on. We stowed our suitcases as well as we could for the long trip and settled back, through central London in morning rush hour. But we finally got to the stop, and there was my big sister waiting excitedly for us on the platform, and there was Jim with the car up on the surface! What fun to be back, to see family again, and to know that our long trip was almost over.
Wrestled the suitcases into the boot of their 7-year-old Kia Sportage and drove the few miles to their lovely house, which we’d never visited before. Louise was there, nearing the end of her trip, and we finally sat down and relaxed in their beautiful garden after somehow getting all our stuff up to our room.
They’ve got three small bedrooms upstairs, two of which usually are used as offices and/or for grandkid gear, plus a nice, sunny bathroom with translucent windows. Downstairs they have a nice entry hall, off of which is another bathroom and a utility/laundry closet. The main part of the house has a living room in the front, which opens into a dining area and the extension, with a nicely sized kitchen, and French doors out to a patio. Their garden could host a very small croquet course, and the sunny Spring day showed their flower beds at their best. There’s a small garden house (which used to be a garage) at the end of the garden, plus another patio.
Didn’t do much that day, as we were exhausted! Had a nice, long visit, and then lunch. Walked up to the stores a couple of times to pick up a hairbrush (I’d forgotten to bring one), breakfast food, and a few bottles of beer. But it was mostly a very mellow day, and we eventually realized we needed to do some serious re-stowing. We were leaving for Scotland the next morning and we had to take everything out of our suitcases, select clothes for the weather we expected up there, and re-pack them in travel bags that met the easyJet [sic] criteria.
Got that done, Jim made us a nice dinner, watched some TV, and then thankfully to bed after a really long day.
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