As you can imagine, the last day before leaving was pretty frantic. We had a number of errands to run in town, and one of those was getting a GBP travel card. When asked for ID, I handed over my driver’s licence only to discover that it expires in July. So rather than having it expire and then having to sit the test again, I had to apply for a new one then. This of course means that I have no driver’s licence until my new one arrives and the kids post it over. From what I have seen of the driving in LA so far, I’m not that upset about not being able to drive here.
Once we had sorted that, we managed to find time for a farewell meal out with the kids at the Bangalore Polo Club. We picked Jared up from class at 2pm and had the Big Badger Breakfast. It seemed appropriate and it was good. I also had to have one last beer with Braedon at Hashigo Zake. Ok, well, it was a last 3 beers . We then went to say goodbye to Jane, Phil, Ruby and Lydia. They have all joined the seemingly endless list of people who are going to check up on the kids for us. It is really lovely to have some many people who have offered – although I think that the kids are looking forward to the opportunity of running the place themselves.
Friday 2 March dawned and we managed to zip the cases shut and head to the airport. The moment that Siobhan and I had been dreading – saying goodbye to the kids – was difficult but not as bad as it could have been. It was lovely to have Fi at the airport too so they had company to go home with.
We boarded promptly in Wellington, on one of the All Black planes. It seemed a good omen - until we taxied out to the runway and they realised they had left a disabled passenger waiting for assistance behind!! Good thing we hadn't taken off I guess! So we were a little delayed but otherwise had an uneventful flight, and we had deliberately booked an earlier flight than we needed so we still had plenty of time to check in for our LA flight. That too was uneventful. The plane was packed and we did find it hard to sleep properly, but the pilot did get us to LA ahead of schedule. USA Customs was also a pleasant surprise; the woman was friendly and pleasant, no-one wanted to check anything and we were out of the concourse waiting for Ian barely 45 minutes after landing.
Ian and his brother Hugh came to pick us up, and in the four hours we have been here we have showered, been out for breakfast, helped fix the awning frame on Ian's boat (while watching pelicans fly overhead) and got the wi-fi working on the computer.
We are thinking of going for a walk this afternoon as the sunshine is so inviting (and it's probably the only way to stay awake until bedtime).
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