Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Connor Curse Continues

My travel curse is still in charge of my life. My flights from Austin and Amsterdam last Thursday and Friday went well, so well I thought to myself, "Wow, this trip has been uneventful." Of course, I immediately reminded myself of my travel woes. And sure enough, I got stopped at passport control in Newcastle. I got asked a bunch of questions, given a slip saying I'm being detained for further questioning, and asked to sit down while they clarified a few things. I didn't really worry about it because I had done nothing wrong. (They were asking so many questions because I didn't know the name or address of the B & B we're staying in.) So they paged my mom, asked some questions (who are you meeting, why is she here, where are you staying) and then they let me go. They told me I could throw away the slip that says I was detained, but I kept it. Who would believe this actually happened without proof!

Oh!!! The travel curse extends beyond me. The airline lost the casket on its way up from London. And then it was so big (because apparently American caskets are bigger/wider than British ones) they had trouble transporting it. AND the funeral director had to drive a few hours to Manchester to pick up the casket!

Since then the trip has been going well enough, although my grandfather still isn't buried. The funeral is set for Friday, almost 3 weeks after he died. I've seen a bunch of family, wandered around town with my mom getting things ready for the funeral and eating candy. There are so many details to take care of! The weather has been cool (in the 40s), but clear and sunny. Yesterday I took the day to myself and went up to Edinburgh. It was wonderful to listen to bagpipes, wander along the Royal Mile and Princes Street, and have a bit of haggis. Today we've got some other family coming up from London and more errands to run. I'm going to try to finish Terri Brisbin's book. As for my own writing, It's coming along. I'm getting a clearer picture of what story I want to do next and I'm still writing at least 100 words a day. For now, I'm still taking things one day at a time.

Catch you later!

2 comments:

Lori Borrill said...

You officially have the single best "airport lost my luggage" story I've ever heard.

Glad he finally made the trip home, and that you're able to spend some time with family while you're there.

Anonymous said...

If you haven't included this travel curse in one of your books then I definitely think you should. It would make for great fiction (sucks that it is actually reality).

Take care!