Monday, March 16, 2009

Honey, I'm Home!

Hello, gang! I'm back from England. The trip was good despite the cause and I didn't want to leave, but here I am. I'm on spring break this week and already have a TON of things to do. I fell off the writing wagon on the day of the funeral and haven't written anything since. I've been reading at least, so that's something. I'm really hoping to get the fire back sometime this week.


As for the rest of my England trip: The weather was good, just a bit too windy on some days. I LOVED being with the extended family and eating all those full English breakfasts. Our hotel was right on the seafront in a part of Sunderland called Roker. Literally, you could look out the window, see the main road and across the way was this lighthouse and the North Sea. Very beautiful, don't you think? (And we actually saw a rainbow here!)

I managed to get to Edinburgh for a day on my own and that was quite relaxing. I traipsed up and down Prince's Street and the Royal Mile. I shopped a bit, had tea and scones, haggis and pints.

The funeral ended up being on....Friday, the 13th. I did well with my reading (that my mom had asked me to do one of the other times we thought he was going to die)...after a whisky. Then I had a few more drinks after the funeral with the family. Saturday night we had a party for all the family to get together for a happy occasion. I stayed up since the last people didn't leave until after 1 and my taxi was picking me up at 3:30 yesterday morning so I could make my 6 A.M. flight. But, I'll be back there in June and that'll definitely be a happy visit.

Oh yeah, and I thought my plane was going to crash in Austin when we BOUNCED on the tarmac coming in. I'd slept on the short flight from Houston and burst out with a few choice "metaphors" when we landed. I swear, I saw my life flash before my eyes. I think somebody was practicing landing...

So now I'm back to reality with lots to do this week, but at least I'm on spring break!!! I thoroughly plan to celebrate St. Patrick's Day tomorrow and THEN I'll get back on my diet. Ugh, I gained 5lbs eating and drinking on this trip!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello world traveler. Welcome back. Glad that you decided to return. I get a little worried everytime you go over there that you'll love it so much you won't come back. Despite the reason for being there, it sounds like you had a great trip. I must get to the British Isles someday.

Now, quit playing around and get to work!

Lexi said...

I'm planning on it, Cat! And one of the relatives asked if I liked it there and I told him I'd move if I could! He said, "Seriously?" Then we talked about the community feel of walking around town, running into people you know and knowing you have people who love you. Well, I know I have people who love me, but they're not in the neighborhood and it's pretty hard for me to walk anywhere from home since I live on a hill with a busy road and no sidewalk!

Lexi said...

Um, I meant that I'm planning on getting back to work.

Kerry Blaisdell said...

OMG, that happened to me - our plane bounced in Chicago during landing. I even described it that way to friends, but you're the first person whose ever had it happened or understood what I meant. Weird!! :?)

Welcome back, BTW! I'm glad the trip went well, despite the reason for it. Now... get back on the writing wagon!!

Lexi said...

Kerry, I'm glad you haven't had many people tell you they've felt the same thing as the bounce otherwise that would mean our pilots weren't trained enough!!

And I'm actually getting a teeny, tiny excited about writing again. I plan to hit one of the local St. Patrick's Day parties and stay ALL day people watching, writing, eating, drinking and making new friends! (And calling a cab for a ride home.)