We had a leisurely morning packing and watching the kids while Cory went to work and Anna did some shopping w/o the challenges of three children. Spending time w/ them, reading to them, being a marching band, playing w/ balloons all remind me of when my girls were little. The simplest of pleasures can come from blowing up a balloon then relasing it to let it sputter all about the room. Nothing brings an easier smile to my face than the joyful squeals of children.
Anna and the three kids are coming to America next week, and she was planning to pack a loaded suitcase inside a larger empty one in order to have more luggage when they return to France w/ Cory at the end of August. She suggested that we could take what was going to be empty luggage and fill it w/ all the extra stuff we've managed to accumulate in two weeks.
Our flight from Toulouse to Paris was uneventful. We only had to contend w/ a gate change, which I did understand when she first said it in French before restating it in English. I understand now why learning a language by immersion is much more effective than learning it in a classroom. It's sink or swim! It's funny how a gate change is considered just a minor inconvenience compare to what we've been through. I've found that I can read and hear French well enough to surmise the main points, and I can handle small phrases, but I was really happy to be on the flight from Paris to London to hold a conversation in English, even if it was the Queen's English. He was a very jolly chap who talked about this business dinner he was at in Paris where everyone around him was snoggin'.....you have to say this was a Cockney animated accent to make it truly funny. He just kept going on and on about snoggin'. I think he missed his wife, or he just liked saying the word.
I know we're back in England b/c the flood is bland. We at at the Windsor Castle Restaurant back in Heathrow. I ordered a chicken sandwich that was drier than a fart and a water w/ a leaky bottle. You have to specifically request ice unless you like your water room temperature....I don't. As we were sitting there, sipping our waters, I noticed that a puddle had formed under my bottle of water. I took it up to the counter to request a new bottle, and the girl said, "Well, it's not our fault. We can't give you a free water." I told her it wasn't my fault either; I didn't put the hole in the bottle. I stomped back to the table and said to Ron, "She must be French. She doesn't care about customer service." Shortly after, a young, tall boy came out and graciously brought me another bottle of water. A bottle of water............really............such a fuss? The Brits have interesting expressions for instructing people. They say, "Mind your step," and "Mind your children." This waitress needed to "mind her manners."
We're back in the Yotel tonight, but I'm not going to post this since I have more than a week's worth of entries that need to be posted first, and I want them to appear in order. Ron and I are quite slap happy, laughing at the silliest things.....reminds me of the times that Mom and I would get to laughing at something silly one of us said and then laughing until we couldn't breathe. We need to be up at 4:00 in the morning to get to another terminal to catch our flight to Chicago; I'd better get some sleep since I already have big enough bags under my eyes that the airline will probably charge me extra. I'm happy to be this much closer to home......only four more take-off's and landing's. I can't believe that my next entry will be written back in the U.S.
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