Hello from sunny Jersey

Well, we made it safely to our destination...a self-catering apartment (or should I say FLAT) in the island of Jersey. Whenever I say I come from Jersey, people ask, "New Jersey?" But no, this is old Jersey, the original little island in the English Channel. Actually located nearer to France than England, it is part of the British Isles.

We flew to Calgary Friday lunchtime and then on to London Heathrow. I thought the flight would be ten hours, but it was only 8.25 hours (plus a bit for circling above London in a holding pattern). The flight went well - I didn't get any sleep but there were two good films shown and I did a bit of knitting and reading. The kids were fine too.

When we arrived at Heathrow, I was met by an old friend from pre-emigration days. Kathy and I were friends when my first son was little. I joined the local National Childbirth Trust group (a bit like La Leche League in Canada) and built up a lovely group of friends. I have kept in touch with Kathy over the years and she lives not far out of London so travelled there to see me. We spent a couple of hours chatting and catching up on our lives.

After she left to take the train home, we found a relatively comfortable seating area where the two younger boys crashed out for a few hours. The rest of us sat around, walked around, or tried to read, but I was so tired that I couldn't concentrate. After about 7 hours, we finally were able to get our last flight - a short hop from Heathrow to Jersey.

We arrived to driving rain just as it was getting dark. The total travelling time, if you consider we left home at 11am Friday and arrived at about 7.30 Saturday night, and allowing for the 8 hour time difference, was around 25.5 hours.

Some family members were waiting to greet us. We picked up our hire/rental car and drove off to my parents to get the key to the apartment, and after a short visit we left to find our accommodation.

The flat is lovely. Part of an old granite Jersey farmhouse, it's spacious and well-furnished. Two bathrooms. a front-loading washing machine, big dining table, soft beds and fluffy duvets. We're impressed! And only five minutes drive from both my parents' house and my sister's.

We had a good dose of sunshine yesterday and today, so don't mind the rain showers. I'm using my sister's computer right now and will hopefully be able to update again sometime soon. No photos at this point - the teen has possession of the camera and is loading the photos onto his computer so I'm hoping that there'll be plenty to post when I get back home and on my own computer.

Ta ta for now!