What time is it?

Greetings from the Motherland. (Who's your mummy?)

I arrived a bit ahead of schedule. The plane, the airport, baggage and customs were all a breeze. I hope that Patti and the kids have as easy a time as I did.

At the airport, I stepped out into sunlight to wait for Jim and Anne. I could see my breath, but it wasn't cold. They sent a text saying they hit a spot of traffic but would arrive shortly. The drive home to Oxfordshire was taken up mostly by Jim trying to educate me on UK road signage -- none of which I remember today due to jet lag brain fog.

Day 1 was spent simply trying to stay awake. Jim makes an excellent coffee which helped tremendously. I managed to stay awake until 10PM (5PM Eastern time) with only a 5 minute doze around 3PM.

Their home is a charming little cottage at the end of the lane. Two chickens greeted us. Jim picked one up for a closer inspection, and a pat on the head. After placing the one chicken on the ground both ran over to Anne, "They know who feeds them, they do." I settled into "spare oom" and unpacked some things.

Coffee...coffee...trip into town.

Driving through town, Jim turns down an alley (now, they will call it a road, I know, but seriously, it was generous calling this an alley, I mean, it was so narrow...) and says, "Anne won't drive down this road. Your not going to believe me, but it goes both directions." I look out the window as the building window sills clear the car on both sides by, perhaps, 5 inches! Lunch at the pub and some other errands followed. I was happy to receive several mini lessons meant to help convert my language to UK English (proper?).

sidewalk --> pavement
pants --> trousers (don't say 'pants' as it means undergarments)
truck --> lorrie (not sure of the spelling on this one)
(a few off color words that I will leave as independent research for the reader)

Later in the evening I met Jim and Anne's two children. A lovely family and wonderful hosts.

Phone calls home...cofffee...wine...bed... ahhhh.