Home at Last

One of the nicest parts of going away on holiday is coming back to your own cosy home and your own cosy bed that smells and feels just right.

The journey home went fine, if we were delayed it was only a minute or two and there were no other problems apart from grouchy kids and being stuck in a small seat for too long. We flew with United Airlines from/to Orlando and Chicago and then with BMI from/to Manchester. Both were OK but not quite as good as First Choice or Virgin who we normally fly with. We only did this journey because it saved us a lot of money with flights, we will fly direct in future. The extra hours hanging around were a pain.

We got to Manchester amidst a grey humid day in need of a shower and a good sleep. Although I cat napped a little between watching 'Viewpoint' and 'Enchanted' on the flight I felt like a limp dishcloth, with another 3 hours drive until a shower.

After a coffee and chat at the brother in laws, we got into the car - only straying onto the wrong side of the road once! and then made our way north. I love seeing the 'Angel of the North' as it tells us we are only 30 minutes from home. We pulled into the drive noticing that our palm tree had shed a dozen leaves, littering the whole front lawn and that a new sign had been erected to announce a new phase of homes to be built on an area of wasteland known locally as Mud Mountain and a haven for kids wanting to get muddy.

I had to collect the dogs so wanted to get a load in the washer and the gifts out for Lynn before I went. I also planned a shower, but our neighbours who I tried to call to ask them to put the hot water on for us were out so that wasn't possible. Eventaully after rummaging through every bag, I found the A1 Sauce I was looking for to take to Lynn's.

I collected the dogs (how I had missed them) and cuddled them to bits. They then went off to their favourirte corners and slept for hours. I think they had had a great holiday too!

Once back at home I unpacked everything and put it all away except the odds and ends to give to various people over the next few days. You know how I can't stand mess! At the same time I was loading and unloading the washing machine.

It got to tea time, we started to flag. Jordan had gone up to the cave and had fallen asleep, Alexander was doing my head in wanting to go for a bike ride (like I didn't have enough on my plate at that time.) I eventually gave in and took him up to the school car park for half an hour.

Mick was shattered and was also sorting out some problem with the satellite Sky+ that has been going on for weeks now and that could cost us a fair bit of money. As it turned out, despite a new TV arial lead and several phone calls to Sky they had been telling us the wrong code to put in!! Couldn't you just slap someone?

5pm the Newcastle v Arsenal match came on, which we watched half heartedly. It was a rubbish game anyway. Halftime I finally got a bath and felt so much better for it. 8pm we all headed for bed. Did I mention that one of our neighbours told me while I was hanging out washing that they were having a few friends round for a party that night? No, well they did, and how noisy were they? Not only were there several women with the kind of laugh that resembles fingernails on blackboards, but at 11.30am they began to sing Abba songs!

Now I'm not a party pooper at all, and don't mind the occasional late night partying, but not when I'm exhausted and my body doesn't know where in the world it is supposed to be. I was climbing the walls as I just couldn't sleep, nor could Mick. At 2 am we gave in and put the TV on. Yes they were still out there partying at that time. They quietened down shortly after that, but then Alexander woke up wasking for his breakfast. All three of us sat in bed watching TV.

Eventually sleep caught up with us and we next woke at 10.30am. I had a stinking headache, so got up for some tablets. It wasn't long until I was back on the laundry trail, going out shopping and trying to write this post. Mick decided that this morning would be a good time to cancel our current e-mail provider who was charging us a fortune and move to another one. This involved changing e-mails etc. and stopped me from doing my blogging.

So now hopefully, we are back to normal, and I can sit and relax a bit. I have a mountain of ironing to do but nothing that needs to be done by Monday. The weather is dull but warm and we now have food in the house.

So now I will hopefully get the final photos downloaded, edited and 'organised' into neat and tidy format so I can do something nice with them.

Nice to be back on my own laptop too!