Big news!

I am here to announce, after 18 months (almost to the day) of being pedestrian/cyclists, WE HAVE A CAR!!! It is the most bizarre feeling, to be honest-- I keep thinking it's only loaned to us and we'll have to give it back, nope, it belongs to us! And I was going to take a picture of it to post on here, but I thought that was the height of sadness. However, I'm sure that thought will pass soon (hehe) and then I'll take the picture.

The only snag in the works is: until yesterday, I had never driven a standard in my life. And the new car is, as it happens, a standard. I phoned my father earlier today to tell him it's all his fault that I'm having to learn how to drive all over again 16 years after actually learning to drive (and 12 years after getting my license-- we lived in the country, that's the way it is, get over it). He didn't seem to mind that I'm blaming him for having to talk myself through something as basic as driving to the store. :) I'm sure I'll get better with practise-- if I don't, then I'm sure I'll continue to annoy the other drivers in Lubbock, few of whom can drive well anyway.

Also, we're moving in 10 days!

How exciting can Lubbock be, anyway?

Well, we've been back for a little while now, obviously. Turns out my posts about Scotland did not generate much interest, so from that I've deduced that 1. My friends are not interested in Scotland. or 2. Karla is the only friend who cares about me.

So, now that I know who loves me and who doesn't, here's a quick catchup on what we've been doing since we've been back:

My first day back at work was extremely unfun. I actually started crying within minutes of walking in the door, which I think really unnerved my supervisor, and pretty much everyone else, apparently, from their reactions. I am normally not particularly emotional, nor do I tend to be very affectionate toward others, so my poor supervisor was totally at a loss. She asked me, "Do you need a hug?" to which I answered, "No, I'm fine." But since I couldn't stop crying right away, she asked a couple of seconds later, "Are you sure you don't need a hug?" So I told her, "Well, you can hug me if it will make you feel better." She assured me that it would, so not only was I crying, but I was also hugged, which did not go very far toward making me happy to be there. My favourites were the people who came by to tell me "Welcome back," and didn't stop there, but went on to say, "Are you glad to be back?" I settled for telling them, "No," instead of adding "Go away!"

Anyway... a couple of Saturdays ago Chad and I participated in the Race for the Cure, and if there's anyone left in America who doesn't know what that is, you can click here to find out about it. Chad intended to run, but I wanted to walk, since I hadn't done any sort of training for it, but then the people I had planned to walk with decided they wanted to run, too. So I ended up walking with a girl who had been making conversation with us at the start line. We finished almost dead last, but I suppose someone had to be last...

That same Saturday we went with some friends from church to the corn maize, which is a few miles northwest of Lubbock. Every year, these people cut a maze in their corn field, and then other people come out to wander round in it. We ended up going in after dark, which apparently adds a whole new dimension to wandering round in a cornfield. But since I've never done it during the daytime, I have no basis for comparison. Anyway, we had lots of fun, then afterwards Chad decided to try the climbing wall that had just been set up, so he couldn't move his arms for three days. :)

Since then, the excitement in our life has been kept to a minimum! We are going to a marriage retreat with other couples from church at the end of this month, and then we are moving to a new apartment the day after that. Everyone we know has been expressing their sympathy at us moving, but we actually don't mind it much, so it all works out.

Headed home: Tuesday

I woke up from an extraordinarily uncomfortable sleep to find we were in London. Chad and I had taken the overnight bus, hence the reason sleep was so uncomfortable. We were in the upper deck of the coach (first time I had run across that combination), so we had a nice view of the London streets as we went through them, on our way to Victoria station.
We had breakfast in the train station, bought a final round of chocolates, and took the train to Gatwick. We were really early for our flight, so we had plenty of time to read the paper, or in Chad's case, to solve the Sudoku puzzles in the paper. It did take a long time to get through security, but we had expected that. The Gatwick airport is set up with a huge waiting area, surrounded by corridors to the various gates, with shops all around the sides. Passengers wait here until their flight shows up on the screen, then they go to their gates and wait. In some ways, I like it better than the system at, say, DFW or Houston, because all the shops are together in the spot you are waiting in, anyway, and there's no need to trek halfway across the airport from your gate just to find the McDonalds you were looking for.
So the flight back to Houston was 10 hours long, which I was not expecting-- apparently it's longer because of the jetstreams or something. Whatever it was, it was longer going back than coming, but it wasn't bad. The flight was actually quite empty, the flight attendents were fantastic, and the inflight entertainment kept me pretty well entertained.
Once through customs in Houston, when were were waiting for our flight to Lubbock, I was plagued by my age-old problem; my brain can only handle one accent at once. With my ears still ringing with Scottish, and English, accents, I had a hard time understanding the Americans around me. It's not so much that they sounded strange (although they did), it's just that I was expecting their words to sound differently. In any case, I did my best to shut them out. We got our flight back, a cab home, and I went straight to bed.

Day Eleven: Monday

Our last day in Glasgow! We went into the city centre with Pauline for a couple of hours. We had some last-minute souvenier buying to do, as well as getting some cookies, and generally hanging about with Pauline. I bought an enormous tea mug to use as work, because every morning I had been scrounging through the cupboards to get the largest mug available. Not a problem now. It turned out the cashier in the tourist centre was from Buenos Aires, and we didn't get the exact details of how she ended up in Glasgow, except that she had been working in Germany at one point, but liked Scotland much better. Well, of course. :)
So we finished up our trip with a final natter with Dawn, Anne Louise, and Daniel, over some really nice Indian. We were all packed up and ready to go when John came to get us in his race car at 9. They dropped us off at Buchanan Bus Station, and we were away.

Day Ten: Sunday

Sunday was a normal church day again, and I was reminded for a second time why I fell in love with Glasgow in the first place. You can find a friendly group of people anywhere, of course, but Glaswegians have something special that most other people don't. I can't quite put my finger on it or describe it, but I love these people, and I love this place.
On Sunday evening we went to West Mains again, saw the current aim students for a second time, and I was glad to see how much they like Scotland, as well. After church that evening, we went back to George and Jean's house. I've been in their house quite a few times, but their daughter gave me a tour anyway-- she really just wanted me to see her room, but pointed out all the other rooms for me as well. I taught Carla in Sunday school years ago, when she was a little girl, and it was fantastic to see what a lovely young lady she has become. Not that I ever had any doubt that would be the case. :)
So we had another natter with George and Jean, Sheena, who was there as well, and one of the aim students who also came round. Some old pictures were trotted out as well, and I wondered again, Was I really that skinny?

Day Nine: Saturday

On Saturday, after a nice lie-in for everyone, we went to Edinburgh with Dawn. After our usual catching the bus and trekking through the city centre, we bought our train tickets at Queens Street station and boarded right away, because we were just in time to catch the next train. The train journey to Edinburgh (and it's pronounced (Ed-in-burr-ah, not Ed-in-burg) is just under an hour, and it's quite a nice one. I really, really like the British rail system. The buses may be cheaper, but the trains are brilliant.
We started off by having a walk round the shops, and were rewarded for our trouble by coming across an international market-- I don't know if it is a regular thing or just a special occasion, but it was cool. They were handing out samples of various sweets (and real food as well), quite a lot of jewelry was up for sale, and my pal Dawn was brilliant enough to buy me a new bag. It's fantastic, this little bag, and perfect to carry while cycling, because it's shaped more or less like a messenger bag, just smaller.
As we headed back toward the royal mile, Dawn needed to go into a shop and buy an extra layer-- she was wearing a t-shirt and a jacket, and it was a bit chilly that day, so she was getting cold. So into a shop we went, had a look round, and she found exactly what she was looking for. On our way to the castle, we happened across a bagpipe player (not that he was hard to find) and got a couple of pictures and a bit of video of him playing the national anthem. The Scottish national anthem, that is, not ours.
The street that leads from the train station to the royal mile gets you to about the half-way point, so we decided to walk up it to the castle, then back down all the way to the Houses of Parliament, and then back to our starting point. This is a street, again, that I've been up and down numerous times, but there is always something else to see. This time around Dawn pointed out to us the national court-- I forget what it's properly called, but it's the highest court in Scotland. Tourist shops are also in abundance in the royal mile, and if we had wanted to do we could have bought everything we could imagine with a tartan or Scottish flag printed on it.
As we walked along, I was telling Dawn about the time that Keely, Nancy, and I got our photo taken with William Wallace on the royal mile, then we rounded the bend and there he was. I had thought before that he was part of the Edinburgh festival, but apparently he's out at other times, as well. Tourists-- and probably some locals, too-- get their pictures taken with him, and the money he collects goes to charity. As we passed by, Dawn commented that he's better looking than Mel Gibson (which he certainly is), which he naturally overheard. His answer was, "I'm grumpier, though, hen." He said something else as well, I don't remember what, but Dawn told me that he may not have known which of us had spoken if I hadn't answered her. Of course, with such a strong difference in our accents, there was no chance of him thinking it was me after that. Anyway, the whole episode was very funny, and it was quite enjoyable to see him out there again-- apparently he's been doing this for years.
So we finally made it up to the castle, which still had bleachers set up in the parking lot for the Edinburgh Tattoo (an annual bagpipe and drum display). We didn't go in, partly because we've all been in before, and partly because it has gotten rather pricey.
So back down the mile we went (it's actually more like a royal mile and half, these days, but that doesn't sound as nice), past all the various shops, bagpipe players, and street theatre performers, until we arrived at the Houses of Parliament. The Scottish parliament building has only been in existence for a few years, and has been a source of much controversy about the cost of building it. And while it is a nice building, on the outside it is certainly odd-looking. The inside is very nice, and the debating chamber especially is lovely, but I don't think its aesthetic qualities go very far towards reconciling most Scots to its cost.
After all that sightseeing and picture-taking, it was time to head back to Glasgow. We were going to the movies that evening in the city centre, so first we stopped off for some Chinese, since we had been walking all day. The movie theatre itself is brilliant-- I don't know how many stories it is, but unlike most American multiplexes I've seen, it is a multistorey building, with several screens on each floor, and stack ot escalators to get you to the correct one. There is also a glass elevator on the side of the building, which adds a whole new dimension of excitement to the moviegoing experience. The movie itself was not that great, but the theatre was brilliant.
After the movie was over, we got the bus back to Castlemilk. At least, that's where the bus was supposed to go. We were about halfway there when someone-- presumably children-- threw a rock or something at the bus, shattering four windows-- three downstairs and one upstairs. The poor driver had just come on for his shift as well, and he was quite panicked. As it was, everyone had to get off the bus, he had to call the police, speak to onlookers, and look after the one girl who was injured. So we went up to the next bus stop, since we were not needed at that moment, and ended up getting a taxi home. And so ended an otherwise nice day.

Day Eight: Friday

On Friday morning, Chad informed me that he was not interested in sightseeing-- apparently I pushed him to his limit by taking him to two old buildings in one day. So instead we visited a couple of parks.
To begin with, we walked down to King's Park. I've spent tons of time in this little park, since it was in close proximity to both of the houses I lived in while I was in Scotland. Since there were 2-4 people living in our houses at various times, it was a good place to go when I needed to escape from roommates-- or if I just needed some quiet time. Also there's a house in the centre, occupied by some very lucky people indeed who get to live in a park. How cool is that?
So after a few minutes of wandering, and examining the flower gardens, we decided that a really long walk was in order, so off we went to Queen's Park. I have no idea what the distance we actually walked that day was, nor even how much time it took us, I was too busy enjoying it. On the way we walked past Hamden Park, which is the Scottish national stadium.
Queen's Park is absolutely brilliant. It is quite large, and has attractions for just about everyone: bike trails, walking trails, two ponds, play parks, dog runs, etc. The main attraction for me, however, is the Viewpoint. There's a hill, more or less in the centre of the park, from which you can see most of the city. It's brilliant to stand up there on a clear day and look around, which is exactly what we did. There is also a very helpful information board that has a drawing of the skyline, and tells you exactly what you are looking at if you are facing any given direction. It's fantastic.
After admiring the city (and taking several pictures) we needed some chocolate (naturally). So we walked along to Somerfield, planning to buy some chocolate bars and some Cadbury mini-rolls.
We needed mini-rolls because, on Wednesday evening, we had brought some home with us to share. However, in the course of the evening and following morning, Chad ate about half of them himself, meaning that when Dawn got home Thursday evening, they were already gone. She teased Chad quite a bit about his chocolate-eating habits, so we decided to get some more to sit in the kitchen for when Dawn returned that evening. And that's what we did: after we got home, I arranged them in a Jenga-like stack on the kitchen counter, which did get a laugh from Dawn when she saw it.
Friday evening we went to Margaret's house for dinner. Dawn was also invited, as were John and Janet, so it a nice evening of nattering.

Day Seven: Thursday

So on Thursday we went sightseeing. Despite having lived in Glasgow for two years, I still haven't seen all the city has to offer. So instead of going to the same spots that I've been to many times, we went to a couple of places that neither of us had been to before.
First we bought an all-day ticket on the underground. The Glasgow underground, unfortunately, is not the huge network that will take you everywhere that the London version is. It runs in a circle around the city centre, and the cars are all painted orange-- hence it being called "The Clockwork Orange" from time to time. (Haven't seen the movie, don't know if there's any kind of connection.) At our first stop, there was nothing in particular to see, it was just a part of Glasgow we had never been in. So we wandered up and down the street, and went into a couple of charity shops, just for fun.
Stop #2 was for the Tenement House. I have totally forgotten the woman's name who lived there, but after she died, the tenement she lived in was given to the National Trust, and they keep it as it looked at the turn of the century. It is two rooms and a kitchen, meaning there is a bedroom and sitting room. The kitchen and sitting room both have set-in beds at the side, covered by a curtain during the day. This is totally a normal arrangement in the old tenements in Glasgow-- you'll see a room and a kitchen, two rooms and a kitchen, or a single end-- meaning the inhabitants have a kitchen with the set-in bed, a bathroom, and that's it. To people used to the enourmous houses and flats in most of America, it initially sounds cramped, but once in one, you really don't feel like it's small. It's all very nicely arranged, and people generally don't fill their houses with possesions they have no space for. Also at the Tenement House, they have a nice exhibit explaining housing in Glasgow through the centuries.
After leaving Tenement House, we started to walk to the Cathedral, but since we really didn't know exactly where it was, we gave it up and went back to the underground, where we headed for stop #3-- Scotland Street School Museum.
The Scotland Street School was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and as such is a beautiful building. It first opened in 1906, and ran continuously until the 70s, when enrollment was so low there was no point to keeping it open any longer. Fortunately, it was not torn down, and it was opened as a museum of Scottish school life a few years later. This year the building is celebrating its centenary. The displays were really interesting, quite a lot of the school furniture is still there, and I finally learned how many shillings there are in a pound. (Twenty, if anyone was wondering.) Also we had a nice chat with one of the guides-- Glaswegians, and in particular Glaswegians whose job it is to showcase their city-- are very gracious to anyone who shows an interest in their city. And such was the case at the Scotland Street School.
That was all we had time for in the city centre, although we found out later that had we gone to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery we might have seen the Queen, who was also in Glasgow that day.

On the way home, we stopped off to see a friend of mine who I had been trying to see all week. She was on holiday from work, but fortunately for us hadn't gone anywhere, so we were able to catch her at home. It was a short visit however, because we were going to Charlie and Ann's for dinner and another beautiful example of Scottish hospitality.

Day Six: Wednesday

Wednesday was the only day it really rained, but since we live in a dry and barren land, we were actually quite delighted to walk in the rain. Nothing really exciting happened on Wednesday. We went to the city centre to buy some souveniers we had promised to people. In a whirl of true Scottishness, we also visited Borders and Pizza Hut. Exciting, eh?

Day Five: Tuesday

Our plan on Tuesday was to go to IKEA, firstly to get an idea of what things cost so we can estimate our required one-time support, secondly because we don't have IKEA in Lubbock and I like to go there when I have a chance. After consulting the public transport routes and trying to work out where and when to get the bus, we changed our minds. It was far too much trouble, when we weren't intending on actually buying anything, and the more so because you can check prices online.

So we went instead to Rouken Glen park. I'd only been there once before, but it is quite lovely. It's large, with a burn (creek) running through it, and at one point there is a very nice waterfall. Also it has a few stretches of grass for dogs to run around in, a duck pond (some swans in there as well), a walled garden, and of course, one or two play parks for children. So I decided that my husband needed to see it. We had a very nice walk, having to skirt the mud here and there. Unfortunately, we have no pictures, because we forgot to take the camera along.

On Tuesday evening we went to see Caroline. Keely and I lived with Caroline for a while, as did quite a few other aim girls through the years. So, really, there isn't a lot she doesn't know about my personality and penchant for dropping or walking into things. She served us a traditional Scottish meal of mince and tatties, finished off by a chocolate cake that was fantastically good.

The house group also meets at Caroline's house on Tuesday evening, giving us a chance to fellowship and discuss the Bible with more of our brothers and sisters.

Day Four: Monday

On Monday, we embarked upon a grand adventure through the wilds of Scotland. Okay, not really. We went hill walking. Now, before someone asks, one hill walks by driving to a hill and then walking around on it, usually up to the top and then down again. Not just any hill, mind you, there are hills specifically designated for hill walks. So if you're just walking along the street and it happens to go uphill, sorry, you aren't hill walking.

Okay, now that we have that cleared up... Charlie asked us on Sunday if we'd like to go on a hill walk, and since we had, indeed, planned on doing so, we were happy to agree to go along. I have no idea what the place we went to is called, because I didn't write it down or anything. And it wasn't a hard climb, but for us who live in a very flat city, it was strenuous enough. We had a very nice view of Loch Lomond as we went up, and we have bunches of pictures of it, although since Photobucket is not cooperating at the moment, I haven't posted any of them. It was a cloudy day with just a bit of sprinkling rain now and then, but it looked beautiful with the sun almost shining through in one direction, and darker clouds on the other end of the sky. I hadn't been hill walking in six years, so I'd forgotten the feeling of going up a path-- you think the next turning leads to the top, only to get round it and seen an even higher bit of hill above you. It's actually quite funny in that way, because you wonder how the higher bit of the hill was hiding.

The trip to and from the hill was not so nice for me. I have never done well on the Scottish roads, winding round as they do, not to mention the continual up and down. I didn't take any carsickness medicine, which admittedly was a mistake, but on the other hand I didn't want to be drowsy while climbing. So I took pictures for the first part of the journey, but had to keep my eyes closed after a while. Coming back was even worse-- I felt ill almost right away. This is why trains are my preferred method of travel around Scotland, because the track builders kept the twists and turns to a minimum and it's more or less a straight shot to anywhere-- at least, it feels like it, which is the important part.

Monday evening we visited with Richard and Sharon and their daughters. Along the way to the house, we were reminded of one of Castlemilk's biggest problems-- children with nothing to do. In this instance they were teens, actually. There was a group of them standing outside, making cheeky comments about everyone who went by, and in between amusing themselves by throwing pebbles at people's windows. I don't know what the solution to this problem is, but I hope one can be found. Or at least tried.

Day Three: Sunday

Sunday was absolutely wonderful. It has long been my favourite day of the week, although I admit that being a part of a church of 1000+ in Texas does not give Sunday quite the same quality that it once had for me. It's hard to get round to everyone and have a nice conversation when there are such huge crowds to navigate, plus you have everyone hurrying out to get a seat at a restaurant. (Remember when people went home to have Sunday dinner? No? Ask your grandparents about what it was like.)

So I had high expectations of what my Sunday in Glasgow would be like. And, of course, I wasn't disappointed. The congregation in Castlemilk has breakfast together before class begins, which is enjoyable, and also gave us plenty of time to catch up with everyone-- what we've been doing and that sort of thing. I had sat down next to Dawn, but what with more people coming through the door every couple of minutes, there was a lot of up-and-down, and-- most people will be surprised to hear this-- lots of hugging. That's right, me, hugging people. It was brilliant.

The service was excellent as always, and I was feeling unexpectedly teary (not that I actually shed any tears) at my happiness to be here. Afterwards we went home (ah! there's that word again!) for Sunday dinner. The afternoon went by entirely too quickly, though, mostly because in order to get to East Kilbride for evening services we had to get the bus at 3:40, since it only runs once an hour. Apparently, not a lot of people go between East Kilbride and Glasgow on Sundays.

So we got the bus at the bottom of the hill, right next to the church building actually, and headed on our way. I was quite amazed at how many buildings there are between here and there, because there used to be a lot more open fields. Progess, I suppose. We arrived at the East Kilbride centre well before the time we were meant to meet Cathy, so we walked through it for a few minutes.

Now when I lived here, this mall was still quite new, and it was being billed as "The only 5-star mall in Scotland." I have no idea, still, what that means. But it is a large and very nice shopping centre, complete with ice rink and cinema. And apparently they've added on to it; Cathy took us through the new part as we went out, since that's they way out. And there's a quite large car park outside as well.

The congregation West Mains meets in a rented hall not far from the shopping centre, so it was a nice wee walk. Cathy got us all caught up on people I hadn't heard from since I left, pretty much. And it was totally worth all that travelling around and early leaving once we got there. I love these people so much, and it was brilliant seeing them again.

I was feeling welled again during the service, so it's a good thing it ended when it did. Another reason I love Scottish people is that they can all talk at least as fast as me, so the catching up was an easy matter. :) It was brilliant to be able to talk to everyone for a while, with the promise of more nattering next Sunday.

Day Two: Saturday

Okay, time to catch up before I forget everything we've done.

Saturday morning we got off to a bit of a slow start, much to the annoyance of the nice people at Central Station, who wanted us off their train. We only got off five minutes late, at 7:35. Still, those five minutes were more than enough to miss Dawn, who had come to collect us at 7:15.

So we walked through the city centre to the bus stop to get to Castlemilk, getting ourselves into an amusing (for us) situation as we stopped to phone to let Dawn know we would be arriving soon. Instead, we spoke to Daniel, who said Dawn was in the city centre as well. So he phoned Dawn's mobile, while we stood at the bus stop and watched the buses go by.

It turned out that Dawn, having not found us at Central station at 7:15, had decided that we must have already headed to her house, so that's where she was on her way back to when she got Daniel's call. So she got off her bus, on to another, and went back to the city centre, where we saw her 20 minutes later.

So after such an amusing beginning, the rest of the day was remarkably calm. We went back into the city centre after getting cleaned up and had lunch (Actually, Chad had an all day breakfast, which involves a lot of dead pig and grease, while I had a baked potato with chicken curry. It was wonderful.). After a wee wander about, we headed for home because we needed to do the shopping. So we stopped at Asda.

Now when I first arrived here as an aim student, eight years ago, the Americans who were already here were all mourning the lack of Wal-Mart in this country. Not being a fan myself, I was perfectly happy with that state of affairs. However, the current aim students have no such complaint, since Asda was bought out by Wal-Mart many years ago. While it does not have quite the Wal-Mart aura inside, Asda is open 24 hours (just the thing for your Scot who can't sleep and has no car), and does have a lot of stuff at reasonable prices. And since it still has "Asda" printed in rather large letters on the outside, I can't bring myself to dislike it. If they ever change the sign, that will be a different matter altogether.

And that was our Saturday! Nothing exciting, just life the way I lived it when I was here.

Day One: Friday

We landed, went through customs (and I was frightened out of my wits by a customs official who I'm almost sure is the same person I had to go through 8 years ago-- thankfully we went to someone else this time around), and were launched into London.

So it seems that there is no good time of day to go through Victoria station. It was getting close to noon, but the queues to all the ticket counters were enormous. However, the London underground system is quite well set up-- there was a large map which we consulted, decided what kind of all day ticket we needed, and were able to buy it from a kiosk with no problems. Next obstacle: getting ourselves, and our luggage, to Euston station.

As I said, it was completely packed, and people were crushed together quite tightly, and we were certainly not the only ones with luggage on the underground. We managed it though, got to Euston, checked our luggage into the luggage holding place, leaving us unhindered to wander about.

The first thing we saw once we were out the door was a Krispy Kreme, next door to a Starbucks. It's things like that which make international travel worthwhile. :) Unfortunatly, we have no picture.

Seriously, we didn't go into anything, even though we had planned to do, because the exchange rate is horrible and everywhere is quite expensive. We did see the Houses of Parliment, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, Downing Street (that's where the Prime Minister lives), Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Picadilly Circus-- all the touristy places, in other words. And do remember that we were doing all this walking about while half-dead with jet lag and lack of sleep (neither of us slept well on the plane). I've posted all our pictures here.

Also I had a very funny moment in a loo, in which a woman spoke to me, not in English, so I answered her in Spanish. I only spoke to her in Spanish because: 1. I had already spoken to her in English, and she didn't understand, and 2. What she said to me sounded like a romance language of some sort, so I decided to take the chance that she would understand Spanish. Well, after I spoke to her, she said "Okay," and we went on our merry way. On our way out of the restaurant, I spotted her again, along with a crowd of people, who were all speaking very distinct German. Oh, well.

So at the end of the day, we headed back to Euston station, collected our luggage, printed out our train tickets, and waited for our train to appear on the board. This is the much-anticipated sleeper train that everyone was so excited about. It was actually quite nice, and we really enjoyed it.

To begin with, it had been a nice break to hear English accents (along with who knows how many other languages) all day, since we are generally surrounded by Texan drawl (my apologies to the Texans who read this). However, all the people we met on the train had very distinct Scottish accents, which was such a relief to hear. I really felt like I was going home at that point.

We went to bed, because we were completly shattered, but I wasn't asleep yet when the train pulled out. The first little bit of the was there was a lot of lurching about and rails screeching, so I began to doubt that I could sleep on the train. Well, I was wrong. Thank goodness. I fell asleep shortly afterwards, only woke up once or twice that I could remember, and the next thing I knew the nice woman was waking us up with tea and a snack, because it was Saturday morning and we had arrived in Glasgow.

Thursday

Okay, so we'll start from the beginning. Thursday afternoon we headed for the airport, after last-minute packing, a run (well, cycle) to Burger King, watering the plants, closing the windows, turning the AC way up, and opening the blinds just enough to let in sunlight so we don't come home to a plant graveyard.

Nothing of any note whatsoever happened at the Lubbock airport. We didn't even have a very long wait, although we did get a bit bored:




The real fun started when we landed in Houston. We arrived 20 minutes early, which is in itself pretty impressive. Except for one thing: There was no gate available for us. And, unfortunately, it took 25 minutes for a gate to be ready. Then, when we managed to get to what turned out to be a square of tarmac, it took another 5 minutes to get the shuttle bus to us. So our 20 minute early arrival turned into a 10 minute late one, in terms of us actually being in the terminal.

We had a fast layover anyway, only 40 minutes, now down to 30. We went up to the monorail to get to our gate, to find out it was having problems as well. So there goes another 5 minutes. At this point I am holding a very nervous conversation with my watch about how much time we have, while Chad is totally calm, cool and collected. Our terminal was the last stop on the monorail, and as things go, our gate was the furthest one at the other end of the terminal building. (I used to really like the Houston airport, but trust me, a lot of that fondness is now gone.) So we race up to the gate at 6:44, essentially waving our passports and shouting, "We're here!" Fortunately, the door of the airplane wasn't shut yet, and they hadn't yet removed our bags from the cargo hold, so the people at the gate told us, "Run!" as they phoned down to the plane to wait a few more seconds before shutting us out. So we did.

I'd also just like to say at this point that the Continental airlines people who got us on the plane were all wonderful, except for the one man at the end of the jetway who asked (thinking, I suppose, that he was funny) "Did you take the long way around?" At that point, I was not in the mood for wit, and this wasn't it anyway, so I snapped back, "It was the airplane and the monorail, not us!" I didn't add "so shut up!" although I certainly wanted to. We got a few glowers from other passengers as we got on, which I ignored since we were technically taking off at our correct time anyway. We got our seats, shooed off a woman who had decided this was her row, since no one was sitting there, and settled down. Fortunately, we each had our own video screen, which went a long way toward making me feel a resurgence of loyalty toward Continental.

So the flight was pretty uneventful-- thank goodness! Also, the food was great. IMO, British Airways has the best airline food, but Continental is almost even with them. At a very distant third (and by very distant, think me running a marathon against an Olympian athelete) is American. Bringing up the rear, and falling in behind school lunches, mystery meat in hole-in-the-wall red-light restaurants, and road kill you scraped up and cooked, is Sabena. I've never had worse food in my life than when I flew with them. In fact, I think they may be out of business now, and I would guess that's because their loyal customers all got food poisoning at some point.

Coming soon... Friday: Day One

It's 21:55... do you know where your children are?

So we've now been in the UK for three days, and are quite enjoying ourselves. I will (I hope) be posting more photos tomorrow, but in the meantime, here are our obligatory Trafalgar Square photos with the lions (and I don't even want to tell you how I got up there):

So long, farewell, I can't spell the rest of the words...

I'm updating now, because I don't know if I'll get a chance this afternoon. We're leaving today! We fly out at 4:30 PM. So right now I'm wide awake (very early) in the hopes I will be able to sleep on the plane. Tomorrow we're spending the entire day sightseeing in London, and I have a feeling that Westminister Abbey is best viewed while awake, and not sleepwalking, so I really, really want to sleep on the plane. Prayers for a safe journey will be appreciated!

Goo-be-gone! (Please!)

Well, this week I haven't quite been the giddy-bouncing around-driving everyone crazy bundle of energy that you might expect, being as we're leaving for Scotland tomorrow. Well, London, technically. And that's because my leg (the one that had a blood clot three years ago) has been bothering me with similar symptoms, and I was worried that I had developed blood clot #2, days before leaving the country.

So I went to my doctor yesterday, who I suppose was happy to see me (at least, that's what she said). I was quite gratified when she told me I'm doing everything right (never heard that before!), but she had to order a doppler, which is basically an ultrasound on my leg. So I had to go to the hospital to let someone slather my leg in goo, while looking at the nice picture on the screen. Good news: no blood clot. Bad news: My leg will just do this from time to time, to keep my life interesting. And she didn't even let me see the picture, although since this is my fourth doppler, it's not like I don't know what she was looking at.

So we get to go on our trip (some of the girls at work had some dire predictions in that department) with no hindrances. And, also, I get to ride my bike to work today and tomorrow, which I had been sad about missing out on. The more exercise I get (especially on the day of the trip), the better I sleep. I'm really hoping to be able to sleep on the plane this time around, although I admit it will be a first if I do. And speaking of which, I need to go to the library to get a book to read before I leave. Wow, I have a lot to do in the next 30 hours.

We finally bought a digital camera!

I could think of it as cleaning the blinds AND the floor...

Time to update-- not that I have a lot to update about.

This past Sunday was our last day teaching the second grade. I made them cookies, which several of them turned down-- more for everyone else, I say. :) They were a fun bunch to teach, and as much as I like the idea of not having to come up with something to keep their attention for an hour every week, I'll miss teaching them.

I cleaned our blinds on Saturday, which made me wish we had a yard and a hose. The reason for that is, I rinsed them off in the shower. It took the combined efforts of six bath towels to clean up all the water off the floor, but we have clean blinds now on all our windows, so I suppose it was worth it.

My bike tyre is flat; I've been getting a lift to work the past few days. While decreasing my chances of getting killed on my way to work, this arrangement also decreases the excitement and adventure in my life.

We leave for Scotland in just over a week, and I'm pretty sure everyone will be happy to be free of me for a couple of weeks. Everyone at work now (forcibly) knows almost as much about Scotland as I do. It will be a quiet place with me gone...

Cycling in the rain

Wow, five posts in four days. I've gone crazy!

This week (can't remember if I've written about this or not) I've been cycling to and from work. So far, so good. Of course, this week we've also gotten more rain that we've had all summer. But I'll take it. In fact, on Monday night I really thought it was going to pour down, so I prayed, "If I have to get wet, so be it. Please let it rain." Well, the Lord kept the rain away until after I got home, anyway, which I appreciated, although I was 100% sincere in my prayer. I got sprinkled on Tuesday evening, and today, the rain started after I had already arrived at work. I was happy about that, because it's bad enough to arrive at the office in a T-shirt and shorts, without adding being completely drenched to the mix. I was all set to ride home this evening, but one of the girls in the office talked me into leaving my bike behind, offering to take me home tonight and bring me back tomorrow morning. So I accepted, which turned out to be good, since it did start raining while we were coming home.

So, I need to buy: 1. A poncho. 2. Reflective tape of some sort. 3. No, that's it. I'd like to have a basket, but that isn't paramount to my safety, so I can't call it a need.

Three weeks until we leave!