Sunday, October 31, 2010
Someday, Maybe As Soon As Tomorrow
Cails! Well that was quite an adventure. I am so glad you made it back to Norwich! Just think, without stuff like this we wouldn't have the blues and great stories and things to look back on someday, (maybe as soon as tomorrow), and laugh and even cry (good tears!) We know you're having the time of your life and all that but wish we were closer than a blog entry away because we miss you terribly. Do be daring but safe and can't wait to hear all about it face to face. Remember in the meantime, Mama and Daddy love Cailin and Grady and Connor very very much. You've got a lot of good in you. I'll tell you a secret, I love you very very much but don't tell anyone!
Longest Day of My Life, Part II
First, that last post was from Cailin, not Kelsey, just under her name by accident. Anyway. Midnight, Sunday morning (Saturday night). Kelsey has a 1:30am train from St. Pancras Station, where our bags still are, to Luton airport for her 6am flight. After dinner, we decided to stay downtown by Charing Cross and Piccadilly Circus to see more sights and go out dancing because we didn't have a place to sleep anyway. We had a wonderful time, but then realized we needed to be back at St. Pancras. But wait! The clocks have fallen back an hour! We borrow someone's phone to check GOOGLE, which says that the official fallback time is 1:00am. So we have plenty of time! Kels' train doesn't leave for another 2 hours! Dance until 1:00am.
1:00am: Depart club, find a bus that will take us back to St. Pancras.
2:20: arrive St. Pancras. In our heads it's 1:20. Bus took 1,000,000 times longer than we expected, short on time. Better run!
2:23 Train has departed, sorry ma'am. The official fallback time is 2:00. No other trains or buses to Luton airport until 9:00.
2:28 An official tells us that there is a bus to Victoria Station. Here Kelsey can get a bus to Luton Airport and probably make it in time. There is no way she can miss the flight, all other tickets are hundreds of dollars, which neither of us have. We absolutely can not afford another ticket. This is the one option. Go to collect bags and get on that bus to Victoria Station.
2:30 Baggage Claim is closed until morning. Are you kidding me? We have no idea what to do. Seems pretty hopeless.
2:40 Resist crying. Go get food. Yell at guys for catcalling ("Unless you have a solution to my huge crisis right now, I really don't want to talk to you."). Try to find cash machines so Kels can borrow money for a bus ticket. Find 8 different ones, 8 are out of order. We have 12 pounds between us.
3:15 Wait for bus to Victoria Station with Kels. I will ship Blanky and hair straightner, stuck in the suitcase which is locked up in St. Pancras. Wait for 35min at the wrong busstop. It is freezing, our coats are in our suitcases, and because it's Halloween we are surrounded by Zombies and Butchers and Corpse Brides and Pirates, all bleeding and white and undead and drunk and singing and throwing up everywhere. We're not in the mood for this holiday at all.
3:50 Find the right bus stop and find tickets. Give all my money to Kels, hope Victoria to Luton is less than 12 pounds.
4:10 The N73 bus finally arrives! Kels now has 1hr 50min to catch a flight at an airport over an hour away. Say goodbye to Kels, still resisting the urge to burst into tears.
4:30 Sitting alone at McDonald's. Only 1.5 hours until I can collect the bags and get a coat! Decide I need my little metal Royal Guard for company. I can't find him anywhere, I've lost him in our frantic search for coins to buy a bus pass. Cry for the first time tonight.
5:00 Get kicked out of McDonald's. It closes at 4:00. Suddenly I remeber the time change, it is actually 4:00am, which means Kels might make her train after all! But I have another 2hours to wait in the cold.
4:05 Find 24hr McDonald's. Ahab the guard befriends me, tries to buy me Big & Tasty, tells me I can stay with him if I like and gives me his email address. Kelsey, where are you?! This guy is creepy. Fake a phonecall to get away from him. He yells "email me!" as I leave McDonald's.
4:35 St. Pancras station. Read with "The Joker" from Batman sleeping next to me. I'm so cold my teeth are chattering and my hands are purple.
6:00 Finally! I can get the bags. Run to the Baggage Claim, my heart sinks. It doesn't open until 7:00 on Sundays. I want to throw up. Cry #2. Four French kids in wool hats, mittens, scarves and coats complain about how cold it is. I'm wearing a cotton shirt and leggings.
7:10 Baggage opens late. Finally get my bag and Kels' suitcase, which is broken. The handle snapped off so I can't pull it along. Rig up an invention for rolling it behind me. Put on my sweater and jacket. Get the Underground to Liverpool St. Station, my train leaves in 2 hours.
7:25 "Attention Passengers, due to track maintenence the train terminates at Moorgate. Please Depart here and catch another train." Lug suitcases up 3 flights of stairs, over a platform, down another 3 flights, board the train to Liverpool St.
7:45 Arrive at Station! Go to collect pre-booked tickets from the ticket machine. Debit card not readable. Denied. Must find ticket window.
7:55 Ticket man is rude to me. I finally lose it and sob and sob and sob. I want Mama and Daddy. I look like a disaster and have been awake for 24 hours now. I've been waiting to get home for 6hours. Think about my Royal Guard and bawl even louder.
8:15 Pull myself together. Go to the bathroom (30 pence, please). Use lots and lots of cover-up, mascara and blush to bring me back to life. Use last 1.89 in change to buy a Triple Chocolate Muffin. Things are looking up. I may make it back yet!
9:02 Suitcase breaks all the way. No more handle. I look like Elaine in that Seinfield episode, carrying a suitcase in each hand like an ape. Board the train headed for Norwich.
9:39 Get off the train in Ingatestone, board a bus for Colchester.
10:29 Arrive at Colchester train station. Bathroom smells like propane gas and rotting flesh. Halloween special?
11:17 Depart Colchester on a train for Norwich.
12:22 Norwich! At last!
12:45 Catch the 35 bus back to campus.
1:05 Arrive at UEA. Start walking (like Elaine, with my bags) to the Village where I live. Realize I should start working out my upper body again, as I have to stop and take a breather a couple times.
1:31 Back in my room!!!!!!! Safe and sound! I'm so tired I'm nauseous. Just got word from Kelsey that she made her flight and arrived back home at 10:00 this morning. Am taking a shower and sleeping until tomorrow.
1:00am: Depart club, find a bus that will take us back to St. Pancras.
2:20: arrive St. Pancras. In our heads it's 1:20. Bus took 1,000,000 times longer than we expected, short on time. Better run!
2:23 Train has departed, sorry ma'am. The official fallback time is 2:00. No other trains or buses to Luton airport until 9:00.
2:28 An official tells us that there is a bus to Victoria Station. Here Kelsey can get a bus to Luton Airport and probably make it in time. There is no way she can miss the flight, all other tickets are hundreds of dollars, which neither of us have. We absolutely can not afford another ticket. This is the one option. Go to collect bags and get on that bus to Victoria Station.
2:30 Baggage Claim is closed until morning. Are you kidding me? We have no idea what to do. Seems pretty hopeless.
2:40 Resist crying. Go get food. Yell at guys for catcalling ("Unless you have a solution to my huge crisis right now, I really don't want to talk to you."). Try to find cash machines so Kels can borrow money for a bus ticket. Find 8 different ones, 8 are out of order. We have 12 pounds between us.
3:15 Wait for bus to Victoria Station with Kels. I will ship Blanky and hair straightner, stuck in the suitcase which is locked up in St. Pancras. Wait for 35min at the wrong busstop. It is freezing, our coats are in our suitcases, and because it's Halloween we are surrounded by Zombies and Butchers and Corpse Brides and Pirates, all bleeding and white and undead and drunk and singing and throwing up everywhere. We're not in the mood for this holiday at all.
3:50 Find the right bus stop and find tickets. Give all my money to Kels, hope Victoria to Luton is less than 12 pounds.
4:10 The N73 bus finally arrives! Kels now has 1hr 50min to catch a flight at an airport over an hour away. Say goodbye to Kels, still resisting the urge to burst into tears.
4:30 Sitting alone at McDonald's. Only 1.5 hours until I can collect the bags and get a coat! Decide I need my little metal Royal Guard for company. I can't find him anywhere, I've lost him in our frantic search for coins to buy a bus pass. Cry for the first time tonight.
5:00 Get kicked out of McDonald's. It closes at 4:00. Suddenly I remeber the time change, it is actually 4:00am, which means Kels might make her train after all! But I have another 2hours to wait in the cold.
4:05 Find 24hr McDonald's. Ahab the guard befriends me, tries to buy me Big & Tasty, tells me I can stay with him if I like and gives me his email address. Kelsey, where are you?! This guy is creepy. Fake a phonecall to get away from him. He yells "email me!" as I leave McDonald's.
4:35 St. Pancras station. Read with "The Joker" from Batman sleeping next to me. I'm so cold my teeth are chattering and my hands are purple.
6:00 Finally! I can get the bags. Run to the Baggage Claim, my heart sinks. It doesn't open until 7:00 on Sundays. I want to throw up. Cry #2. Four French kids in wool hats, mittens, scarves and coats complain about how cold it is. I'm wearing a cotton shirt and leggings.
7:10 Baggage opens late. Finally get my bag and Kels' suitcase, which is broken. The handle snapped off so I can't pull it along. Rig up an invention for rolling it behind me. Put on my sweater and jacket. Get the Underground to Liverpool St. Station, my train leaves in 2 hours.
7:25 "Attention Passengers, due to track maintenence the train terminates at Moorgate. Please Depart here and catch another train." Lug suitcases up 3 flights of stairs, over a platform, down another 3 flights, board the train to Liverpool St.
7:45 Arrive at Station! Go to collect pre-booked tickets from the ticket machine. Debit card not readable. Denied. Must find ticket window.
7:55 Ticket man is rude to me. I finally lose it and sob and sob and sob. I want Mama and Daddy. I look like a disaster and have been awake for 24 hours now. I've been waiting to get home for 6hours. Think about my Royal Guard and bawl even louder.
8:15 Pull myself together. Go to the bathroom (30 pence, please). Use lots and lots of cover-up, mascara and blush to bring me back to life. Use last 1.89 in change to buy a Triple Chocolate Muffin. Things are looking up. I may make it back yet!
9:02 Suitcase breaks all the way. No more handle. I look like Elaine in that Seinfield episode, carrying a suitcase in each hand like an ape. Board the train headed for Norwich.
9:39 Get off the train in Ingatestone, board a bus for Colchester.
10:29 Arrive at Colchester train station. Bathroom smells like propane gas and rotting flesh. Halloween special?
11:17 Depart Colchester on a train for Norwich.
12:22 Norwich! At last!
12:45 Catch the 35 bus back to campus.
1:05 Arrive at UEA. Start walking (like Elaine, with my bags) to the Village where I live. Realize I should start working out my upper body again, as I have to stop and take a breather a couple times.
1:31 Back in my room!!!!!!! Safe and sound! I'm so tired I'm nauseous. Just got word from Kelsey that she made her flight and arrived back home at 10:00 this morning. Am taking a shower and sleeping until tomorrow.
happy halloween!!! I am still without a costume, although Izzy designed me an angel costume complete with purple lace-up sandals... not sure how I'm going to whip that up in the next twelve hours.
Yesterday I went to Manhattan to hang out with Sarah and Tabby and Mike. We went to the natural history museum, which was just as cool as I remembered it being. for lunch we went to Shake Shack, a little burger joint on the upper west side that is really popular and always has a huge line snaking down the street. We all got burgers and shakes (well, I got a veggie burger) and it was delicioussss, well worth the wait. We took them to go and ate in central park, where a halloween spooktacular was happening, so it was absolutely packed with little children in costumes. although it was hard to navigate through the crowd of tiny zombies, we were able to explore central park quite a bit and saw belvedere castle, the marionette theater, the shakespeare in the park theater, the turtle pond and the boathouse. We also saw lots of brides and their wedding parties getting photos taken, which i thought was sort of unfortunate timing, because in the background of all their happy memories will be ghouls and other grotesque motif.
babysit Izzy last night. We made halloween themed cupcakes which she then ruined by putting blue sprinkles on top of (how does blue factor into the halloween theme?)... but they were still delicious.
Longest day of my life...Part I
I've just arrived back at my flat, after the longest day of my life. I've been awake for 30 hours, can barely see straight, and smell awful. Here's what happened.
Kels and I were supposed to stay with a friend of her's in London Friday and Saturday nights. She had a 6am this morning flight out of Luton airport, so we had to be in London, and figured we'd make a weekend out of it. 1 hour before our train left she got an email saying he was sick and going back home for the weekend, sorry, but he wouldn't be around. We had nowhere to stay. But hey, you're only young once, right? We'd simply play it by ear, find a youth hostel, a cheap hotel, maybe just pull an all nighter on Saturday since we had such early departure times anyway. We arrived in London around 8:00. Pouring rain. Cheapest hotel anyone can tell us about is 150 pounds a night, aka $300. Every hostel is booked. Finally find "The County Hotel." 52 pounds a night to stay in a room smaller than my dorm, with bunk beds. We take it. Television is smaller than my laptop and only gets game shows. Get all dressed up to go out, realize we're tired and crabby, and go to bed instead. Saturday morning we wake up early and bring our bags to St. Pancras Station, where we'll store them while we walk around London for the day. We checked out of the hotel. We go on our way. It was a wonderful day, we had a great time, finally got to see Buckingham Palace and bought the cutest little metal Royal Guard, the kind of keepsake I'll have forever. It came in a little golden bag that said "Buckingham Palace" on it. Anyway, the rest of the day doesn't matter much, until around midnight on Saturday night...(con't reading part II, above)
Kels and I were supposed to stay with a friend of her's in London Friday and Saturday nights. She had a 6am this morning flight out of Luton airport, so we had to be in London, and figured we'd make a weekend out of it. 1 hour before our train left she got an email saying he was sick and going back home for the weekend, sorry, but he wouldn't be around. We had nowhere to stay. But hey, you're only young once, right? We'd simply play it by ear, find a youth hostel, a cheap hotel, maybe just pull an all nighter on Saturday since we had such early departure times anyway. We arrived in London around 8:00. Pouring rain. Cheapest hotel anyone can tell us about is 150 pounds a night, aka $300. Every hostel is booked. Finally find "The County Hotel." 52 pounds a night to stay in a room smaller than my dorm, with bunk beds. We take it. Television is smaller than my laptop and only gets game shows. Get all dressed up to go out, realize we're tired and crabby, and go to bed instead. Saturday morning we wake up early and bring our bags to St. Pancras Station, where we'll store them while we walk around London for the day. We checked out of the hotel. We go on our way. It was a wonderful day, we had a great time, finally got to see Buckingham Palace and bought the cutest little metal Royal Guard, the kind of keepsake I'll have forever. It came in a little golden bag that said "Buckingham Palace" on it. Anyway, the rest of the day doesn't matter much, until around midnight on Saturday night...(con't reading part II, above)
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Adventures in London...
Currently sitting at an internet cafe by Trafalgar Square, in London. This trip has been...an adventure. What do you get when you put two girls with no money in the city? A hotel bunkbed for £50 and a sleepover in the bus terminal...will write more when I get back to Norwich tomorrow morning. The good news is I went to Buckingham Palace and have tons of pictures...
Friday, October 29, 2010
Meet Izaih!
How about this cute little face! Izaih is our new redhead! He woke up this morning and turned to me and said "let's talk!" Then he cupped his ear to listen and said "I think I hear that kid getting his clothes ready." He is very, very sweet. You all would love him.
All else is well with us too! Love, love, love the blog and reading all of your stories and seeing your pics, especially your smiling faces.
all our love to you.
Patty
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Cailin?
Are you there? Hello? Oh she must be at the library. DOING SCHOOL WORK!! Love you.
Love you all. Peace. Peter
Love you all. Peace. Peter
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