We arrived early at Heathrow airport. I had forgot that the economy in the seating section meant close quarters of the worst kid. Fortunately we had two seats by the window of the 777 jet. Unfortunately, when the seat in front of me reclined the small TV view screen was lowered to the point of distortion. But the most interesting feature of the economy section is if you sit by the window and the seat in front of you is reclined, in order to get out for the restroom conveniently nearby, you have to flex muscles long neglected and constricted by hours of sitting in the same position to twist in ways never thought possible, to just get to the aisle seat and, then regaining your energy to get into the aisle and stand stationary until your mind acknowledges that you are free of restraint so you can press on to the restrooms.
   Catherine came to pick us up at the airport and drive us back to Cobham. The boys were in school so we did not get to say hi until Ryan and Connor came home around 3:30 pm. Dave got home around 7:00 and we relaxed with a nice dinner at home.

8/25/11
This served to be a day of travel transition. I started reading a Baldacci "Split Second" novel and between reading and dozing most of the day I realized that the jet lag has been difficult for me on this trip. I was up at 3:00 am this morning and could not get back to sleep because I felt all of the kinks I had from the seat on the plane. Sheila did not fair much better but she did get to talk a walk when the rain let up in the late afternoon. We did some grocery shopping at Marks and Spencer and on to Tesco. They had some excellent fresh cod which I poached for dinner. It was wonderful to have a home cooked meal everyone.

8/26/11
Yet another laid back day, adjusting to our stay in England and preparation for our train trip to France. We are going to the Black Swan Pub tonight for dinner.