England *1*

I have just had the loveliest weekend. This weekend was very special as it took place in England at my godmother Elizabeth’s house. I stayed there with her lovely family, her husband Ted and the kids; Olivia, Rupert, and Cordelia (and when I say a lovely family, i mean some of the nicest people I have ever met kind of lovely).

The reason this visit took place was to celebrate Cordelia’s First Holy Communion. Cordelia has been going to Holy Communion classes for a year now and on Sunday all of her work was rewarded by an exquisite First Holy Communion and a fabulous big celebration afterwards.

I left my Swiss house early Friday morning so I could catch the train over to the Geneva airport, where I would be departing at 2.45pm.


I arrived ,after my 2 and a bit hour journey, in Geneva (or Genf as the Swiss insist on calling it…..why countries and places have different names in different languages I will never know…but what I have decided it that all of the different names were made up by some evil little man who wanted to trick us and make our life hard).

I then went and tried to check myself into the self booking machine. However Gatwick (the airport I was flying into in England) refused to show up on the screen. I then looked around and with my observational skills and my good ear I Herd some other people complaining and having the same problem, I then noticed that they were a tour group of English grannies.

So I went and said hello and asked if they knew what was going on. They were lovely and informed me that their tour guide had rung every place she could to get information ….and our plane would be delayed. Wanting to be certain I went and checked at the information desk………and sure enough we were delayed until 3pm.

So I rang my host family and then rang Elizabeth and informed all the adults of what was going on.

The airport then gave us all a 15 dollar voucher (to stop people compiling I am guessing, however it didn’t really work.)

I then waited……….and waited……….Talked to my new found English grannies and waited………………..and this went on and on,.....until the English grannies were put on a new flight as they were so old. So I was now left alone for a few hours in the airport.


Having a train pass that lets me use all public transport for free really did come in handy. So with 2 hours until my flight I hopped on a bus and just drove around Geneva. This was rather amusing as with only 2 hours I was scared to get off the bus and go shopping in case there was not a bus that took me back in time………….so I went around all the stops looking at the view ………..then went all the way back again…………..and let me tell t you this must not be normal practice in Switzerland as the bus driver seemed to develop a twitch in his neck and he kept looking back to see A why I was still on the bus, B what I was doing ….and C…..I think to see If I was sane.

After my amusing bus ride I arrived back in the airport with 50 minutes till my flight (a good safe time). I was all booked in so all I had to do was get a bite to eat with my voucher then go through security and hop on the plane.

However things did not turn out so smoothly. First my lunch ways so expensive…….what greedy person decided to make a small sandwich with only ham and cheese 10 franks I will never know………but that little greedy man must be very rich by now as everyone in the airport who had delayed fights had no choice but to by the sandwiches.

I ate my budget breaking sandwich so slowly trying to savour each bite, and drank my 5 dollar drink. (This was when I was so happy they had given me a 15 frank voucher).


I then went to look at the flights board to see which gate I had to go to……………this was when things started to look bad…………..the board said the flight was delayed and they would give us information at 6.15.

So for 3 hours I walked around and around the airport. I looked at everything in duty free, I learnt German, walked, walked and then walked some more until 6.15pm. Finally they gave us a boarding time 6.50pm.

So I went thought all the security checks , went to my gate, boarded my plane , and thought my luck was starting to turn around. I mean I was on the plane what else could happen.

Well let me tell you a lot can happen. With all the delays the Flight attendants were having trouble making sure that all the passengers were on the plane. At one stage they told us we were missing 20 people…..then the next minute we were one person up.

So after the flight attendants had a panic attack as you could see they thought we had a terrorist on board as we were one person up ,…we finally took off………….only after we found our terrorist…………. ..a 2 year old child on his mums lap who actually counts as a non seat needing passenger but was counted by the flight attendants as a as a seat needing child. So after the confusion we took off one hour later . So we dint leave the ground until 8pm. (a 8ish hour delay for a 1 hour flight…it may have been faster if I had swam over to England)


I arrived after having a chat about learning German to the man next to me on the plane, who was a American living in Germany. We arrived in England. This is were I was almost tempted to kiss the ground…………… but did refrain for such an act of joy.


Then I collected my bags, and we through to arrivals and was collected by Elizabeth’s husband Ted. We then drove thought the countryside, whilst having a lovely chat (so good to speak English again………even if it was hard at first as my brain was wanting to speak German and was automatically translating with out being asked………so I had to ignore the German in my head and try to find the original English word I needed…very confusing )

I then arrived at their lovely house and was taken inside.




Here I was greeted by a hug form all of the family, and a happy 18th birthday balloon and banner.



My godmother was so thoughtful that she had made a mini belated birthday celebration. Before eating I met the other guest who had come for the communion, John (Ted’s brother form Canada) and Mary, a friend of Elizabeth’s (or magic as the kids like to call her).

I then ate my dinner while the family looked on (as they had already eaten as my fight was so delayed). I then opened up some lovely gifts form Elizabeth and co. They were so lovely and highly appreciated. I received a pearl necklace, scarves, English china, a mirror, and some writing paper. Magic (Mary) also gave me a necklace…….this was such as a surprise as though she has met my parents before when they lived in the UK, but I personally have never met her before. SO this was such a lovely gesture.

It was then time for bed. I was so tire after my long day. However me being tired did not stop me form having a bit of a chat to Olivia D-T who’s room I was sharing.


(so thats the end of day one....the other days are to come)