Saturday 27 December 2014

Family re-union II

On this occasion, Rachel and Owain, Clare and I took rooms in Kenilworth's Holiday Inn for our stay here. Anto's sister Viv, recently bereaved, was occupying their spare room, and this offered us a most comfortable and reasonably priced alternative to being crammed in and sleeping on the floor. Clare and I had a fourth floor room facing east and overlooking the High Street.

We got to bed by eleven, exhausted by Boxing day's festivities, and were awake to enjoy the sunrise, followed by a full English Breakfast in the hotel dining room, before joining the others for mid-morning coffee. After lunch, we walked through Abbey Fields to Kenilworth Castle, so we could all get some exercise, and the kids could enjoy the new play apparatus in the park.

After supper a game of Monopoly, against the background of Rachel preparing for her flight back to Arizona, involving a six o'clock start from here to get to a flight from Heathrow, just after ten. This had the added frustration of being unable to check in on-line, as the airline partnership (BA & UA) seemed not to have assigned an aircraft to match the demand. She has to be sure to be there earlier than usual to make sure that she doesn't get 'bumped off' the flight she's booked on, as the airlines always overbook seats on any given international route. It adds an element of insecurity no long distance traveller needs. It used to be like that travelling around the Mediterranean fifty years ago. Scale up the distances, and even today the element of uncertainty can't be ruled out.
   

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