After 10 hours in the plane, 3 movies and 2 screaming babies, I was very glad to be on land again! After landing at Heathrow and going thru Customs, we were ready to rent a car. Easier said than done, there was more luggage than there were passengers. The first car they gave us was a convertible! The second was a manual, and finally the third was a blue Audi Station wagon. Gina asked for a navigation system, a TomTom, as they referred to it. The kind woman at Enteprise even programmed it for us. So the journey begins, Gina driving and my Dad as the co-pilot, Well lets just say Gina barely survived the first “round about” and then took a wrong turn into a dead end, at which point the little voice on the nav system says in a proper English accent “At your convenience, please turn the car around”. My father demanded he now drive and Gina is fired as the driver. Mind you, we have been up over 24 hours and to say we were “punchy” would be putting it mildly. By this time, the 3 girls in the back had the giggles so bad, we were covering our mouths w/our pillows to muffle the hysteria, We had a 3 ½ hour drive ahead of us and couldn’t even find the M-4 (freeway). Driving on the M-4 in England makes Los Angele’s freeways look tame! First the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car and then you drive the car on the opposite side of the road, while sleep deprived. Joanne, Teri Ann and I were squished in the back seat. I drew the straw and got to sit on the “hump” in the middle. Sardines have more room in a can than we did. We soon became contortionists and I just closed my eyes and screamed internally. At least we would all leave this world together! The speed limit must be 1000 per hour. Nerves were frazzled, tempers were short, but we made it!! Thanks Dad, I don’t know how you did it!
Even Aunt Nora had to give him a kiss "good bye".
