Then on to the airport. Getting all our stuff from the curb to the check-in was a major ordeal. Then all four suitcases weighed too much! so we did a little shuffling and putting more things into our carry ons, eventually getting them to just over 50 pounds, and she let them through.
The flight was uneventful, but long. We had an empty seat next to us, which was wonderful—extra room to put stuff, etc. But I didn’t get much sleep (and Buist got some, but not great sleep). And my arthritis had really flared up by the time we were getting off the plane, so I could hardly walk. (I have arthritis in one hip, and sometimes it’s very painful until I’ve had time to walk it off.) So we limped our ways to customs, which meant most of the people were gone by the time we got there, so the line was very smooth. And when we went to get our luggage, it was pretty quiet there as well. So we just laid out our suitcases and started repacking them, now that there were no weight restrictions. So we lightened our carry ons and the suitcase that didn’t have wheels, and got everything arranged so that the two of us could manage our more than 250 pounds of stuff.
Then we started on our way to the Tube. It leaves directly from the airport, but there was a lot more walking, and a lift (elevator) or two. We bought out tickets and found our place, and then when the train came, we hefted our stuff on. At the next stop we rearranged a little to be more out of the way, and then rode for about 45 minutes to get to Kings Crossing. Once we got there, we hopped off and dragged our luggage off, and started the trek to get from deep underground to the train station at ground level. That meant three different lifts in three different locations, but we did it. Then we needed to figure out where our train departed from. It was platform 10 (right next to 9 3/4 where Harry Potter headed off to Hogwarts). We got on the train and got our stuff stashed and made the trip to Cambridge uneventfully.
Then off the train and through the station, where Buist parked me and all our luggage on a bench in the shade. I really was dozing off all morning, on the Tube, on the train, and now on this bench in front of the station. I had my purse between my legs and all the rest of our stuff piled next to me. (I was especially thankful nothing got stolen, especially after I heard that Susie Mercer was guarding her stuff at Heathrow one time and had Mark’s backpack stolen while she dozed off.)
It took nearly an hour for Buist to find the rental place and get the car rented and then drive back to the train station to pick me up. Then we headed to Tyndale House (where we will be living). We left two suitcases there, so we don’t have to worry with them on our trip to Scotland. Again we opened up all our suitcases and rearranged and tried to leave as much as we could there.
Finally we were on our way. We drove north for about three hours, getting lost several times. (The street markings are all different and in different places—and with very little sleep it was easy to miss signs. We did some backtracking and eventually found our place, in a tiny town on a little street. We checked in and settled a little, and headed to Lincoln, the large town nearby. We bought fish and chips (a fitting start to living in England). They were hot hot, fresh out of the boiling oil, and plentiful!! We walked just a little in Lincoln, seeing a guild house built in the 1700’s, with an amazing archway. Then we got lost again as we tried to find our way back “home.”
The only place at this pub The Marquis of Granby that had wifi was their bar area. So we joined the commotion of a community trivia game in their bar area and sat over in a corner to rejoin our world for a little while.
