Heatwave in West Sussex

Well, who 'd have thought after a week in Florida that I'd be feeling the heat in Sussex! But yes, it's hot, and the shops have sold out of electric fans. It's the humidity really. Very hot overnight.

After a nice relaxing lunch at Cheryl's place, we watched the DVD that JoAnn prepared of Shirley and I greeting each other. What a wonderful introduction Kathryn gave. And I bet if there had been flies around, Shirley would have swallowed a dozen, she was so amazed.

At 4pm it was off to the airport, where I got into trouble for having my lipstick loose in my bag, and not in the transparent container! The flight to Atlanta was packed since the previous flight had been cancelled, but it was only one hour. Just over two hours later I was on the plane to London. I didn't think Delta was up to Qantas standard, and no upgrade this time, but did I sleep! Cheryl had given me a magic pill and it worked.

I passed through customs at Heathrow with as much ease as I had in Los Angeles, and just managed to catch the National Express coach to Gatwick where Linda (maiden name Tucker) and Peter picked me up right on time. John and I met Linda and Peter for the first time last year. Like Shirley, Olivia and Ray, Linda is my second cousin. Ray (Bayford) was the only cousin I'd heard of pre Internet.

We had a lovely chat catching up (between snoozes) and planned our Friday, but these plans were thrown into disarray because Linda had been up all night with some sort of bug that she probably caught from one of her grandchildren currently visiting from Qatar with their parents. She isn't at all well.

So I went into town by myself to change some US$$ into pounds, and found myself with English and Australian coins all mixed up in my coin purse. Most embarrassing. Unlike last year, I found the old part of Horsham and went to the museum. Horsham is a historic market town and was a base for the redcoats around the 1790s when life was so tough for those tempted to shoplift or pick pockets.

Tomorrow I shall see the five grandchildren, who include a new addition - six month old Alex who was born in Qatar where his dad Paul is working for Shell in HR.

We are all hoping that Linda (who I discovered just over two years ago) is feeling better tomorrow.