Saturday+Sunday 20-21 June 09 + comments

Well, folks, thanks for all the traffic and all the comments - it helps us to feel connected to home as well as to each other as we roam through jolly old England.

Just a note to parents and others who might be involved in picking up travellers on Thursday. My parents will be in the North Cell Phone Lot, and we'll call them when we get to wherever we finish with the customs and TSA folks. It sounds like that's the best place to be, so I thought I'd pass that on. You can check with Jack Van Becelaere if you want info on that lot.

OK, as I said in the last post, there is just too much to tell about the weekend to make a coherent blog - even with Heidi steering the tale. So ... I'm going to give a quick thumbnail and make you find out more when we're back. As to a Second Sunday, I know we'll do something like that - although it may be a thank you tea with a presentation; that's all to be decided yet.

On Saturday, everyone was up smartly and packing had been done as requested, so after breakfast it was a quick matter of settling the bill and getting on the bus. This time, our driver had come early by accident, but we didn't leave until our appointed time.

The departure was a bit tear-filled, I'm afraid. Your travellers really made an impression on Kate and John, and she didn't let us go without a photo on her lawn (and she got an impressive number of hugs along the way). We'll be back there next time if at all possible.

This was a long ride - about 3.5 hours - so we had a quiet trip until we got near to Newton Abbot and stopped at the Services to eat our lunches and stretch our legs. A quick call to our friends Sydney and Dorothy arranged for the host families to meet us as the coach stop across from the train station near the church. There was a wedding going on at the church, and we thought it would be bad form to interrupt.

We pulled in and there they were awaiting us. We hadn't really worked out which travellers would be with which families, but that sorted itself out beautifully. "Who's interested in cricket?" Up went two hands. "Who's interested in golf?" up went two more. "Who are the three girls together?" off they went. All was done that easily, and everyone went off - most with smiles, a few apprehensive looks, but excitement was the order of the day.

Next morning at church we got the run-down. Everyone had had a wonderful time, and thought they had the best place to stay. We did get one complaint from the Dad of one family, though. He said his biggest problem was that they weren't going to be with him nearly long enough. I think all the travellers felt the same way.

Sunday afternoon was as different as Saturday evening, then we met for the evening service.

You can be more than proud of your travellers as they led in a wonderful worship service which was appreciated by all.

Then it was time for more varied activities until we were to meet at 10AM Monday at the train station. But that's another day, so it has to wait for the next post.

Sorry about that, church. (Yes, that was a somewhat obscure old TV reference.)

More tomorrow!