We have arrived in the UK !!!!!

Well...what can I say! We are on UK soil :) After an exhausting few days moving between friends homes, stupid bumper to bumper traffic in Joburg to the airport, chaos at Joburg International, (hot, no signs, normal SA unorganisation) we have endured :) ok, let's start at the very beginning.... we arrived at the Joburg airport and walked the entire length of building looking for British Airways check in desks...which we passed by without seeing, friends in tow, pushing 2 fully laden bags...so we had to turn around and walk back again, with Marielle murmering in my ear " I cant believe you didnt ask anyone when we started" to which I replied " why didnt you ask anyone" to which she replied" I thought you had asked!" ...It was fun, getting the suitcases wrapped in plastic...and then loaded back onto the trolleys...only to find that we had a quick route through the BA checkin, because we had already checked in on their website..yippeee.....technology works...:) It was an absolute nightmare getting to the actual plane.....they couldnt have made it more difficult if they had tried....easy if you are on your own, terrible if you have kids and a mound of handluggage to navigate . The kids were very excited. Jesse had a permanent grin. The take-off in the Boing 747 was fun, the British Airways staff were great, food was good, flight was fun, but didnt get any sleep, arrived in Heathrow in the morning, only to find that the interconnecting flight didnt allow you to carry a bag PLUS a laptop. Looking at the queue to get extra bags checked in cargo, we managed to repack our handluggage, from 7 bags to 5...(an absolute miracle I swear). We avoided the queues again and made it through to the final security stage where EU passport holders go left and I go right... only to find that I was quicktracked through the EU side as well, because they took one look at Jetan running all over the airport, Marielle saying.." my husband is in the other queue", ... and decided they needed me to restore sanity at the airport, and just pushed me to the front of the queue and out the other side before Jetan could finally break off the security chain holding the other 300 people in the queue ...it was marvelous...I recommend that if anyone wants to avoid the queues, just get yourself a small 3yr old with curly hair, with a glint in his eye, and a plane to catch....and teach him to scream PLANEEEEEE PLANEEEE PLANEEEEEE ...works a charm.

So here we are...finally, on a friends 3Meg adsl connection in newcastle, writing this blog. I have a nice cuppa English tea and biscuits next to me, and the kids are running around playing with their new accomplices.....Jetan is wearing a Shrek plastic mask....I dont see much of a difference? except maybe that Shrek has funny ears...ha ha.

It's the weekend coming up, and finally time to chill and relax...
Before I go, let me leave you with this thought. In the UK, there are NO mini buses, and NO car guards. *grin* . When we arrived we left the luggage in the back of the car, and I asked...is it safe? The answer was a typical English one. " Yeaa, of course....want a cuppa tea?????"

mmmMMMM ..nothing quite like drinking tea in England. It's like eating Biltong on a farm "stoep".

signing off: On a warm UK day:
Bye