Day 1: Wednesday 1st September
To Heathrow
I woke, delighted to find that I had not bled to death - although my face was still very sore from the tooth extraction. None-the-less, I felt quite good and wondered whether perhaps novocaine was a drug worth getting into! In almost no time at all, we had all the luggage packed into the back of the car (with rainbow striped straps, yellow labels and multi-coloured Lewis N. Clark safety seals), presented Harold and Barbara with two Sainsbury's black forest desserts, which would only go moldy in the fridge ... and, at almost 11.00am, Paul got up!! He collected his wallet, CD-player and camera (as usual) and, with no Captain Bunzee to say 'goodbye' to (he being on holiday at Whitleigh), we were soon on our way.
We made a stop at Weston Super Mare, having not been there before. We drove through the town (very English sea-sidey) and onto Sand Bay, where we stopped and sat on the beach for a while and were molested by a small, spotty dog. Then, onto Bristol, stopping at the Argos at Cribbs Causeway, for the hub to buy himself a new camera. We were served by Wayne Rooney. We continued to make good time, and were arriving at our next planned stop, Henley-on-Thames, at around 4:30pm. What a lovely place!
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We strolled alongside the banks of the Thames for a while, before driving the few more miles to Bath Road, Heathrow - and our hotel for the night, the Sheraton Skyline.
| The beds in our room looked mighty comfortable - but we had to EAT, and, as the prices of meals in the hotel were rather prohibitive, we decided we'd stroll up the road to the McDonald's! Meantime, Paul had come over 'funny'. He said that he had a headache and that his legs had gone numb. Nerves. |  |
He had been looking at the Heathrow Departures page on the TV teletext. And perhaps it didn't help that the runway was directly opposite the hotel, with planes screaming in and out every 2 seconds!! He would feel better with some food inside him. Especially as the walk to the McDonalds would take us even closer to those planes which were taking off and landing! They made me feel 'off', those planes. They were hardly benificial to Paul's plight! After eating, we had a good look around the hotel - swimming-pool (rather grand), gym (had a go on a few 'implements') and the shop selling model aircraft. Then we sat in the lobby for a while (where you could smoke). Paul was no better. And he couldn't sleep - preferring to be sick all over the lovely comfy bedding .... only a little; perhaps they didn't notice .... Late in the night, we gave him a valium. I must say that, seeing somebody else suffer like that, takes your mind off your own nerves, and I slept like a log - with absolutely no need of valium (not that I would've taken any had I had a need).
I was worried about Paul though. Perhaps it wasn't nerves, but something serious? But it was.
Nerves.
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[ Introduction ]
[ Day 2 ]
[ Day 3 ]
[ Day 4 ]
[ Day 5 ]
[ Day 6 ]
[ Day 7 ]
[ Day 8 ]
[ Day 9 ]
[ Day 10 ]
[ Day 11 ]
[ Day 12 ]
[ Day 13 ]
[ Day 14 ]
[ Day 15 ]
[ Day 16 ]
[ Day 17 ]
[ Days 18, 19 and 20 ]
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