Monday
1st November.
Had a shower then read till the train pulled into Greenville Station. With 5 minutes left before the train stopped, Gay managed to conjure up a nice hot cuppa for me. It was too early for the breakfast shift. It was my good luck that there was a taxi waiting at the station that was free, or I should say available, never seen a free taxi yet. I had planned on walking it, it didn't look too far on the map and, according to Google, was a 10 minute walk. I figured the taxi was an omen and with a $2.40 flag fall, the total fare of $4.25 was money well spent when it is dark and you're in a foreign place, and lugging two big, heavy bags, a back pack, handbag and netbook, I'm tired now just thinking about it.
So, here I am at the bus station at 5.05 and the bus to Columbia isn't due till 10.30. Got a fair bit of reading done. I didn't get to see much of the drive to Columbia as I slept most of the way. Arrived at the bus station on time but no sign of Gigi & Dale yet. After a little while I called their daughter Deidra who was surprised to hear I was at the bus station, her mum and dad had gone to the train station. After the dramas of the last trip by train I didn't want to put them through it again. Poor Gigi was beside herself when no train arrived at 12.15. I could see the relief in her face once they found me.
Tuesday 2nd November
Happy Melbourne Cup day everyone - missed getting my bets in this year, will have to spend double next year.
Went to the laundromat and stopped in Southern Keepsakes shop, bought an SC souvenir in there. When we were back at the car Gigi said "everyone in Batesburg will know there's an Aussie here by this time tomorrow".
Wednesday 3rd November
Shopping day. Had fun wandering the shops but I don't think it was one of Dale's favourite passtimes. :-)
Friday 5th November
Happy Guy Fawkes Day to my English family and friends. We went to visit Gigi's sister Tamala, it was her wedding I went to last visit. Then we went to check out Big KMart - no Big W here. Bought myself a scale for the cases. Back at Gigi's place we played cards till 6am and decided it was time for bed.
Saturday 6th November
Up late this morning, no prize for guessing why :-) Gigi's mum, Jean, came to visit and brought me a little gift. We went to visit Helen, Dale's mum, then to see Robyn, another sister, who was just out of hospital.
Sunday 7th November
Rest day, sorted out the cases, they were both 51lb each, time to work out what extra clothes I can wear and what else can squeeze in the back pack. I also had to load up the handbag instead of leaving that in the case. 2pm and off to the airport. Another sad farewell. I went through security and had to go through a pat down, not happy about that, they got me a female when there were so many cute guys around. The flight left 10 minutes early. Had a long wait in Chicago though, there was no crew for our flight which put us an hour behind schedule already. Oh and I've just gained 1 hour, so does that balance it out? Not for Laura and Michael who were picking me up in Boise. The crew arrived at 9.05 but it was 9.35 before we were seated. Then we had an issue with weight. After much discussion between flight crew, ground crew and airport ofricials, 2 passengers offered to get off but that didn't help, they unloaded half the cargo too. We finally arrived in Boise at 1.40am. I'll finish this story later.
Although I haven't waffled on about my visit with Gigi and Dale, and there aren't a lot of photo's, we did do a lot of talking and catching up on the time that has passed since my last visit. Thanks to you all for having me once again, and you did well with the kettle Gigi, it was a lot easier for me to make a cuppa with it rather than try to work out the coffee maker. :-) It was really good to see you all again.
Had a shower then read till the train pulled into Greenville Station. With 5 minutes left before the train stopped, Gay managed to conjure up a nice hot cuppa for me. It was too early for the breakfast shift. It was my good luck that there was a taxi waiting at the station that was free, or I should say available, never seen a free taxi yet. I had planned on walking it, it didn't look too far on the map and, according to Google, was a 10 minute walk. I figured the taxi was an omen and with a $2.40 flag fall, the total fare of $4.25 was money well spent when it is dark and you're in a foreign place, and lugging two big, heavy bags, a back pack, handbag and netbook, I'm tired now just thinking about it.
So, here I am at the bus station at 5.05 and the bus to Columbia isn't due till 10.30. Got a fair bit of reading done. I didn't get to see much of the drive to Columbia as I slept most of the way. Arrived at the bus station on time but no sign of Gigi & Dale yet. After a little while I called their daughter Deidra who was surprised to hear I was at the bus station, her mum and dad had gone to the train station. After the dramas of the last trip by train I didn't want to put them through it again. Poor Gigi was beside herself when no train arrived at 12.15. I could see the relief in her face once they found me.
Tuesday 2nd November
Happy Melbourne Cup day everyone - missed getting my bets in this year, will have to spend double next year.
Went to the laundromat and stopped in Southern Keepsakes shop, bought an SC souvenir in there. When we were back at the car Gigi said "everyone in Batesburg will know there's an Aussie here by this time tomorrow".
Wednesday 3rd November
Shopping day. Had fun wandering the shops but I don't think it was one of Dale's favourite passtimes. :-)
Friday 5th November
Happy Guy Fawkes Day to my English family and friends. We went to visit Gigi's sister Tamala, it was her wedding I went to last visit. Then we went to check out Big KMart - no Big W here. Bought myself a scale for the cases. Back at Gigi's place we played cards till 6am and decided it was time for bed.
Saturday 6th November
Up late this morning, no prize for guessing why :-) Gigi's mum, Jean, came to visit and brought me a little gift. We went to visit Helen, Dale's mum, then to see Robyn, another sister, who was just out of hospital.
Sunday 7th November
Rest day, sorted out the cases, they were both 51lb each, time to work out what extra clothes I can wear and what else can squeeze in the back pack. I also had to load up the handbag instead of leaving that in the case. 2pm and off to the airport. Another sad farewell. I went through security and had to go through a pat down, not happy about that, they got me a female when there were so many cute guys around. The flight left 10 minutes early. Had a long wait in Chicago though, there was no crew for our flight which put us an hour behind schedule already. Oh and I've just gained 1 hour, so does that balance it out? Not for Laura and Michael who were picking me up in Boise. The crew arrived at 9.05 but it was 9.35 before we were seated. Then we had an issue with weight. After much discussion between flight crew, ground crew and airport ofricials, 2 passengers offered to get off but that didn't help, they unloaded half the cargo too. We finally arrived in Boise at 1.40am. I'll finish this story later.
Although I haven't waffled on about my visit with Gigi and Dale, and there aren't a lot of photo's, we did do a lot of talking and catching up on the time that has passed since my last visit. Thanks to you all for having me once again, and you did well with the kettle Gigi, it was a lot easier for me to make a cuppa with it rather than try to work out the coffee maker. :-) It was really good to see you all again.