Cambridge
December 3 - 10
|
||||
 |
Okay before I start I thought that I would show you a self photo of Nico so that when you see this person with short hair who you may not recognize you will know who it is. Nico took this a few days ago when she was playing around with the camera and I thought that I would add it to this page since we both like the photo. 'Sunday, a beautiful morning'. Tonight we are to leave for Cambridge to ultimately attend the graduation ceremonies for Nico who will officially become Dr. Bethel once that is done. She is already Dr. Bethel but now she gets a piece of paper that proves it to anyone who might question that fact. There is a lot to be done today because Nico wants to get some marking done and have some grades handed in before we leave. My sister, Dion, is having a lunch for Farida, who is visiting Nassau. Our house needs cleaning before we turn it over to Jane (Nico’s cousin) who is going to house (and dog) sit while we are away. |
Nico heads off to mass and when she returns we work on transferring some files to our new G3 powerbook which we will take with us to England. That done, Nico decides that she still has too much work to do so she will drop me to my sister’s place and come back home and finish so that everything is done before we have to leave. I drive us to Dion’s place and Nico comes in for a short while to say hello, and goodbye, to everyone (mostly my family) and she then heads back home.
Nico
pays a short visit
Lunch is good and since I have not seen Farida since our breakfast stop to her in New Hampshire, during our summer road trip, I get a chance to catch up on what’s happening in her life.
Farida
and my sister DionDavid
and his camera
My
Father and Farida
David and Tammy give me a ride back home and he borrows
some warm clothes for a trip he is making to Halifax next
Sunday. Nico and I do the last of the cleaning and get ready
for our trek.
Anna (our dog) is quite confused about all the goings on,
She knows that something different is happening but is not
sure what it is. Jane arrives and I let her feed Anna so
that they can both get started being used to each other.
They have met before when Jane has visited so we don’t
expect any problems. Anna is given her food and then Jane
and I go out to the laundry room so that I can give her some
last minute instructions. As we are standing there talking,
Anna runs outside, leaving her food behind and jumps up on
Jane and takes a nip at her bum. Jane lets out a loud
expression of pain and Anna runs back into the kitchen to
finish her dinner. Jane does not think that the skin was
broken and well . . . , I don’t think that I could have
checked it. After a while Anna goes up to her and licks her
hand and they seem to be friends again so we hope that the
rest of week that they spend together will be fine.
Nico's
cousin Jane
Keva and Eddie arrive and we pack up Eddie’s car for
our trip to the airport. Nico has one last thing to get done
and that is to send an eighteen page fax to someone so we
wait until that is done and then head to the airport.
When we arrive, the international section is quite crowded
and have to make our way past the hundreds of people who are
on a cue to get to the Canada 3000 flight. We get to the
British Airways counter and there is only one person ahead
of us and once she is done I take our tickets and passports
to get the three of us checked in. I encounter a trainee at
the counter and it’s obvious that she is need of a lot
more training as she has no idea what time of day it is.
Anyway after much fuss we are finally checked in and we have
about an hour and a half to wait until the boarding of our
flight since we are not leaving until nine-fifty. I check to
see that all the bags are there and I notice that the one
bag that I don’t see is the camera bag which hold our
digital camera. I had given this bag to Nico to hold while
we were out by the Canada 3000 people and now it’s
nowhere to be found. Nico says, “I’ll be right
back” and heads out to look for it. Luckily it was
still on a chair where she had put it down and she brings it
back. I decide that I had better hold on to the camera until
we get to England.
Nico
& Keva await the call of our flight at the
airport
Our flight leaves on time. It’s a 767 and we are seated in row thirty-one and in the centre section of the plane. Unfortunately, seated behind me is a woman with a child and all during the flight, as I try to adjust myself in the cramped seat, I would feel this kick in my back or the child would burst into a crying fit so all in all, not a very pleasant eight hour and twenty minute flight for Philip. The one good thing about it is that we have a great tail wind and we arrive at Gatwick about a half an hour early. On the other hand, since we are there early, there is no parking space for the plane so they have to bring out portable steps to get us off the plane and busses to get us to the terminal building. By the time we get there it’s about the time we would have normally landed, without the tail winds. We collect our luggage and go to see about our bus to Cambridge. Nico purchases the tickets and we are told that the bus is on its way around but upon further checking Nico and Keva realize that it won’t be there for fifty minutes.
Nico
purchases our bus tickets to Cambridge
We head back into the airport and have a bite to eat. We
depart the airport at twelve-twenty and three hours and
thirty-six minutes later we arrive at the bus station in
Cambridge where we then get a taxi to take us to Peggy where
we will spend the week.
Peggy is a thirty year friend of the Bethel family and Nico
has stayed with her a number of times. We arrive and
it’s now about four-thirty so we have tea and decide
shortly after that that it’s time for something
stronger so we sit around talking and we do have something
stronger to drink. At around seven we have a nice dinner and
it’s obvious, once we are done, that we are all pretty
tired so we decide to call it an early night and look
forward to exploring Cambridge and getting some business
done tomorrow.
Peggy
Keva,
Nico and Peggy. I'm taking the picture so the empty space is
mine.
|
|
|