Journey

Well, here I am back in Cornwall. I've had my first pasty, & bought a creme egg for later. We set off in the morning of Valentines day, being seen off at the airport by mum & Christos, & J's parents. The air part of the journey went by pretty well & uneventful, except for my carry-on bag being searched in Athens. The flights were good, although the landing at Heathrow was rather wobbly! That was the first time I've ever felt sick on a plane. It was all fine though, & London was not too cold.

The coach ride from Heathrow down to Cornwall, now that was a journey & a half! It was half an hour late getting to Heathrow due to traffic & the weather, but that wasn't too bad. However, the weather got worse! As we were driving down to the Westcountry, we could heel the gales blowing at the coach. The driver was fighting hard to keep it straight! Unfortunately, because of the delays, his permitted driving hours were running out & we had to swap drivers at Exeter.

Now this new driver was an old Cornish boy. The first driver was so careful, this one put his foot down & went like a bat out of hell! Somewhere between Exeter & Plymouth we heard a mighty bang & felt a jolt. A traffic cone had been blown into the road & we had hit it, causing it to get jammed in the front of the coach, making an awful racket. The coach itself wasn't damaged though. He tried to remove it at the next stop, but it was well & truly jammed. He couldn't get it out until Plymouth bus station, where he had some help.

Just before leaving Plymouth, way behind schedule now, he dropped his bombshell. He warned us that we might not make it very far into Cornwall as there was a tree down across the main road at Lostwithiel, & he couldn't go the other route because the bridge was out. He decided to go for it though, & we were lucky. The road had been cleared. We arrived in the village with no problems, albeit nearly 2 hours late. My father collected us from the bus stop, & we soon got home & warmed up (Cornwall being decidedly colder than London).

We are on our second day now, & Justin seems to be getting on with my father & brother. They seem to have bonded over talking about guitars, guns, & zombie movies! It's a shame he couldn't meet my youngest brother too, but he's up in Manchester. We also went to see my aunt & cousins, & J has found the local pub!

We have no particular plans for the week, apart from on Wednesday when we have a tour of the university & the accommodation. On Saturday we will go up to Devon to spend a week with J's brother. I have never met him before, so I'm a bit nervous. Hope it goes ok!