I've always enjoyed visiting America and love watching programs of the American way of life. Since meeting our California friends in 2004 we are just back from our 6th visit with them. This time, I managed to tick another of my ambitions off the list.
To experience a real American Thanks Giving (Sorry, my Canadian readers) as portrayed in American programs such as Cheers, Frasier, Friends and many more.
So, when we were planning our annual break earlier this year we decided we would re-visit California and so I asked it if would be ok for us to go over for Thanks Giving, the last Thursday of November.
I was so pleased when our friends said we could and the flights were booked back in June and I have been ticking the days off ever since, well Virgin Atlantic have as everytime you open up their website to manage your trip there is a large banner across the top telling you how many days, hours and minutes until you fly. And, if it wasn't for this, we would have been at the airport a week too early as I had all my dates wrong in my head and thought we travelled on the 12th, not the 19th - ooops!
In the run-up to our trip Lynn emailed to say their kitchen re-model was running behind schedule and as we arrived there would be no-where to sit downstairs, all the kitchen items being stored throughout the lounge and dining area, no where to sit in the family room as that too was being re-decorated as it runs on from the kitchen and no-where to sit outside as the furniture from the family room was out in the yard.
There was no-where to cook and no tv, but we were still very welcome to stay as the upstairs was untouched and so we could still sleep and even watch tv in one of the other bedrooms where there grandson stays when he's on his weekly overnight visit.
Effectively we would be camping out indoors. No problem, we said, we're coming to spend time with you, it will be fun whatever we do.
I admit there was an element of me that thought Lynn may have been over-exaggerating a little so that when we got there we were prepared for the worse - but she wasn't.
The re-model was originally planned to start in May. Delays meant it had to be postponed until after the family re-union in August. Once started, with plenty of time for completion before we arrived, there were snags and un-expected jobs that kept cropping up. Result - nowhere to sit, eat, cook ot watch tv.
Our first couple of nights were spent in a local hotel as Lynn & Andy were both away for the weekend and we booked a game of golf for the Monday after which we would make our way to their house. The golf was good and although it was the first time my golf clubs had been out in over a year, I was surprised to see I could still whack a good ball down the middle of the fairway.
When we finally arrived at the house we were met with an exact match to Lynn's description with one addition - Andy was very unwell, with manflu - and getting worse. He battled on being sociable serving drinks in his office while we all perched on a variety of chairs, stools and desks. Afterward we ate out, as we planned to do for most of the holiday due to the lack of cooking facilities in the house.
While out, they received a phone call about there grandson, he too was very unwell and needed taking to the doctors in the morning, could Lynn take him as his Dad was also down with man-flu and his mom was working. Result - he was brought through to stay the night and our tv priviledges were withdrawn as he would now be sleeping in the room with the tv.
American man-flu certainly seems to hit hard, that was 3 generations of men in one family - wow!
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