Wednesday In England

So, the plan was to leave in the early afternoon Tuesday, and we actually pulled out of the Irving station in Charlottetown, headed west toward the Confederation Bridge at 2:30. We drove through a bit of New Brunswick on the way to the airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We had a really nice dinner at Salty's by the harbor in Halifax and arrived at the airport about two and a half hours before our departure time.
Everything was working according to our plan whe we were told that our flight was delayed by an hour. Well, not too bad, we thought. We can walk around the airport and nap some. Then the plane landed, and we were told that the reason for the delay was that three of the six lavatories were not working. Imagine 200 people on a five and a half hour flight with only three lavs functioning -- not a pretty thought. So the Air Canada maintenance folks spent a little over an hour getting the broken three to the point where they could handle the disposal of liquids -- much better. I couldn't help but laugh because after all of our careful planning for over a year, here we were, held up at the Halifax Airport by faulty toilets, and there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. This was another reminder that I am so NOT in control.
The plane took off around 2:00 am ADT. The flight itself was fine and uneventful, and we landed at Heathrow Airport at 11:30 am GMT (7:30 am ADT, 6:30 am EDT). It was 1:30 pm by the time we picked up our rental car and began our search for the M25, the "orbital" around London. Of course we missed the road on our first attempt and spent about 20 minutes getting turned around and headed North. The traffic on the M25 was absolutely awful. I you have ever been on the Beltway around Washington, D. C., you know what I mean. I took us over an hour to go roughly ten miles to the M40 toward Oxford, Birmingham, and points north. And all of this on about two hours of real sleep and Tom trying to remember how to drive a standard transmission, in a strange car, on the "wrong" (left) side of the highway. Nonetheless, we moved along.
We lunched on some service area fare around 3:30 and then stopped about 45 minutes later at another service area to take a nap. We were just too tired to go on. After our nap, a walk, and a cup of coffee, we continued on toward the M6. Our original goal for the day had been to drive as far north as Glasgow, Scotland, but we realized that because the plane had arrived over two hours after schedule, we couldn't get that far. We didn't know where we were going to have dinner or stay for the night. So, after I convinced Tom we should stop driving for the day around 8:00 pm, we looked at the map and decided we would head for Warrington, which is located between Liverpool and Manchester, right off the M6. As we first drove through town our hearts sank because we didn't see anything that looked like a restaurant, pub, hotel, or B&B. Everything was either residential or some kind of business. [I just had lunch, which included a cheese and pickle sandwich and sticky toffee pudding!!! in Lockerbie, Scotland.] Finally, we spotted two pubs, but neither served food in the evenings. A female patron said, "Love! There's an Indian restaurant across the street. You should eat there." We eventually found it, but it was in such an old building [17th century] with almost no signs, we couldn't figure out how to get in. There was a big old door near the street with a ring handle that I kept trying to pull, but I just couldn't open. Tom finally knocked on the kitchen door around back and got someone to tell us where the door was and how to open it -- push in and twist the ring handle. Yes, I had the right door; I was just not clever enough to push when pulling didn't work.

By now it was 8:50 pm, and we were tired, hungry, and a tiny bit cranky, but soon all of the problems of the day were forgotten because we had one of the most delightful meals we have ever had. The food was very good. I had chicken and some kind of hot sauce that was so hot my eyes watered, my mouth burned, and my nose ran -- and I loved it. But the highlight of the evening was a conversation we had with Azad, one of the young men who worked there. He is a Muslim of Indian descent and was born in England. In fact his family has been in England for many years. He told us that over the years numerous people from India came to England as servants of the many British officials who spent time in India.

We talked about the U. S., politics in England and the U. S., and religion. Mostly he told us about Islamd from the point of his understanding and practice. He was so nice and honest and forthcoming, he seemed genuinely curious to know something about us and to share some of his ideas. I couldn't help but think about how all of the events of the previous 24 or so hours had conspired to bring us to the place at that time, and how I usually get all bent out of shape when things don't go according to my plan. But, yesterday I truly just "went with the flow" and hardly got upset at all. In the end it all worked out even better than I would have planned. Already my horizons are expanding. By the way, we found a very nice, moderately priced hotel close to the M6 to stay in last night. All in all, it was a memorable, in the best sense, day.

[Scribe's note: There are no pictures with this post because it is being keyed into a computer in the Post Office in Fionnephort on Mull. We are waiting to cross to Iona. Jane has keyed many more words and has lots of pictures to upload, but the only access here is via the shop's computer. Jane read. I keyed. signed, Tom the Houseboy/Clerk]