Cornwall, Day 14 (Four Beaming Smiles)

This day started ages ago. I can hardly believe or understand that we are still in anything we would call 'today', because 'today' was, and is, excruciatingly long.

A clock alarm began ringing in western Oregon before 7:00 am, triggering the first event. The 6 events that needed to happen today were:

• car ride to a bus stop, and a kiss goodbye
• shuttle bus ride to a pretty airport
• plane ride from pretty airport to large not-so-pretty one
• plane ride from large airport to Heathrow (VERY large airport)
• Heathrow Express to Paddington Station!
• train ride from Paddington to darling Cornwall

The hope, which was eventually fulfilled, was to meet the kindly sister and her family at Paddington Station. And great would be the Joy of it! 

There was the sweetest small miracle, too. After the gigantic aircraft taxied and parked itself at the gate, and after I had scrambled off of it, a man sat yonder in his go-cart. I crept up to him and asked, "Is this the way to Customs?" not really knowing and almost too happy to care.

"Oh yes," said he. "I am driving over there now, why don't you come along for the ride?"

You don't have to say 'ride' twice, to the SconeLady. On I got, as he hoisted up my bag. We drove, and drove, and went up and down in different elevators, passed hundreds of hapless travelers dragging their bags, and finally came to a place I recognized as Customs. We drove TO THE HEAD OF THE LINE, wherein the agent perused my passport and pronounced me 'good to go'.

We drove on. He asked, "Do you need to go to baggage claim?" 

The answer to this was 'no', and so he took me straight over to the Heathrow Express and let me off not five feet from that worthy train. Miraculous! I was in and out of Heathrow in jig time, and fairly floated to Paddington.

There, the kindly sister and her family awaited. We shouted, and drank coffee, and ate scrambled eggs, and then plodded on to the Great Western Railway for the smooth ride to Cornwall.

And so it came about that, even with all the warnings from teachers, and parents, and aunties, after all of the documentaries that caution against such things - the SconeLady actually got into a go-cart WITH A COMPLETE STRANGER.

But she thought him an Angel.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady