Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

Some pictures for you all.

Hi to all. We arrived in D.C. yesterday about half an hour later than intended becasue the plane had mechanical issues at Heathrow and so we waited there for quite a while. We spent at least an hour at the airport between landing and leaving due to the large numbers of people going through Customs. No photos as yet though my dad and I had a bit of a walk around last night, a part of The Mall, and saw the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument as well as the Pentagon (much bigger than I expected) on the taxi ride here. Off to have breakfast soon, it's 7.30 am here.

It has been a hectic, tiring and emotional week. The packers (2 men) arrived just after 8 on Monday morning. They started in the dining room but were called away to another job mid-morning. We started to get things out of the loft but ran out of space on the landing. On Tuesday and Wednesday we has 4 guys packing (the crew) and they finally finished around 10 on Thursday morning. At 10.30 the container arrived and within 3 hours was packed. At 2.00 it started its' journey to Tilbury, and from there to the other side of the world - we hope! The rest of Thursday and Friday were spent continuing to clear the loft. It is now empty, but much of it is still in the house and awaiting trips to the dump and charity shops. We are also leaving some toys for the new arrivals. We hope to finish clearing and tidying on Saturday, and be in Farnborough for lunch on Sunday. Rick

Our leaving party finished a couple of hours ago and we're still tidying up, I'm having a quick break so thought I'd post here. Thanks to everyone to came today, it was great to see so many faces, especially ones that I haven't seen for years. To those who couldn't come: now you have an added excuse to visit us in NZ. The packers arrive tomorrow and start packing up the house and everything becomes more topsy turvy than currently. Seeing as almost every conversation I've had today started with "how were you A-level results?" I'll tell you all and hopefully save a few questions: History - A, English Lit - B, General Studies - C, Chemistry - D. I plan to take a gap year, get a job and travel a bit then go to Auckland University (if they'll have me) to study History. To all, have a good week and if you have pictures from the party today please e-mail them to me and I'll post them here. Thanks!

We have just come back from Mr Chans after a wonderful eveing of food and company - thanks to all those involved.

Friday August 24th Drive to Farnborough Monday August 27th Lunch with Veronica in Farnham Tuesday August 28th Visit Bar & Geoff in Guernsey, flying form and to Gatwick Wednesday August 29th Drive to Heathrow and fly to Washington DC Depart Heathrow 10.55 Arrive Washington 13.55 Book into Holiday Inn - Capitol Stay in Washington for 4 nights, 29th, 30th, 31st August and September 1st Friday August 31st Collect hire car from Avis office in downtown Washington Sunday September 2nd Drive to Philadelphia and stay overnight with Simon & Judy Jenkins Monday September 3rd Drive to Charleston and stay overnight in the Holiday Inn Tuesday September 4th Drive to Louisville and stay with family there. Saturday September 8th Drive to Cincinnati Return car to Avis office in downtown Cincinnati by 11.00/12.00 Have lunch in Cincinnati and get a cab to airport Depart Cincinnati 17.05 Arrive San Francisco 18.54 Book into Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf Stay four nights in San Francisco, Septe...

We're sorting out details for our trip across the USA, we've sold both cars and WKDS but the house sale has fallen through. I (Claire) will attempt updates at various points of our journey but it's reasonably likely I'll simply be the one typing up the updates cause my mum is better at writing these kind of things. Photos will be inlcuded :) and I think I can upload photos as part of the bloger/blogspot service. Hoping to see many of you at our leaving party on 19th. Claire