Letter From England

Cheers!

Every Sunday morning, people in England listen to Alistair Cook's 
Letter from America, so I have borrowed and adapted his sure-fire title 
for my missives to you (which is a rather large group since this is going 
to both family and friends).

We had a long and pleasant journey to Grange over Sands, spending 
time with my brother and his family, John's brother and his family and 
finally, John's sister and her family.  We have been thinking of our trip 
as the "Two Boy Tour" as each family had a pair.
 
Our first stop was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where Jill, Todd, Charlie and 
Grayson kept us entertained with a trip to the Amana communities for a 
more than hearty breakfast, a thorough education about their sign-
making company, a visit to Duffy's antique cars (where I fell in love 
with a Nash convertible) and lots of hanging out with the family.  One 
evening, a group of their friends came for dinner and a slide show tour 
of the solar system.  John was also brave enough to do it again for 
Charlie's kindergarten class.  I found 75 squirming, five-year-olds 
unnerving, and reaffirmed my decision to be a retired pre-school 
teacher.

Our departure from Chicago was made more interesting as snow fell 
continously during our 3 hour lay-over and for the 2 hours we sat on the 
tarmac awaiting 2 de-icing procedures.  But soon after take-off we 
ascended out of the muck and proceeded problem-free to a sunny 
London landing.

After brief stays with John's siblings, a railroad journey north and car 
sorting out, we arrived in Grange over Sands on Sunday afternoon.  We 
are now comfortably settled at Coach House Bungalow, having had a 
welcoming pub dinner with our aunties, Jane and Mary.  Yesterday, was 
filled with trips to the shops, locating the bank, leasing agents, laundry 
and possible long-term residences.

That's it for today.  More later.  Love to you all!

Jane