Ab Shawks II

NOTE: I started this on 29 Jan and saved as a draft but didn't actually get it finalized and posted until the end of March...my excuse for taking so long this time is my crack-like addiction to Soduko...must resist...must get something done! More about that in a later blog entry.

Okay, so future generations are probably NOT going to depend on me for historical purposes...I did get this posted before Valentine's Day, though! (well, I got it STARTED before V-Day!)

Anyway, back to the relatively recent past. Christmas Day started with an "O dark thirty" drive down to Gatwick. I haven't gotten up at 5 a.m. on Christmas since I was a kid! Santa tends to arrive later and later as you get older...

We got there in less than two hours - a feat not possible in midday (or probably most "0 dark thirties") for over a decade! We saw about half a dozen headlights on the trip down.

Gatwick on Christmas morning...um...still busy but not really Christmasy, ya know. Mike and I settled in on the plastic sofa with our $5 coffees and started judging passerbys. (10 bonus points to the lady in the Santa hat!) One lady was smuggling a couple midgets in the back of her pants. Apparently, they were wrestlers...hmmm.

Amidst all our early morning bitchin', Mike's brother passed right through our radar carrying about 100lbs of luggage. He eventually circled in on us and boy was he happy to be in England at 0630! I was able to happily snooze in the (cold!) backseat while Mike and bro chatted and fought over the radio on the way back home.

Culture Sideline Shawk: Brits have a passionate interest in what pop song will be the "Christmas #1". The only thing I can compare it to in America is the Superbowl. People who normally have no interest suddenly start dressing up, making calls, having parties...

Once home we all took a nice long nap. Isn't it interesting how age turns opening presents from being thrilling excitement down to a dreaded chore to be put off until we're well rested and thoroughly caffeinated?!

Well, I feel the need to get something finally posted so it looks like this will be a trilogy (hopefully more entertaining than the last 3 Star Wars movies).