Nottingham

Friday 17th was a not too early start to the day, which was a surprise and a delight. Darren gets up at 05.30 and I have often been up with him, so a lie in is always welcome, especially since I am on holiday! Anyway I had a bath, did some washing and waited for Darren to get back from work. It being a Friday he got off early and we caught the train to Birmingham. He was looking for some new headphones, but no joy. The rest of the day was spent at home and an early night.
I had to get up early the next day so I could catch the train to Nottingham, I was going to see my friend Claire. I love going to see Claire, she is another friend that I can just pick up with from exactly where we left off the last time we met. All of my trains were on time and she met me at her local train station. We went back to her house, it was great to her children again. Megan is 7,8 in December and her son, Adam, is 4 at the moment. Both are going to school, but Megan is definitely older than her years, it's almost funny.
Claire left the children with Rob, her husband, and we went into Nottingham city centre to do some shopping. The shopping didn't go well as we only bought a t-shirt each, but we had a long lunch and caught up on all of our gossip. I did however finally buy a ticket to LA, I got a good deal on a flight to LA with the return coming out from New York. It's a non-refundable ticket so I have to go. It was a bit of a shock really. We decided to stay in that night and drink wine at home. I don't think either of us really wanted to get changed and put on uncomfortable shoes to go out in. It was a late night, but very relaxing and laid back. I woke early the next day to find the children around, it was nice and so I read to them until Claire woke up. It was a quiet morning and Claire drove me back to Coventry. The weather was horrible and everyone was driving too fast. I am not used to the driving speeds in the UK anymore. Driving in Japan has lowered my ability to deal with high speeds.
I got back to Coventry and settled down to read my newspaper, Darren and Clive were busy in the kitchen. I was beginning to feel very nervous about my upcoming trip to the U.S.