Delays, Arrivals & The Tooth Fairy

Hello again!

The last post you read was written whilst I was at 38000 feet on board an airplane on my way to start my new life in Texas and the flight went well for the most part. Except that we got diverted to Chicago due to somebody being taken ill on board during the flight and apparently the pilots were told to divert to Chicago and land as this person needed urgent medical attention so we were sat on the ground for an extra hour while they flight crew filled in paperwork and then refuelled etc (well the plane was refuelled not the pilots!).

The only good thing about landing Chicago was the landing itself as it was kind of fun! Now I should explain that I love flying and I especially love the take-offs and landings as they're bumpy and fun! (I know, I'm probably a little crazy!) but as we came into land it got windy – well we were trying to land in “The windy city!” and just as one wheel touched the ground a gust of wind blew the plane over and it almost felt like the plane was about to tip over so that was squeaky bum time for some of the passengers! I just found the whole thing funny as did my wife!

Anyway after we took off from Chicago again in the rain and wind (it was a pretty bumpy take-off this time) we were once again on our way to Houston only this time we were running very late! But eventually we landed in Houston and taxied to our gate and just as soon as we had stopped, everyone got out of their seats. Now what is it with people on airplanes? They can't go anywhere anyway so why bother getting out of your seat until the doors are open and everyone in front is off the plane??!!?? It would make it so much easier if that's what everyone did.

After we eventually got off the plane we made our way to immigration which always has a long line but luckily as my wife and I are married and she's American we were both able to go through the much shorter American citizen line which is probably just as well as I then had to be taken away to another room where they looked through all my paperwork, took my fingerprints and then made me sit down and wait for 2 hours (which seemed like forever because I was so tired!) and then eventually they stamped my passport and authorized my temporary green card and told me that I will get my actual green card in the mail within 6 months! Success....

Meanwhile, my wife was waiting for me at baggage claim and she was falling asleep too but eventually I came out and we got our bags and made our way through customs with nothing to declare (I have never once seen anybody go through the “Items to declare” section!) and meet up with Randy (my father in law) and his wife Linda who had come to pick us up. They had been there since about 2pm and we got out at about 9pm (they'd both been there a looooonnnngggg time!!)

The Office Cayden Made Me.

But hey we now have what we came here for and that is Heathers son Cayden. He now lives with us and Cayden's cool.  He's such a sweet kid. He's been helping us out keeping Mimi's house clean by vacuuming and helping with the dishes. And he even built me what he calls my office which is basically 2 chairs with my laptop on it and he's put an old telephone there and a box of tissues, my wallet and photos of him and Heather and it's just the sweetest thing! I love that kid.

Must Be Good Being a Kid At Christmas

We're all currently living with Heathers Grandma Frankie but we all call her Mimi (I don't know why but that's what we call her!) she's awesome and such a nice person, we all help her out a lot though as she suffers with severe arthritis so she hurts a lot and is on constant medication such as steroids and things just to help get her through day to day life. She also has this stupid dog called Dexter who has a habit of just sticking his tongue out! I don't know why but that's what he does. (He's a very strange dog!)

Dexter Sticking His Tongue Out...Again.

We looked after him over Christmas as Mimi went away with one of her sons and daughter in law up to San Antonio for a holiday or vacation as it's called over here but Dexter's so stupid he eats grass and than throws up all over the carpet and as Heather has a real bad gag reflex, I had to clean it up as she would have been sick otherwise! Not a particularly nice welcome to Christmas but it is what it is I guess!

Speaking of Christmas, it's very strange having Christmas in Texas. It's just so warm and sunny with bright blue skies! And no one does roast dinners like I'm used to! Everyone has pot roasts, which is basically everything in one big pot and then shoved in the oven complete with gravy! It's really odd but the oddest thing of all is we went to Heather's cousins place for dinner where we had chicken fajitas! Really strange, really nice but really strange!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Moving to America is a scary experience but also one that holds much excitement for me! I am currently writing this at a height of 33999ft going at a speed of 532MPH – that's pretty quick and enough probably to make Jeremy Clarkson shout Powwweeeerrrr in his best Top Gear voice – or maybe that's just what I'm shouting in my head as I fly over Canada! However, I can't pronounce any of the place names as they're all in French at the moment but I am currently heading towards Detroit which is a name I can pronounce! Hurrah!!

I've been stuck in what is basically a giant metal cigar case for what seems like forever but is in fact only 7 hours. Well I say only 7 hours but there's actually quite a lot you can do in 7 hours – better things than just sitting in a space much smaller than you imagine before you get on a plane watching movies! Although I have managed to watch The Amazing Spiderman which I have to say was pretty darn good and I love Stan Lee's little cameo!! Was very funny!

Speaking of sitting in small spaces, did you know that on board an aircraft an animal has to be put in a space big enough so that it can comfortably turn fully around? Humans don't. I'll just leave that with you for a moment...Just imagine for a minute if we all got that amount of space to sit in on board an aircraft, it would make flying a much more pleasurable experience and would certainly make getting up to go the toilet easier! At the moment when I want to go to the toilet, I have to ask my wife to get up so she has to then squeeze out of her seat and into the aisle and then I end up having to step up onto my seat trying not to break anything like my headphones (which invariably end up breaking anyway) falling over things just so I can make it into the very small toilet. How anybody can even think about joining the mile high club is beyond me. You'd have more space in a suitcase and be a darn site more comfortable too.

I had dinner earlier which was great because I was pretty darn hungry at the time, but then we did leave home at 630 this morning, or was it yesterday morning? It's very confusing all this flying and time zone lark! My wife Heather has set her watch to Houston time but I'm remaining British for the time (no pun intended) being. Anyway, back to the food. Usually on an aeroplane as we Brits like to call them – Airplane to you Yanks – you get offered chicken or beef and maybe if you're lucky, some pasta and that's it, almost like there's an endless supply of poultry and cows back on the ground just waiting to be cut up and turned into airline food. I chose the chicken which came in some kind of sauce but I've no idea what it was. It could have been lemon or it could have been some kind of marinara sauce it all tastes pretty much the same up here, it also came with some bread which was a little on the hard side and some refrigerated butter. I hate refrigerated butter! Why do they seem intent on doing that and then giving you a plastic knife with which to spread it!! It's insane! It's like giving a builder his cement and bricks and then handing him a sock with which to build a wall with! It doesn't work! Please airlines, just give us the tools with which to eat with and we can all be happy, still at least the alcohol is free and the turbulence has stojsdbfb. Then again, maybe not!

They also have snacks at the back of the aircraft but the queue to get some is quite lengthy! It's almost as if nobody on this plane has eaten, either that or there's some sort of party that I've not been invited to! (that is probably quite likely).