Old Blighty, Toronto and the snowstorm

First post from Canada. We are here, finally!! First we spent three days in England. Stephen came and fetched us off the plane, although he didn't know that you cannot pick up at the top level in Gatwick South Terminal any more. Finally we met up and we drove down to his flat. He had to tear off to work and we walked round until we found a fish and chip shop. It was very nice indeed. First item crossed off the : "What to do, eat and/or buy in England!" list.

Friday was spent visiting, shopping and having my usual pint and snack in the Basketmakers (another item crossed off!!) and other pleasurable pursuits. On Saturday Stephen went off to do his radio show (see picture) and we met him in the last few minutes to go off to lunch together. He gave us a lift up to the B&B at Horley where we spent the last night prior to catching the plane to Toronto. Worryingly, though, before we left we did get an e-mail from Alex saying that there is an almighty great storm heading for Toronto and we might not be able to land. Oh dear!

The B&B was great, the owner took us to Gatwick and the plane left after a mere 1 hour delay. On board there was the usual howling little brat, so sleeping was out of the question. I read my F1 Racing, ate two good meals and watched the film on and off. Storm got mentioned when we landed in Belfast to pick up some more passengers, but not in any stressful manner. En route I watched the Southern tip of Greenland, breathtaking!! Later we flew over endless, bleak ice fields with lots of lakes and inlets. Somebody said it was Northern Quebec. Finally we neared Toronto which didn't look too bad and although the landing was rather bumpy we were down. There was not too much snow on the ground, or at least I thought not. Once inside the terminal it turned out that it was the biggest snowfall for 60 years and the town was almost at a standstill. You would think Canadians should be able to handle a bit of the white stuff, wouldn't you? Anyway, Meaghan could not dig her car out of its parking place, so they came to the airport by public transport and we were lucky to get a taxi later when it was not snowing any more. It is a long time since I have sat in a taxi driven at no more than 30-35 miles an hour. Still we got home and hit our bed at 10pm, which our bodies unfortunately still thought was at 3am the following day.

Then today we went walkies in bright sunshine to ward off the jet lag, but only after Roy cleared the path.(see picture) Then we had a look at the lovely neighbourhood Alex and Meaghan live in. (see picture). After a delicious lunch at a local Greek patisserie we came across a lovely nativity scene (see picture) where I could barely control myself not to break out singing: "Away in a snowdrift no crib for a bed ...."

Next post later on the week or early next week.