The journey begins

CORINNA'S DIARY: After some selective clothes weeding from us both - and some heavy-handed pushing and shoving, we finally got our suitcases packed last night and went to bed at around 4am, much to Biggles's relief as his usual attempts to herd us upstairs begin every evening at about 9pm.

After around 4 hours' sleep we were both wide awake, mainly due, on my part at least, to the call of mother nature complaining at the copious amounts of beverage consumed during the wee small hours. All that is left to do this morning is to wrack my brain to make sure nothing obvious as been omitted and to sit on the suitcases to do them up, gently teasing any stray socks or other unmentionables to the inside of the zip so as not to unwittingly clean the platforms of the various stations on our journey down to Heathrow with them.

The sun is shining and it is a glorious spring day, and I am looking forward to trundling down the tracks and relaxing after a couple of days worrying about all the things that still need doing. They are done and I am off on my first real CFZ Expedition. There is excitement in the air and I have just remembered I have forgotten to pack something....

Chocks away!

Biggles knows something is up - he has that look upon his face. I was running up and down the stairs like a flea in a jam pot yesterday, trying to gather everything together, and every time I came downstairs he wouild follow me around like a sticking plaster. I am sure he will have fun with Oll and Graham though - and Graham has promised to have him up in his bedroom at night. When we come back from Texas no doubt Biggles will know everything there is to know about online poker, Hawkwind and the joys of the odd can of lager.

Over the last few days I have accumulated lists of lists and have therefore become slightly confused as to what I was supposed to still do and what I have done! But everything that needed charging was duly sorted yesterday and last-minute washing and ironing successfully carried out (I haven't ironed anything for ages - I had almost forgotten how to tackle it!).

Later on today we shall set out on our first leg of the journey to Texas, and I am looking forward to seeing Naomi and Richie again, along with Nick and Dana Redfern and Ken Gerhard amongst others. That is if the US let me in of course - the photo in my passport does make me look like a cross between Ma Baker and Bonnie Parker - but I was having a bad hair day when the photo was taken and was less than half awake and therefore looked slightly shocked when the camera went click.

We will keep this blog updated as regularly as possible and look forward to our expedition to the Lone Star State revealing lots of interesting things about the blue dogs. And of course, as ever, I shall be keeping an eagle eye out for any amusing events and anecdotes concerning my poor beleagured husband.

See you later....