14

(There are more words beneath the pictures)

Sitting in the Geneva airport. It was a bit of a hectic mess getting here. Leaving the house was fine, but then we tried to go to a gas station before the airport. First the one we found didn't work, so we tried another one. Then we wanted to get to the airport, so we put in what we thought was the airport to the satnav. But upon arrival it was just another gas station. So we cancelled that and tried again, choosing a different address that looked like the airport. But alas it rerouted us to exactly the same gas station as before. At this point everyone was frazzled,  and extremely frustrated, Lise especially. There's not a lot Julias, Tobin, and I could do from the backseat, so we stayed out of it mostly.  Jeff took over and selected the airport by moving  a crosshairs on the map to where we remembered the airport building was. It worked, except that it was slightly off so we had to turn off the satnav after we saw signs for the airport. Finally we were at the quick drop off space, where Julias, Tobin, and I got out with our day packs and three of our four big bags to check. And here we are waiting sitting on the sleeping bag big bag and the floor. Just waiting for Lise and Jeff to come back after dropping off the rental car with a full tank of gas (the gas had been run down since we filled it up thanks to the friggin satnav).

So I think if we don't get a satnav in England, it won't be the end of the world. I have saved our entire route from Heathrow to Woking to Petersfield, so we can make it to our destination. Actually at this point I kinda hope we don't have one. (We're stopping in Woking for me to buy an etch-a-sketch from the toys -r-us there. Gishwhes. Also, did you know that Alec Guiness was buried in Petersfield? That will also be useful). Speaking of Gishwhes, it's not a magic thing that makes everything always better. It's Gishwhes week but we are still in stressful travel situations where the priorities are not making origami toilet paper or making videos or inventing forms. Unfortunately. Fortunately, I have the supplies to work on three Gishwhes items on the plane, including a roll or toilet paper that I kinda stole from the house in Bremgarden. So that's in my carry-on.

 

Now we're sitting on the plane, still at the gate. Haven't left yet. We found a whole bunch of good-quality gluten free chocolate in the airport, and we needed to use up our francs, so we bought eight bars and a toblerone for each of Julias and Tobin. We're set for chocolate. Now just figuring out the best way to make use of a plane in Gishwhes. Not everyone will have a plane.

There are a bunch of scouts or something from England in front of us. A big group of teenagers. The safety video didn't work so now they're doing it manually.

 

We got through heathrow after a couple hours. I managed to get some potential Gishwhes stuff on the plane. We stopped in Woking with our rental car. It was a giant mall, and just closing, but we made it on time. I got my etch-a-sketch (and a mini tiny one-it's so cute!) and I saw a 50's American style burger joint in the mall that was perfect for another Gishwhes item, except that we didn't have Jedi costumes so we couldn't do it.

Jeff and the boys got food from McDonalds (the only fast food store still open) while Lise and I walked to another anointing mall to get salads and crisps from Sainsbury's for dinner. Total for three salads and a big bag of potato chips was 6£. Not too bad at all, considering Julias' burger cost 3£.

Now it's 7:30pm, and we're on the road to Drake and Anna's with Lise navigating. We have no satnav. I navigated from Heathrow to Woking. It was weird getting used to the driver on the right, I kept feeling like I was meant to be driving, but the steering wheel wasn't there so I panicked.

I feel bad for not completing more Gishwhes items yet today, but it was a super busy stressful travel day and I did a bunch yesterday and I worked on some today. And I got an etch-a-sketch (17£) for the sole purpose of Gishwhes. So I think I'm ok.

 -----

    

Just spent all last night organizing a Gishwhes item back home, phoning and emailing and texting till 1am. It's the next day now. Julias, Drake, and I went shopping to stock up on candy for two Gishwhes items. Also just normal shopping. We stopped at Alec Guinness' grave and snapped a picture. The gardener at the graveyard had a strong London accent. He helped us find the site.

 

----

Another day has passed. Again another late night which is why I didn't post yesterday. I was working on a four foot replica of Winchester cathedral until about 1:40am. I was also remotely supervising the quartet at the dentist back home, which went pretty smoothly all things considered. I helped a family driving from heathrow to Portsmouth who were completely lost at 1am. I showed them a map, hope it helped. They were completely lost after following a diversion because of a closure and somehow ended up driving through skinny country lanes in the pitch black. I empathized with them wholeheartedly.

 

Today, after a delicious lunch of borscht, we went to Winchester cathedral, and I posed with my four-foot scale model. Then later we went to the fire station and the town square for three more Gishwhes items. Let's just say that I had paper cut out desserts on my face, we had two pineapples and two solid-colour overalls, and a recording of the song "The Love Cats". All essential ingredients for a successful Gishwhes outing. I am so looking forward to doing this next year.

Dinner was amazing salmon with lemon and potatoes and garlic and beans and tomatoes, most of which came from the garden. I think I've been forgetting to emphasize the amazingness of the food that is made here. It's amazing.

This evening I spent about five hours creating Che Guevara in chips and candy.

So that wasn't a lot of blogging for three days, but I was pretty occupied with all the crazy things for Gishwhes. I'm not allowed to post photos or videos of the items right now. But I can tell you they're all incredible. 

Cathedral: