temperatures of 15 degrees plus!

My whirlwind tour of west coast Canada ended on Friday when I left Victoria first thing in the morning. A bit timid at the thought of air travel on Friday the 13th but everything was smooth except for the turbulence into Toronto.

The first leg of my trip was pleasant with my personal television screen (the only way to travel!) and 4.5 hours to reminisce about the past 15 days (Lots of good eating, enjoyable time with family and friends, and shopping - a perfect vacation break! Brings a smile to my face every time I think about it.) The only negative thing about the flight was sitting beside two chatty friends with very small bladders. I seriously had to get out of my seat 6 times, which totally disrupted my viewing of Freedom Writers and The Holiday.

Met up with my husband in Toronto and we had lots of catch up as we hadn't seen each other for over a week and I even had a chance to meet his sister, Bonnie for the first time. Then we were off for the red-eye flight to LHR. I didn't sleep too well - not sure if it's due to having to sleep up right or having my own tv again.

Once we were in London we were AMAZED at the heat wave faced upon us. The temperature reader in the car indicated 15 degrees (at times, the temperature registered at 20 degrees)! The trip back to Derby was long - the traffic was crazy for a Saturday morning. The trip itself took over 4 hours (which probably should have taken half the time) as we had to stop several times for coffee, walks around the rest area, and even a power nap to wake ourselves up! I even thought about taking over the driving as I was worried about the driver's half-opened eyes but we decided that my first driving experience in England on the M1 might not be very wise.

A mound of envelopes greeted us at the door when we entered our home. We spent the afternoon unpacking and doing laundry and saying aloud that we would not sleep until the evening to get ourselves back to 'regular' hours. We tried to keep ourselves awake with a jog around Darley Abbey and were surprised at the number of people in shorts and flip-flops sitting on beach blankets and playing frisbees in the park. It was a beautiful afternoon here and everything was in bloom and very colourful.

We spent the evening eating frozen pizza and watching good old American tv shows on DVDs; however, I continuously had to be awaken from my deep sleep, which amazingly didn't disrupt my night sleeping at all.

After finally getting up at 9:30 and a morning jog (of course, wearing Vancouver's own Lulu lemon and Sugoi) in the growing heat, we changed into shorts and capris and went grocery shopping in a country where everyone sounds funny to us.

Pictures to follow in a few days...