Time to go home........

Thursday - and time to head home...

Oh dear god what was I thinking going out until gone 4am again?!  And on the day that I have to pack up, check out and then keep occupied until around 5.30pm!
I think I was still drunk when I got up but somehow I managed to pack, shower, get ready and leave the room. H was on an earlier flight so she was just staying where she was until it was time to go to the airport.. and the jammy devil also had a 1.30pm checkout whereas we had to be out by 12.

J and Ilya were up and at it late morning and again, headed back up town to do some last minute shopping.
We left our stuff with Ronnie and then headed out for food. This time we when to Washington Square Diner which wasn't wildly different from the one yesterday but again, just what we needed.
Again, they had soup on and I had a bowl of this. Only today, it was a much bigger fight to actually eat it but I think the knowledge that I had no room to go back to or a sofa to veg out on made it all seem worse. I just wanted to be at home now and it felt so close... but so very far away!
After witnessing a bit of an altercation in the diner and the skinniest woman polish off more food than Dan and I could eat between us, we paid up and moved on. Dan really wanted to have a bit of a wander around Bleecker Street shops especially the record shops.
I was really coming round now so that suited me and off we headed. He was quite happy and managed to pick up 4 or 5 albums. By this time J and Ilya were back and so Dan and I, now ready for another sit down and some refreshement, found a little cafe called Grey Dog Coffee which is on Carmine Street. They joined us there and we had some drinks and I actually managed a sandwich which was delicious and I knew would work a treat. We whiled a way an hour or so in there with Dan hiding behind his sunglasses so he could doze off if needed!!
We were all feeling a bit frustrated I think with the lack of a hotel room and that we were just literally wasting time until the taxi came. To the point where Ilya was saying we should just order the mini-van (i got laughed at by Ronnie for calling it a Mini-bus) now and go!!~  I guess the fact that we were all so tired was the key thing as I'm sure we would have easily found ourselves something to do with the last of our time otherwise.
Anyway we went back to the hotel to make sure we pre-booked the van with plenty of notice. Ronnie was there and suggested we wait in their cafe rather than head off again in search of somewhere to land.. Great idea as it was lovely and cool in there and it was comfy.  Oh and they sold beer.. so yeah... of course I ended up having a couple!
Eventually it was time to leave and we had an interesting journey back to JFK airport. He took us a really different route as the driver was trying his best to avoid all the traffic given it was rush hour plus the pope was visiting Manhatten that day so there were lots of road closures.
We got there in good time and that was it.. time to say goodbye to J and Ilya and head off towards home.

Check-in and security seemed to take forever but before we knew it we were sat at a bar having a beer.  I had realised the day before that in 3 weeks of travelling I hadn't bought myself a single thing!  What was that all about.. i decided that I would like some new Sunglasses so whilst at the airport I went off to find some and did get myself a lovely new pair of Ray-bans.
From there it was a bit of a rush as our flight was being called so we dashed off and were thankfully in the first group to board..
It was a good roomy plane and in no time at all we were up in the air.. though I had actually fell asleep whilst we were still on the runway so it was no surprise I thought it was quick! Tbh it was good that I did as I then had no interest in having a drink on the flight and stuck with water. I watched Breaking Bad most of the way back between eating the yummy sandwich I had bought, picking at the highly tasteless veggie pasta dish that was provided and sleeping!
And then we were home.... WOO HOO!!
It all seemed a bit weird at first tbh... I found it strange to be driving on the left when we were heading back from the airport and walking in the house it all looked a bit odd.. Like familiar but from years ago!  Aaron and Abby (she has pretty much lived here whilst we were away) had done a decent job of keeping the house tidy  -  though a go of the hoover wouldn't have gone amiss!
Jesse came to greet us when she heard the back door open but then stopped in shock as she wasn't sure who I was... until I said her name and then she came bouncing over. She was still a bit skittish with us for most of the day tbh but we had cases and bags everywhere so I think it was the house being different as well that un-nerved her.
Aaron was out at work and Abby was upstairs in bed so I cracked straight on cleaning the bathroom, the cooker, re-organising the cupboard, sweeping the floor and putting a wash on!  Ha... ah well, it makes me happy... especially when I knew that I was about to get to sit down on my sofa with a proper cup of tea and some toast and marmite and await the arrival of my son.... Simple things hey and each one was wonderful but none as good as finally seeing Aaron again.. :-)