Hectic departure

Setting off with a rucksack each...thanks to Jo for a lift to the station! Got there on time despite meeting 5 chickens ambling down the road, all (3) of the neighbours and what seemed like a whole convoy of school children being picked up from school - all on single lane highways so a lot of reversing in flower-filled, Devon lanes. Horrified to find that train had been CANCELLED! And of course we hadn't left much contingency for delay....next train in one hour so we waited...got it and then as it pulled into Reading station it was early on the approach and late by the time it made it to the station platform....which meant that we missed our onward airlink coach connection by 2 minutes..PANIC No way we could make the flights if we waited for the next coach so had to order a taxi - after a stressful 15 minutes waiting for him to turn up, he flew down the motorway in his mercedes and we made it with...about 10 minutes to spare! Thank goodness everyone can run!! Boys headed off to Brisbane on an A380 much to Oscar's delight. I waited around for what seemed like ages to be picked up and taken to a nearby Heathrow hotel...where I didn't get much sleep in anticipation of an early start. I know why it was cheap - shared bathroom/toilet meant there was only one for the whole building!