Bye Bye Sis!

My sister was returning to the UK today.  We went down to pick her up as she had to vacate her accommodation by 11.00am.  This building is actually at the end of the carpark and opposite where she stayed - we joked with her before she arrived that this was her accommodation which, although basic, did at least have CCTV!!!  We made the same stupid joke with Matthew and Sarah when they stayed in No20 years ago - we clearly haven't matured much over time!

Having checked her out of No20 which just meant giving the cleaner the keys as we left, we went up to the Garden Centre to have brunch.  It was lovely sitting in the cafe eating and chatting over the last week which had by anyone's standards been a real success.  Having Kaye staying nearer us meant we could keep her company in the evenings which she appreciated as she doesn't really like being on her own then.  She took the pressure off me by going to see Mum on several occasions without me and Mum seemed to enjoy the attention she got and was good company - even better when she had had her sodium infusion.

Kaye's flight was not until 11.00pm which meant getting her to the airport by 9.00pm - John was doing the same run with Jan and Derek who were returning on the Newcastle flight due to set off the same time as Kaye's Birmingham flight - either side there were about 3 others all going in quick succession so we knew the airport would be chaos.  We were going down early to Mum's for a Chinese takeaway before heading to the airport and John was taking Jan and Derek there via Bona Mare.

So that we were not sitting around for too long Kaye and I took ourselves off on a walk around the village enjoying the afternoon sunshine.

We spent a few hours at Mum's including having our takeaway and Kaye had the opportunity to shower and change before the flight.  You can see Mum is looking so much brighter even though she got emotional when we came to leave.  I guess in the back of her mind is whether she will see Kaye again (although she plans to return in December, this time staying with us) and Kaye must wonder the same in reverse.  It is always difficult on this occasions so we try and make light of it.

The airport did not disappoint - it was utter chaos and there was nowhere to park in the quick drop-off points so I literally pulled up, parallel parked and chucked her out!  I do hope she got home safely!