Thursday 6/26

Well its been an eventful pre-flight week, but not always in a good way. Monday night I was picking up a friend from Orlando International Airport and was driving home in light rain and complete darkness. I noticed as we were approaching a toll plaza under construction that the rear hatchback light was intermittently coming on, which meant that the hatchback hadn't been closed properly. I went through the toll plaza and put on my directional to pull over and close the hatch. Crash... I collided with another car speeding through the toll plaza e-pass lanes (the automatic toll payment system). The Florida Highway Patrol were called, and while no one was hurt, there was damage to both cars, more to his then mine. So I have been spending my time talking to insurance companies and the body shop, getting the mess straightened out as much as I can before I leave town on Saturday afternoon.

Add in the chaos of finishing up classes and grading quizzes, getting finals prepared, and somewhere in the middle of that packing, and well you can imagine how chaotic it must be around here as well as entertaining my friend who came into town for the week and their birthday. Today is the last day of summer classes at the university for me. I have some quizzes to grade after I give them this morning, notes for the Oxford courses to round up, stop by the bank and head to the auto body place to arrange a date my car can be dropped off and fixed so that it is ready on the Monday morning after I return. Then it's off to Orlando for the next few days to rest and relax before leaving for the airport to be there at 3pm on Saturday.

I have all the paperwork in place for Oxford's arrival (flight details, where the coach is going to pick us up, etc) to try and get everything in place so that when I am nearly brain dead from lack of sleep and jet lag, I can at least semi function as I deal with immigration, customs, luggage collection and then taking it all to the the coach for the 2 hour drive from Gatwick to Oxford. Once in Oxford the program organizer (who is herding a bunch of the university's Board of Trustees on a trip) will be joining us and things fall into her hands. I don't expect many problems, but with 22 people and myself, who knows.

All my packing is done except for my computer bag and some last minute bits and bobs. I have brought along the two suitcases I had to buy in Oxford last year, splitting the clothes roughly equally between them so that if one gets lost, I at least have the other for a couple days. However, one bag is more full than the other, so I have plenty of space to bring things home. The larger bag gets left behind in Oxford while the smaller one accompanies me to France and Scotland. I also have to pack my messenger style bag that I wear around as my portable briefcase (the computer bag is too damn bulky) in one of the suitcases as well. Should be fun trying to get it all together this afternoon.

Ohh and my passport too...can't forget that.

Keep your fingers crossed!