Our departure date was Tuesday December 19th and overnight on Sunday the 17th Vermont got four inches of rain which combined with the snowmelt of a considerable snowpack raised the water in the rivers and streams and caused flooding that threatened to equal the July Floods. Our creek was raised to the same level as the July Floods and spilled out onto our road. I had laundry o do and the bunny to take to Clara’s house but when I drove out I found one of the streams that flowed through a culvert beneath Eagle Ledge Rd about to breach the road where in July it washed out half the road, still determined to get the laundry done I decided to risk it and headed out towards Montpelier on Rt 12 but just South of Worcester where the North Branch comes close to the road at the Ledges the water was already lapping the pavement and the river was rushing with big standing waves and it didn’t look good.
Not wanting to get trapped in Montpelier I turned around and headed home. Our flight from Boston to London through Iceland had been pushed back four hours from 8pm to Midnight due to a strike at Iceland Air so there would be plenty of time to get the laundry done and the bunny moved tomorrow. An hour later the creek had filled the culvert in front of our place to capacity and had begun to flow down the trail taking chunks out of it as it did so. Schools were closed at noon and Jakobi sent home and when Colleen got home late in the afternoon she parked out and walked in so we would have a car to get to the airport on Tuesday if the road was impassable. The rain was easing up as we went to bed and the creek had gone down a bit so we were hopeful.
When I awoke at 7am Colleen told me she had gotten a bunch of emails from Iceland Air but was unable to load them. Not knowing if our flights had been changed again I immediately got up, dressed and went out determined to get the laundry done and the bunny moved. The road was undamaged except for a small strip torn out of the road bed where the water had jumped the culvert. The laundry was already in the car so we loaded up the bunny to take to the Makers and I headed out stopping at the town hall to call the laundromat to make sure it was open and it was; Montpelier didn’t flood except for a few basements so I headed in to town.
Turning on the radio I heard on the news that the volcanic eruption they had been expecting in Grindavík Iceland for months had happened last night. I immediately thought of the emails Colleen received and wondered if our flights were now canceled. Arriving at the laundromat I got the laundry started then checked the Iceland Air website where I immediately in red bold type across the top of the page declaring that the Airport and flights are not affected by the current eruption. I then got a text from Colleen telling me that the Iceland Air strike had been resolved and our flight was back to its original 8pm departure. So good thing I was here as we did not have all day any longer. While the laundry was getting done I watched online videos of the spectacular lava fountains on the ????? peninsula and got excited about possibly seeing them from the plane as we landed and took off at Kerflavik Airport. dropped the bunny off with Neil and headed home to prepare for our 1pm departure time from home.
The drive to Boston was uneventful, we parked at the park and ride in Woburn and took the Logan Express to the airport. Our luggage was all carry on and we had checked in online so we went right through security and to our gate. Our flight was a half hour late departing and an in-flight movie later we descended through the night to Iceland. Unfortunately our approach angle was all wrong and no lava was visible out either side of the plane and all we saw was snow covered runways and the airport lights. Our gate was also on the wrong side of the terminal to see any glow from the lava. Our connecting flight to London was almost 2 hours late and we sat on the plane so they could top off the fuel tanks so we could fly faster and make up an hour of the lost time which was very considerate of Iceland Air.
We caught some sleep on the plane and when we landed at Noon Greenwich Mean Time (7AM EST) we were only an hour late. With no baggage to pick up we breezed right through customs which consisted only of placing our passport on a scanner as a camera took our picture before releasing us into England. We hurried off to meet Ambiana but Colleen had to pee so we had to wait a few more minutes before we were reunited with our Ambiana. It was glorious to see her there awaiting us in Arrivals with her big backpack upon her back. Our little world traveler. After hugs and kisses and big smiles she immediately took charge and knew right where to take us to catch a bus to pick up our rental car.
The rental car place was at a hotel just outside of Heathrow and we got a manual transmission KIA with the steering wheel on the right. Colleen stalled twice in the parking lot then drove the wrong way out of it and suddenly we were in the midst of traffic with roundabouts and rotaries everywhere. Horns were honking at us as we slowly navigated all the newness of the stick-shift and right side driving. Ambiana had the directions on her phone and I was the 2nd set of eyes to make sure we were in the proper lane and it was all so confusing and frankly downright scary until we got on the M25 which is the freeway and although it was still mirror universe strange at least it was straight ahead driving without rotaries. I have never seen Colleen drive so slow and cautiously and I was glad it was her instead of me. The weather was gray and misty, the trees leafless but the fields still green as we cruised the M25 to the M3 to the A303 to Amesbury and found our accommodation and parked right in front of it.
Our Hostess came out to greet us and showed us through the gate to a cute little bungalow in the garden which was to be our home for the next 2 nights. Ambiana and Jakobi claimed the bedroom and Colleen and I took the couch in the sitting room which reassembled into a double bed. Ambiana cooked us her latest creation which we call Lasagnbiana which consists of rolled up lasagna noodles filled with spinach ricotta and Irish beef topped with sauce and cheese. It was like a love child of Lasagna and Enchilada and it was super delicious. We all snuggled up and watched “Tangled” on the telly and stayed up till 11PM even though, except for Ambiana, we were all dead tired so we could sleep deep and wake up properly with our bodies in the GMT time zone.
