Travel day.
Started early doing bedding and towel laundry at the local do-it-yourself laundry after goodbye hugs and kisses with the girls as they went off to work.
Costs are interesting, C$8 per washing load and about 4$C to dry on average. Since I did the laundry this morning, I have some observations on the subject that my idle mind contemplated as I sat there, waiting in the laundrymat by the tube station. Washers here use very little water, and there is no agitator as we know it in the washing machine, turning left, right, left, right, etc on a vertical axis and a tub-full of water. Instead, the washer goes on a horizontal axis, like our dryers, with only a little water in the bottom of the tub. The clothes rotate clockwise a few of turns, then sit for a moment, then counterclockwise a few turns, sit for a while, then repeat. That way everything gets wet and shook up, but you don't use a ton of water for each load. The girls have a washer in the flat, same style as the commercial ones, but a bit smaller. No dryer in the flat, so they hang things on folding racks in the flat. Very picturesque, but inefficient in the cold damp English winter. We only had two days of rain, but on those days nothing dried. Not sure how the girls will react when this sinks in, they've only seen the summer. Everything so expensive here, water, power, gas and electricity, everything. Maybe that is coming to North America one day if oil prices go as forecast.
Took the tube out to Heathrow Terminal 3 for the Air Canada flight home to Montreal at 3:30pm. All went well, and our little Honda sat and waited in the parking lot for us. Hard to believe, but this little car is home now and it was good to be home after a long day. After a credit card hit of $192 for the parking, we were free. Tried to head to a hotel downtown that we had stayed at, guided by Jan and Hal the GPS. Instead, after a near-collision with a bus who went straight in spite of being in a right-turn only lane and several near-misses with cars going at least 120k in the 100k arteries, and me having been awake way too long already, I lost heart and pulled off into a Best Western hotel. We have no idea where we are this morning as I write this, but with the maps and Hal, Jan will figure it out and we will be on the road again to Quebec City.
More soon, and today some pictures of our trip yesterday.
