A flying visit

The first year that I lived in LA I returned to the UK no fewer than eight times. Sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a week or two. Sometimes on a whim, sometimes for a good reason. Sometimes with TLOML, sometimes solo. I stayed pretty well connected with my friends and family. There are plenty of people I saw just as frequently that first year in LA as I had done when I lived in London.

These days, trips back home are planned far in advance, and heavily itinerised.  It's too far to go for Lady P to handle a short trip. So we go for a couple of weeks or more in the summer, and pack in as many friends and family as we possibly can.

When my parents and sisters started planning a trip to London in February I didn't plan on joining them. Not at first anyway.

My mum is getting an MBE. Which is kind of a big deal. My parents and my three sisters will all be together in London celebrating. And I think what really tipped me over the edge was my dad asking me for restaurant suggestions, and the thought of them all together for my mum's big day in my city, and me, thousands of miles away... I couldn't stand not to be a part of it. TLOML told me 'You have to go'. And he's rarely so dictatorial, so I think he really meant it.

One last minute flight booking later, and I am London-bound. Abandoning Lady P and TLOML for five days while I live it up in my old stamping grounds. I'll spend a couple of days with my family, and another day or so catching up with a couple of good friends, trying not to fret too much about the friends (and nieces and nephews and so on) that I won't get to see. It could be a bit of an exercise in frustration, because the time is so short, but I'll take what I can get.

Every time I say that I miss London and the seasons, TLOML says 'Go! Go now, while it's cold and dark and rainy!'. Well, it's 26c with glorious clear blue skies in Hermosa as I write this. And it'll be 9c and rainy in London when I land. Despite that, and much to TLOML's bafflement, I'm pretty excited.