Good Things

Our return trip from the UK went superbly and seamlessly, despite it being a looooong day that began at 4:30am (without any shut-eye for me), and ended at 9:00pm locally (but 2am for us). We drove our rental car to Birmingham airport along the dark and twisty rain-soaked roads, without a hitch or traffic jam. What a pleasant surprise it was to be offered a cup of coffee at the Europcar drop off.

Fortified, we made it through the day, caught all our connections timeously and had excellent service through AirFrance - Dale asked if they had red wine with his lunch selection, and they responded with "but of course, this IS AirFrance!" I requested white wine and was informed that they also had champagne, which I readily accepted. I think this was the first time I've managed to sleep on a plane, so exhausted was I after a sleepless night before our departure (or was it the glass of bubbly that did it?).

AirFrance is a great airline - it was smoothly and efficiently run, with very good stewards (so what if they didn't repeat EVERY announcement in English - was that the one telling us to evacuate the plane???)

French countryside as we approached Paris

In mid flight we got the great news that there were 2 offers on our house in MA that we've been trying to sell since September. 

The one we've accepted is underwritten, and will close as early as Jan 13, 2026! So, so happy! Check out those magic words - Under Contract ♥️

Good friends generously picked us up from the bus station, and then once home, we discovered that another Good Samaritan had thoughtfully shoveled our driveway and path to our front door (it had snowed while we were away). How lucky are we!

Aah, what a lovely, satisfying experience we had - so many good things in one day!

... now for some sleep ...