Cannot believe it had been four years since I last saw Lynn and her family - I was so looking forward to this 'solo' trip of mine and it did not disappoint!
My first surprise was that John had booked me Business Class on his air miles so had the first two flights - Brussels to Heathrow and then Heathrow to Newark - in absolute comfort with nice food and free drinks all included - definitely THE way to travel! Second surprise - not so nice! - was that the St Louis area was experiencing such bad weather that no flights were able to take off or land! So I had to spend EIGHT HOURS in a really crummy airport and because I was in Economy for this last leg of the journey there were no lounges for me to sit comfortably in! Anyway, I found a bar and sat with a large Corona - as you do, on first arriving in the US, but was then chatted up by some weird drunken woman who was on her fourth margharita and it was only 2.00 in the afternoon. She started on the Iraqi War and then got very confused talking
about the Presidential elections so I drank my beer quickly and beat a hasty retreat!
St Louis had between 6 and 10 inches of snow during Tuesday so my flight finally took off at 8.30 in the evening and by the time we landed - with the plane taxiing over sheet ice into the airport gate - it was something like 5.00 in the morning for me! Was so glad to see Lynn and Rajiv waiting for me and I just fell into bed as soon as we got to their home and slept right through.
Lynn's home looks just the same but it was so strange being there in winter - the weather remained really cold all week but had some glorious sunshine as well so sitting in the upstairs lounge with the fire on was really cosy! Not that we sat around too much - there was shopping to be done! I spent a fortune on clothes but as we are getting 2 dollars to the pound at present it really was just too good an opportunity to pass up on. I was really impressed and then very much at home with the idea of the
two of us cruising off to the Mall in Lynn's little Porsche Cayman - she's had it for about a year and it is lovely (see photos!). Amazing thing is that Rajiv drives one too - he has this big black turbo charged Cayenne which is obviously top of the range with leather seats and satellite radio (to pick up the BBC World Service) etc.
So my first two days passed very quickly with lots of shopping and nice lunches - we went to Curves Fitness one day so felt a bit better about all the food I was eating although Lynn is still a vegetarian and eats very healthily so I just tried to have what she chose. She still looks so slim - I am really envious especially as she just seems to eat and drink almost what she likes but takes regular exercise to help keep it all in trim.
We went out on the Thursday night with some of Lynn's girlfriends, to a local Mexican restaurant; not fantastic food but we just had appetizers and desserts and lots of wine which was lovely. Lynn still works part time with Ellen who runs a Gift
Basket business out of the basement of her house - we dropped in to see it one morning and it was such a little hive of industry.
Krishan arrived home late Thursday for the start of his Spring Break week's holiday - he is at some college in Columbia majoring in Psychology and has a year and a half to go. He has matured a lot in the last few years - he is easy to talk to and you can actually have a really nice conversation with him as long as the discussion is centered around golf in general and Tiger Woods in particular! Krishan is definitely the number one fan of the Tiger!
Then on Friday it was Moms and Daughters week-end at Varsha's college sorority house (also in Columbia but she is at the real College of Missouri) so we drove over to see her and had a nice tour round the Mizzou campus. The facilities are totally amazing - the photos of the sports hall just don't do it justice - and now Varsha has moved into the Sorority House to live she is very happy there. She gave us a really nice tour
round and explained a lot to me about how all these things work - I did not even know Sorority was for girls and Fraternity for boys! We then went off to eat in yet another Mexican with about 20 other Moms and Daughters - most of whom I did not even get introduced to! but the important thing is that Varsha looks great and is clearly having a great first year there. She then came back with us for the week-end but her spring break week does not start for another couple of weeks so she went back to college on Sunday afternoon with her boyfriend, Jared.
Saturday was spent doing just a little bit more shopping; then in the evening we went into town to the restaurant where Sanjiv is one of four managers. It's called Oceano Bistro and the food was really very good - it does take a bit of getting used to, when the appetizers arrived so fast we had not even had a glass of wine! Still we did get excellent service and Lynn and Rajiv have been there several times so the owner came over a couple of times to make sure
we were being well looked after. It was really nice that Krishan and Varsha came out with us but they disappeared quite quickly after the meal was finished - we all stayed on for coffee and chatted to Sanjiv and his girlfriend, Soraya (not sure if I have spelled that right) who seems very nice. Think she is a law student.............not sure! Sanjiv looks well but I know Lynn and Rajiv do worry about him - his career path is by no means certain in this business and although he seems very happy right now I think the long term prospects are not great. Can you believe he will be 30 this year..........!!!!??
Sunday was a lazy day - we wanted to play golf but it was just far too cold. Rajiv made curry which was superb - then late afternoon we went to the movies and saw a very exciting film called Vantage Point - really kept us on the edge of our seats so well worth seeing. Monday just seemed to disappear - we went to Curves again and then did a final few bits of shopping and then had a fantastic pedicure which I hope will
last until Thailand! We ate out again at a place called the Macaroni Grill but I did not make a very good choice - my pasta was a bit stodgy and I forgot to order a salad so was a bit disappointing. Then we went home and Sanjiv was there with a 'pirate' copy of a film called Juno which we watched. It was ok but not as funny as the trailer had implied.
It was really sad and difficult saying goodbye to everyone - Lynn drove me to the airport and we just did not want to part but I have promised it will not be four more years before we see each other again. Next time I just have to go at a time of year when we can play golf together - that was the only thing we did not manage to do and it would be just great to do this after so many years.
All in all, I had a wonderful week and I cannot thank Lynn and Rajiv enough for the warm welcome - just wish I could reciprocate their hospitality here in Brussels some time soon!
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