West Bromwich!

Landed at Heathrow -- moved quickly through immigration, got the bags reasonably quickly, walked straight through customs, round a corner and then -- bang! -- there they were! So nice to see Sue and Tony in the flesh. Sue cried, there was lots of hugging, and we headed to the car.

Unfortunately, Sue and Tony hadn't received our "we're late!" email before setting out at the crack of dawn to London, so they had been waiting at the airport for hours. But I think they still thought it was worth it. :)

We hit the road as the weather turned nasty -- a lot of rain and spray making visibility very poor on the roadways. We tried to chat, but Wil and I kept nodding off. My only real memories are of the brief stop we made at a motorway services, and the two strangely dressed contingents: a number of men in rugby shirts going to see Wales play nearby, and a number of men in "cowboys and indians" gear, headed up to Birmingham for Gay Pride weekend. Interesting blend of folks.

Then things started looking familiar -- and we arrived in West Bromwich. We pulled onto the drive and out came Steve, Beck, Lydia, and William -- so big! So nice to see everyone! Of course, we were dead on our feet so after a bit of chat, we were sent to our room for an hour's nap. We passed out, essentially, then got up and had showers and then it was time to head to dinner at Tony's favorite restaurant -- the Akash.

All nine of us went -- Joe having come home from work -- and we had a fantastic meal (except for the glasses of "dry white wine" that Sue and I tried -- they were golden yellow and tasted.. well, let's just say I'm not sure they were made of grapes). And it was great to have the family together.

Steve, Beck, Joe, Lydia, and William went home in the van, but Tony, Sue, Wil and I decided to walk the 10 minutes home. Got home, watched a bit of "Britain's Got Talent", and then headed for bed.