The 'Old Man'

So, with January 8th all but upon us (i.e. TOMORROW), I'm looking forward to welcoming my father to Charleston on his first trip out of the UK for, ooooh, about 14 and a half years (if memory serves me correct, it was in July of 1992 when we visited Menorca). No surprises, then, that this will also be his first trip to the USA so it should definitely be an interesting one. Looking at the tile, he's probably going to kill me for it (in my defence, I did but ' ' around the old man bit, but i don't think that'll matter. Oh well. I'll try and explain it's a term of endearment). Anyway, with his visit impending, I have duly tidied and scrubbed my apartment from top to bottom (well, from about my height downwards as he won't be able to see any higher) and am praying that Jasper doesn't go on a crazy 'destroy everything' rampage tomorrow when i'm at work. By my watch, it's less than 22 hours till touchdown in Charleston so if he does, i guess i'm screwed!

Of course, this trip is not without it's concerns from my end. Whenever my Dad has flown before, he's not been overly fond of it and they were considerably shorter flights (3 and a half hours and less) compared to the 7 hour one facing him tomorrow. Added to that the fact that we only ever had direct flights and that he has to change tomorrow and you can understand my apprehension. I guess i should be glad that he's flying in and out of the same terminal at the same airport so there's not TOO much room for error. I just hope that he remembers to get on the plane to Charleston, SC and not Charleston, West Virginia (this happened to a friend of mine when she was in a hurry one time) although i've told him about 15 times in the past three days so he should remember!! Anyway, if my postings are a bit less frequent over the next few days, you'll know why. However, given that i am pretty accustomed to the US, this may give me a resurgence in material as I get the chance to observe my Dad's reactions to everything. Watch this space!!