Here is my last sketch done on our UK trip for this year. They day started with getting up at 5am and driving 4 hours from Manchester to Heathrow through dreadful drizzly rain. We arrived in the nick of time to drop off the hire car and then had to repack our bags at check-in counter as one was over 23k (even though the other was well under!). Otherwise the flight was uneventful and we got food despite being told when we checked with a phone call the day before, that there would be none provided (so I ate both sandwiches and airline food). On the flight I watched “The Mercy” movie …which was much more depressing than I thought it would be!
Tue-3-Jun-2025
Ah yes, Terminal 4 – I have passed through here SO MANY TIMES since I moved to Philadelphia from the UK, over 30 years ago! I always feel a little emotional when I touch down here and feel I am ‘home’ after flying the red-eye and I have also run through here with 3 very young children and my husband to make our flight in the nick of time – more than once. This year – we didn’t go to the UK – My elderly Mum passed away last year and so there is no longer the pressing need to see her for a lengthy string of ‘one last time”s. I may not be seeing Terminal 4 as much, now – BUT, thanks for the memory and I hope YOU had a great trip!
Thank you for your kind words and I am glad you liked my sketch. Thankfully I have never had to run through Heathrow to catch a flight…but I have had to do it in many other airports (including on this trip!). My mum is also elderly so our visits to the UK (every year) are important…I still feel a strong connection to the UK…even though I have been living and working overseas for 30 years
Home is home, no matter how long you live in other places – though I am pretty sure I would feel REALLY WIERD if I were to ever move back to the UK, at this point! So much has changed. You are a good son for visiting your Mum regularly like that!
I agree. It would feel very strange moving back to the UK after a long time away…reverse culture shock for me