An emotional day for me.......son left for OE..

[carole]

Yesterday was a day with very mixed emotions, we took my son to catch his flight to London, it was really hard to see him go, of course I cried a little at the airport, but not too much, made up for that on the way home, he will be gone for five months and I will miss him soooo... much, only a mother can know how it really feels, there is very much an empty feeling inside today, but I know as time goes on it will go.

He will be in Los Angeles airport right now and ready to head off to germany in about an hours time,its his first experience overseas, and he already hates the travel part, just lining up for the baggage was enough, he inherited his mother's lack of patience I am afraid lol.

Well its an exciting adventure for him and he will be living in Hampshire, not sure what part yet, he has a job lined up and place to stay, and will be playing cricket for England this summer, he is going into a gold grade team, which is higher than he was here, so it will indeed be a challenge and good for him.

Thanks for listening.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Originally posted by carole
... he will be playing cricket for England this summer,
he is going into a gold grade team...

Wow!

Take your mind off his being gone for while...
*Search* on the Net and see if you can find a Web Site for
his new Cricket Team.

(Hope he makes it to England with *most* of his luggage!)

Will he have a 'puter to stay in touch via E-mail?

[catnapper]

I know nothing about the sport... is gold team professional level? It sound pretty impressive!

Good luck to your son! Such a great adventure for him.

[Miss Meow]

Hugs to you, Carole. I'm sure your son is missing you and home as well.

I hope he does well with his cricket. The NZ team needs some up and comers! Martin Crowe is doing baldness ads on TV here - oh, the shame

[carole]

Thanks, yes he will have email, infact there was one from him there today, he had just simply put hello mum, actually he had sent the email on the day he left from home, that was very thoughtful of him, and really made my day, can't wait to hear from him when he arrives and is settled in, he will be on his way right now to Frankfurt germany, he will have 2hrs there before departing for London.

Yes I will beable to check out his team(when I know its name )on the net and see how he is doing, i am not sure what the gold team is, but he was in a rep team here in NZ, Miss Meow he has a long way to get to the top, but he would like to make it at least into northern districts,(thats when they start actually paying you to play), whatever the experience will be of great value to him, he also is able to coach children cricket in Uk, as he just completed a coaching course before he left, and will be doing just that on his return home.

The poor kid has 6 hrs in L.A Airport, and had to have bags taken off and re-checked in, as he is going with different airline Lufthansa to germany,lots of changing planes, not the best for your first time experience in travel, but he will get used to it, I am sure he will be glad to arrive in london.

Cinder and smoke, as long as his cricket gear arrives there safely , will be the most thing he will be worried about, the gear is reasonably valuable, I did get him a 5 day travel insurance, but it will not cover all his gear if it went missing, so heres hoping, fingers crossed.

[Vio&Juni]

Good luck to him!

[carole]

Thanks, I just got a telephone call from him, it was so great to hear his voice and find out that everything went fine, he said he found LA airport good but expensive, but he enjoyed the super-size macdonalds, (we don't get that here in NZ), said the flight over was horrible, cramped, but lufthansa was better and the flight attendants were much better looking, must be those good looking german girls eh?

He is situated in Romsey, Hampshire, and he said it is cold, he had a big 13 hr sleep and was off to open a bank account, he is staying with the secretary and his wife of the premier league Romsey cricket club, the people are nice and even paid for him to ring us, I must thank them, he forgot to take his drivers licence, so I will have to post it over, needs it more for ID than anything else.

Romsey looks a neat English town, it has pop of 13,000 so is very small compared to where we live, but it looks quaint and cute.

He will be working as a gardner, now that will be a first for my son, but the pay is good eight pounds 20 an hr after tax, that is way more than he was earning in NZ, almost double, and will only have to work about three days a week, the rest he will be playing cricket, he will be moving around a bit, maybe to southampton and staying with various people, and will be playing games on the isle of wight, where is mate is, so all in all , everything is running smoothly and I am a much happier,mum now. cheers and thanks for listening to me waffle on.

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

*GOOD LUCK TO YOUR SON*

and {{HUGS}} for you!! Sounds like he is going to have some fun over in London...

[ChrisH]

Glad your boy arrived safely and is happily settled in.

Welcome to the UK Son of Carole!!!

Carole, I can empathise a little with how you are feeling. I remember the time when my son and his friend took a trip to New York with little money and nowhere to stay............ it all turned out okay and he had a great time, but the worry! Kids eh!

{{Hugs}} to you.
Chris

[dukedogsmom]

That is really cool! I'll bet he'll like it over there. What is cricket? Is it English football? I hate airport goodbyes. They are the saddest. Did you tell him he'd better phone/email/write a lot?

[carole]

Thanks everyone, yes its always a worry, no matter how old they are, he did have some money behind him, but not heaps, so I am pleased he has landed a job, we were told it would be all sorted by the cricket team, but you never know until you get there, sounds like they are a good lot of people who really take care of their kiwi players, so I am happy about that.

[carole]

I Really had to laugh at your comment dukesdogsmom, is cricket English football, NO its not, lol, its a game played with a bat and ball, bit like softball, but different rules etc, I think the English started the game, not sure, actually its going to be neat, as the NZ Black Caps, our best team are playing England while he is over there, and the forumla one is on in Europe and I think some NZ rugby too, so its a real rivalry thing with NZ and ENGLAND this year, all in good fun, but perfect for his visit, he is bound to run into lots of NZ'ers, a familiar accent is always welcome when away from home.

I remember my American boyfriend of years back, saying the only cricket he knew of was the insect one lol.,

I vaguley remember someone on PT being from Hampshire, not sure if it were England or in America, does anyone know of this PT member, ?if its England would love to Pm her and chat .

[RICHARD]

LOL,

But they do have bowlers in cricket too, but no Jiminy's .

I'm sorry that I missed this thread.....Six hours is plenty of time to have made a short trip outside of the airport........

If he comes back this way let me know.....If he has a layover I could meet up with him and show him a real american hamburger and some of the sights.....

Don't worry about him....I have the feeling there'll be no sticky wickets for him on this trip!

[Rio and Me]

Tell him enjoy the weather,lol, were used to it aint we chris,lol
I'm freezing right now.
Tell him to come to Cornwall and enjoy the sights.
Ky

[carole]

Thanks Richard, he may well indeed change his ticket on the way home and spend sometime in LA, not sure yet, its five mths away, so anything could change by then.

You are supposed to be coming into summer over there, and you are freezing, yes I did warn him, but I think the cold has been a bit of a shock to him, we have just had a lovely change to nice warm sunny weather in NZ, he will be missing that, and here he was thinking he was leaving the NZ winter behind, lol, oh well it will change soon hopefully.