Great Falls 1 VA USA

We drove up to Phil and Lesley’s home in Great Falls from Richmond on Saturday 3 November, a surprisingly fast and easy journey along the I-95.  We had last seen them in May and once again, it was lovely to see them and their children Georgia (now just 17) and Jack (12).  That first weekend was, for Lesley and the kids, a long weekend off school. The Monday was a school INSET day and the Tuesday voting for the mid-term elections.  In their area of Virginia, schools are used as polling stations so the schools were closed, which gave us plenty of time together – quite a change from their usual hectic working week schedule.  It was great to catch up with them all again, to discuss politics (mostly the mid-terms and Brexit!), and to start to move on the planning of a 30^thanniversary get-together of a dozen friends (plus wives/partners) from Phil and my early days in the RAF.

Once again, Phil and Lesley had provided us with a mailing address for all those random boat spares that a 20 year old boat needs and wants.  Most had arrived without hitch, which was great news, though the spare bedroom looked something like Santa’s grotto with the number of packages – just as well Nicky had booked us a reasonable sized hire car!  However, the replacement DuoGen (the wind generator head of the last one had broken off and fallen into the sea and sunk in a particularly strong gust in Port Washington and the rest of the unit was showing signs of imminent death) had not yet appeared and our replacement credit cards, ordered over a month ago, turned out to have an expiration date in January 2019 – not exactly convenient!  So, Nicky spent some time on the phone to the bank (again!) explaining our requirements but the cards were unlikely to arrive at home in time for them to be sent on to us at the Breddys’.  Another small problem to work through!

But these were but minor issues in the grand scheme of things.  The most important thing was to enjoy spending time with our friends – starting with a daytrip out leaf peeping.

Great Falls, Virginia, USA