Post-OAT, Christmas in NJ

20-25 December 2009
So I spent the following days being entertained by a 9 and 12 year old grand-nephew who introduced me to WII and their latest electronic wish lists. Discovered my nephew Leon has become a gourmet cook and went with his family to "The Manor" for dinner where the 12 yo devoured 51 lobster claws at the buffet- he's 5'9" and weighs 114. Baggage services finally answered their phone on Tuesday the 22nd and located my bags in Cincinnati. Since most of the family remaining in NJ made it up for Christmas eve I could rate it as a successful holiday, and almost hated to leave for the airport at 10am on Dec 25th in the midst of Christmas festivities. BUT- the saga continues. Delta flight had a delayed departure because of scalding water in lavatory which put us in late in Detroit which has the longest terminal (1.3 miles I was told) in the USA- so when I got to the gate the plane was still there but they had just closed the gate and a helpful agent tried unsuccessfully to get me on "because of security issues" I later found out that there was a bomb attempt on a NW/Delta flight just before we had arrived from Amssterdam. I was left behind and re-booked for a flight 2 hours later. When I pulled the rental car into the driveway at 10 pm I was almost surprised to see the house intact. (well mostly- a pressed board bookcase in the basement which has soaked up some water during a leak a year ago sort of collapsed on one side from the weight) Being 6 days late getting home is a new one for me.