En Route in UK: We Make the Headlines!!

On Sunday night we set out for our big journey, with a stop for a few days in England. This allows us to visit with cousins, adjust to the time difference to hit the ground running in the Gambia, and to make one of the two times per week flights into Banjul (Tuesdays were booked, so we'll take Friday's flight). We were several hours delayed in Newark and no one at Continental would tell us why. Fortunately, my cousin called and told us the problem: the airport in Bristol had shut down to repair the tarmac. So, when our flight did finally arrive in Bristol, we were the FIRST FLIGHT on the newly repaired runway. This airport has never had such an emergency, so it was big news when the first flight dared to touch down on the questionable tarmac (it was being inspected for arrival as our flight circled overhead). The landing was fine; a non-event -- fortunately. But, the media loved the potential for disaster. Swarms of newscrews awaited us. Upon my exit from customs and baggage claim, a BBC Radio microphone was stuck in my face with a nice reporter asking: "weren't you afraid to be teh first flight to touch down after the emergency closing of the airport?" Fortunately, as a passenger with no access to media, I wasn't afraid at all and conveyed all the calm and enthusiasm I could muster after the trans-Atlantic flight with 3 kids and 4 hours of delay. Then, that evening our plane kept