Timing

It was our last full day in San Diego today. Tomorrow we make our way back to LA and our flight to Australia leaves at 8pm. Somehow (and I have become a little bit obsessed with this) we will lose the 9th December. We just won't have one. I know we are crossing the dateline and we've been through the mechanics of it quite a few times (I sense Craig is becoming a little exasperated by my constant examination of the issue) but it just seems wrong. The fact that we will get a day back on our return is little comfort. It's the whole idea of the thing. Then I start wondering about all those explorers hundreds of years ago. Did they know they were crossing the dateline as they sailed across the Pacific? I doubt it, which means that the ship's entries could all be out by 24 hours. The more I think the more troubling it becomes.

We visited Sea World today (and successfully managed to keep all our children with us for the duration of the visit). They played the Star Spangled Banner as the gates were opening and I watched most of the crowd stand and place their hands across their hearts as they looked towards the flag. I would have felt uncomfortable with this a week ago, but I think I'm developing an admiration for the American sense of positivity and pride.

It's not so much the flag thing that makes me think that - it's the people. We met a lovely group of old ladies in a restaurant today. They go to mass together each day and had met up for breakfast to celebrate a birthday. They were so kind and affirming of Evie (and the rest of us). An old man stopped me yesterday as I was walking Barney around at 5.30am (an early morning attempt to get him back to sleep) and told me that he thought Barney was lovely, then talked warmly about his four grandchildren. To be honest I thought he was going to ask me to keep the noise down. It was hard to imagine the same thing in the UK. Maybe it's just the holiday spirit in me making me see things differently... I don't know. Anyway, I like it.