England, Wednesday Apr 21 (day 15 of our trip)

Ben got up at 3am and checked the status of our flight multiple times (and also watched hockey). I kept tossing and turning, asking even after I knew, whether the flight was cancelled. I woke up thinking I didn’t want to do that again! And we may not get a chance to—later research revealed that Heathrow airport actually requested that stand-by passengers NOT go to the airport, because they were not going to be getting on a flight. I was just a little relieved. We wouldn’t be getting home early (unless they change that policy), but we wouldn’t have to check every night or spend every day at the airport trying.
We both woke up the next morning feeling pretty exhausted. We ate breakfast, then both napped. Ben couldn't seem to get up from the nap though, so I attended today's activity: croquet, with just Cole and I. We went over to St. Hilda's college, and fetched the croquet set, then met the group on the lawn. There were about 9 people, but I only remember a few names. I was paired with Jen, which I told myself was a good thing since it meant we could form new memories besides me breaking her camera. We started the game out a little rough - missing the first hoop over and over, and then being (cruelly) roqueted away from the hoop by Cole. Thus began a competition between our teams: Cole and the theater girl, versus me and Jen. The other team was far ahead. Eventually we taught Cole a hard lesson by roqueting his ball away as well. But maybe it wasn't that hard a lesson since Jen accidentally hit her foot with the mallet and barely moved his ball. Still, I think we made our point! Of course, it was all in good fun. Jen and I ended up winning by a small margin. I'm pretty sure she carried our team at the end, as I had a propensity for hitting the ball way further than intended and throwing us off track, while she had a propensity for making the ball go through the hoop. While we played, we ate cucumber sandwiches, Pimms, and fresh English strawberries. It was such a nice, British afternoon!

They day before, I had purchased tickets to see Date Night with Steve Correll and Tina Fey. It was silly but, I was happy we were here to see the movie—we would have missed it if we'd flown that day! We walked towards town at a high speed. Cole told me there was a phrase around here for people who are walking fast with a strong goal in mind, not allowing any distractions, called "mishing it." As in, you're on a mission. That is how Ben walked. When we were only yards from the theater, Cole and I had to convince him that there was no reason for us to rush, we had an HOUR before the movie started, and besides, it was assigned seating!

So, we popped into a fun little burger joint to grab some food. We got chips and salsa, as well as fries (around here those would be corn crisps and salsa, and chips) to go with our burgers, which was lovely. Then headed into the movie. Our seats were decent, but around here they actually have a section with nicer chairs and better locations, and like little rebels, we totally switched to those seats once the lights dimmed.

The movie was great, with some really strong and hilarious scenes, although a little inconsistent (like when they took breaks from the action to pull over and talk about their marriage - get on with the good stuff)! There is a scene where Tina and Steve danced together, and I about peed my pants. That's cinematic gold!

Headed home, watched Community, then sleep.