With The Egg happily packed in its carton and heading to AZ by yesterday lunchtime, I didn’t have much reason to update my blog before kick-off.  Until, that is, hapless cousin arrived; and bought with him yet more internet gold.

Returning home last night I found his trousers on the driveway, iPad on the deck and an otherwise quiet house.  Confused, I checked the garden shed (usual location for most lost Englishmen), but still no luck.  As I reached for my cellphone, he bumbled into the kitchen, munching his way through a bag of crisps (US translation: chips) and proceeded to share his woeful tale of a lost iPhone.  However, before you hit the “oh no” button, dear reader; I have to mention this is actually a replay of a conversation we had when he visited a couple of years ago.

My perfectly pre-ordered super shuttle picked him up and deposited him to the final destination. Unfortunately, the excitement to actually experience sunshine first hand was so great, he didn’t notice his phone sitting on the seat as he climbed out.  Desperate to change into shorts and a dubious ensemble of purple socks and checked shirt (clearly doesn’t pay any attention to the Instagram reposts of great menswear looks I share with the world), his entire focus was Vitamin D.

The only glimmer of hope on the horizon was Apple’s genius development of GPS & synching.  Forlornly he stared at the iPad, now taunting him with confirmation said phone was sitting somewhere in Glendale, as I called customer service to explain “our” predicament.  One extremely helpful lady, later, and we had reassurance they’d do everything possible to reach the driver and make arrangements for a later return.

Jetlag provided Harry with an early morning start, and he was horrified to realise the phone had managed a round trip to both Burbank and LAX airport before 6:30am.  With a quick nod of thanks to Apple, he used another apparently useful feature and made the thing start beeping as loudly as possible.

Which is why my morning started at 6:37am, with a call from a complete stranger, informing me had my phone.  An interesting statement as I’d grumpily answered the thing 5 seconds earlier until he explained there was a message flashing to inform it was lost and who to contact.  An electronic version of Paddington’s label, really.

The Rally Gods were fortunately smiling on us as man, phone and super shuttle were literally (if the iPad GPS was to be trusted) now less than a mile away en route to their next pick-up before heading back to LAX.  I reassured the very nice voice at the end of my phone, we could be wherever they were in under 4 minutes, if only they would wait.

Which is why by 6:45am, I was driving through my neighbourhood in my PJ’s.  In no mood for red lights before my first coffee, I opted for a couple of quick U-turns and reached our destination with almost 30 seconds to spare.

Back home, coffee in progress, and dearest cousin Harry mentions he’d travelled to Atlanta in February, and had managed to do the exact same thing AGAIN before returning to London.

Before I could deafen him with my silence, he smilingly pointed out, “look on the bright side; we’ve already had a quick practice run of dodgy navigation requires quick driving reflexes, just before this year’s event”

…..Remind me again, what would we do without family?!!