After walking Mirinda to the station for the first time this year, I did some essential shopping at Waitrose (mainly for Tracey) then some at Boots (for Mum) then returned home to the puppies.
Most of the day was spent tidying up and washing Mirinda’s clothes for Naples. Eventually I packed.
At 4pm I took the girls around to Sue, towing my wicker trolley behind me, full of their food which was way too heavy to carry. Sue remarked that it was a good idea. I replied that it was the only idea given I didn’t want to make five trips around to her and her street is impossible to park in. She agreed.
Interruption for a brief Bob Update
The temperature was minus 30 where Bob is staying. They haven’t seen the sun for a month and he’s wearing all of his clothes whenever he goes outside. Even so, he’s loving it. Today he went on a husky run across a frozen lake. I was so jealous!
Anyway, I cast aside all envious thoughts, packed up, washed up, locked up and left the house at 5pm for Heathrow. I had tried to order a cab but they didn’t have anything so I jumped on a passing bus and made the 5:30 train for a lot less.
From Woking it was the usual coach to the airport although they have taken a lot of them out of service which meant I had to wait for an hour but at least it wasn’t raining and I had a decent buffer.
We had a very chatty driver though in an annoying rather than jolly way. He was supposed to be on holidays and I did feel it was a shame he wasn’t. Clearly, he’s a bit lonely and I guess driving a big coach every day back and forth from Heathrow full of people flying here, there and everywhere full of excitement and adventure, would get a bit wearing after a while.
His day was so dull that when asked for advice about how to get to a particular hotel he explained to the unfortunate South African how to get there, 12 times. He then told an Irishman the same thing even though he was going somewhere else.
At Heathrow (where it was a lovely four degrees) I was a bit annoyed when the self check-in machine refused to work properly and I had to go to the check-in desk. But any annoyance was instantly dispelled by the Lovely Lara who not only checked me in quickly and effortlessly but also found me an aisle seat to replaced the horrid one I had had to select 48 hours ago. Genius. Had I not been married, I’d have proposed to her instantly.
I had been dreading sitting one away from the aisle. I told Mirinda (half joking) that I was going to tell the passenger sitting next to me that I had a UTI and would be visiting the loo with all the frequency of a waterfall. Fortunately such dire straits were never entered.
My trip through security was smooth and I was soon sitting at Neros enjoying a latte. It was then a long, long walk to gate 40 for my trip to Hong Kong.
As we were all sat on the plane, preparing to move away from the terminal, there was an announcement calling for some passenger to make himself known to the crew. He didn’t. We were then told that his luggage would have to be taken off the plane so we’d be delayed a bit. It didn’t make a lot of difference but I did wonder what had happened to him between the check-in desk and the departure gate. And where did his luggage go? Was it just left on the tarmac?
Apart from the above, the flight was pretty uneventful, which is exactly what you want from a flight though the guy sitting next to me got out of his seat a lot. It made me wonder whether he had wanted an aisle seat because he has a UTI.
Speaking of my fellow passengers, across the aisle from me I had the Sniffer and the Snorer. The former was a woman who even sniffed in her sleep and the latter an older gentleman who managed to sleep for the entire flight, snoring almost continuously. Actually, and to be completely honest, I don’t know if he snored continuously because I managed to sleep for quite a lot of the trip thanks to my Premium Economy aisle seat.
Seeing as you have already told me this I will be short I loved it.
love mum xx