New York – London

I would love to say it was a pretty uneventful flight home…but it wasn’t. In fact, the events were thick and fast.

It was late at night (plane time, clearly) and most of us were uncomfortably asleep when a loud altercation a few rows behind me startled everyone awake. It certainly made me jump, and the guy beside me and the woman across the aisle. There followed an almost muffled argument concerning…well, I’m not really sure. While the argument was loud and aggressive, it was very difficult to hear actual words.

The clash of wills went on for a bit with one of the stewards continuously asking “Am I in charge?” and a woman saying “She’s ill!” And then, from way back in our section, came a strong, upset American voice who asked them to “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Clearly he wanted to sleep like the rest of us.

The argument then diminished to hushed but insistent whisperings. Eventually the stewards made their way to the galley, which was right in front of me. A woman accompanied them. She was wearing a black dress and tights with white flecks on both. She looked a bit queasy. She then threw up in the toilet. Not in the bowl, you understand, but in the toilet. I realised the flecks were actually bits of sick.

For the next couple of hours I was entertained by her emptying her stomach down the loo intermixed with her standing swaying in time with the gentle movement of the plane. And then her friend turned up to help her. I’m not sure why this woman took so long to come forward. Maybe she wasn’t actually a friend but someone with a good idea.

She carried with her one of the blankets the airline give out to the passengers and a green t-shirt. Shepherding the vomit woman into a corner, she held the blanket up as a screen for her to remove her pukey dress behind and put the t-shirt on. The red blanket was then attached around her waist to form a rather odd skirt. She certainly looked a sight…though she was so green, she probably didn’t care.

That was about it for the flight. I did have the once in a lifetime honour of being the first economy class passenger off the plane. I savoured it.

Mirinda, as usual, was stuck in the non-EU passport queue with most of the rest of the passengers on our flight. As I sailed through, she joined the end of a very long queue which held an earlier plane load of Arabs. Behind her came the Orthodox Jews who had been on our plane. Fortunately, nothing kicked off and Mirinda emerged three days later. Our taxi was waiting and we were soon home.

But there was no time to rest. We went straight to the kennel to pick up the holidaying poodles before taking them for a long walk around Frensham Little Pond. Mirinda was flagging fast as we made our way in a big circle around the pond.

Frensham Little Pond

The garden went mad while we were away and most noticeable is the first of the red snapdragons. Second most is the amount of weeding I’m going to be doing over the next few days.

Lovely red snapdragon