The Abu Dhabi to Sydney leg of the trip was pretty dull and uneventful – it certainly wasn’t relieved by very much sleep! The most exciting part was when we landed and I realised, because of the delay taking off and the hordes of people in front of me, I probably wasn’t going to make my connection to Brisbane.
As it turned out, I was very close. Claire, my new favourite, airline booking clerk gave me a sad smile when she told me I’d just missed it. In fact, as I asked the question, the board which had said the flight was boarding changed to say it was closed. But Claire, bright and cheerful as a very bright and cheerful button (a real Kirstie Allsop of a button, in fact) merely moved me to the next Brisbane flight without any of the fuss that you regularly see on silly reality TV shows in airports.
I was happily ensconced on the terminal shuttle, book in hand, boarding card gripped happily when, suddenly, Claire appeared before me. I thought she’d suddenly found out that I was some sort of major celebrity or insane fundamentalist with religious leanings or not booked on the flight at all. I looked up into her smiling face, about to admit anything.
“Ah, Gary, sorry but you’re actually booked into Business Class. Here’s your new boarding pass.”
Brilliant! As I left the shuttle bus and walked straight into the Special Area for Those That Pay More, I smiled happily to the world.
It’s interesting going Business Class. When you go through security, it’s almost like they all apologise for the inconvenience; that you couldn’t possibly be anything other than a normal person. Actually, ahead of me was an elderly lady (at least 70) who set off the alarms. The staff cheerfully ran over her body with the handheld detectors as she explained the numerous bits of metal located inside her body from various operations. She said she had to go through this rigmarole every week as she regularly flies. It was all carried out happily and cheerfully. This is, after all, one of things you pay extra for.
No alarms for me and I was soon taking possession of a lovely latte and two pikelets, seated in the Business Class lounge waiting for the announcement of my flight.
The trip up was marvellous. There’s something quite delightful about being waited on hand and foot. It’s what you pay for, after all. Still, they do it with such pleasure. One understands why the aristocracy thinks its so important. The deference is infectious.
Being in Business Class means I arrived in Brisbane before the cattle behind me though not so lucky for my suitcase which didn’t pay extra. Anyway, there was no problem meeting Tracey and Bob who were where I’d been waiting for my bag when I’d moved to the main entrance. Which highhlights a rather odd problem that has suddenly appeared.
Tracey can no longer receive texts from me. I get hers but not the other way around. Therefore, in order to sort out things like missing the first plane, where to meet at the airport, etc, I had to text mum who would forward the information on to Trace then back again to me (which was a bit silly since I could read hers). Tracey has an iPhone so I’m not going to say anything else about that. I’m sure it has nothing to do with my Galaxy S.
Anyway, we arrived at mum’s, the delightful smell of a roast wafting down the drive, to kisses and hugs and all the rest. Chris, Chloe and Caiden were there as well, which was a real treat. And lunch was wonderful – especially the bread pudding afterwards.
A little later in the day, I went for a bit of a wander into Caloundra (they are SO close to the High Street now, it’s just brilliant – actually, there’s a bottle shop almost next door) and down to the beach. Being a Sunday and being a beautiful day, the beaches were teeming with people delighting in the water and weather.
King’s Beach was pretty well utilised
I took some photos (to make freezing friends back home just a bit jealous) before heading back to the house. This is so much better than Kawana Island (where they used to live) it’s just not real. Love it.
Tricky acrobatics in the surf
I managed to hold out until 9pm when Mirinda rang but I was in bed by 9:10 and, dad said, snoring by 9:15.
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I see that Mirinda has asked what films I watched on the squashed plane journeys…they included:
The Expendables 2 – pretty expendable itself. Far too many ‘in-jokes’ where the word ‘joke’ is actually ironic. And very, very silly.
Hope Springs – a nice, little movie starring Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell about a couple re-finding the romance in their marriage. Mirinda would enjoy this one.
Ice Age, Continental Drift – about the same as the previous Ice Age films though, to be fair, I did drift off a few times through it.
Premium Rush – a film about New York cycle couriers and the insanity that drives them. It stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is pretty good but otherwise, the film is a bit silly if you really look too closely at the plot and basic premise. There’s a lot of great filming through traffic. I should add that the guy who plays the bent cop would be better off ignoring acting and taking up living in a forest.
The Dark Knight Rises – Batman and a lot of angst. Obviously the special effects were all pretty spectacular, Christian Bale is terrific and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is better as a cop than a cycle courier but, I don’t know, Batman films leave me a bit cold.
I also played a fair bit of backgammon with someone else sitting somewhere on the plane.
Yes it was all kisses and hugs and lovely to have our son sitting at our table 2years is a long time but better then 7years which was the last time we saw him.before.
love mum
That’s a lot of films. I thought there’d only be 2!