My plane landed in The Bay around midday yesterday and after stopping by their SES shed so that Adoring Husband could conduct a quick (but unsuccessful) search for his reading glasses, I was home and unpacking by about 1.30pm.
It was a long day.
At the motel in Sydney, because I had to be up and packed and ready to leave at 7am, I set my alarm for 6am. My brain, however, decided that 3am would be a good time to wake up .. and stay awake. I looked at my watch every half an hour, hoping that perhaps I'd fallen asleep for a couple of hours, but alas .. not.
At 5.30am, I finally gave up and got out of bed, heading for the shower.
I attempted to pack, but of course, despite the fact that I had already sent two big boxes of stuff in the mail (one to myself and one to Chicklet) I still had too much stuff and I had to fill a plastic bag to give to Bubbles to send in the mail for me on Monday! Good grief!
Also .. I couldn't find my sunglasses. They are prescription sunglasses and I couldn't find them anywhere. They MAY be in one of the boxes that I sent in the mail, but that's a long shot. I can't remember the last time I had them, but I know I had them in Sydney. So it seems that I need to order myself a new pair of prescription sunglasses. *sigh* I ALMOST got through the entire holiday without permanently losing anything!
Knight in Shining Armour WAS my Knight in Shining Armour and arrived fifteen minutes early to take me to the airport.
This was a big deal for me for two reasons. The first being that he has a medical condition that sometimes knocks him flat and he needs more sleep than the rest of us. The second is that we would be driving in peak hour traffic and it could possibly take 90 minutes or more to travel what would normally be a 40 minute trip just one way. He would then have to return through the same traffic.
BGWLBH and I said our goodbyes - they are always fast and furious goodbyes because we don't like to get emotional. Long lingering sad goodbyes are just not us and we avoid them like the plague .. doesn't matter how sad we feel, we will deny it and remain brave and strong!
The drive to the airport was a smooth run. I think we encountered two red lights and they were the only times we had to stop. We kept looking at each other in astonishment and shaking our heads in disbelief and it only took 35 minutes to reach our destination!
He had a reasonable run home too, so it was our lucky day on Sydney roads!
I checked my luggage in and collected my boarding pass and attempted to get through the security gates, but the lady scanning the hand luggage decided that the keys in my camera bag, and my camera with two lenses was suspicious looking, so a very polite gentleman donned some scary looking gloves and took me and my hand luggage aside to investigate further.
He inspected my keys carefully, suitably admired my camera and then politely dismissed me.
I found a nice little 'cafeteria come bar', sat in a quiet corner, ordered bacon, eggs and coffee for breakfast, then took a leisurely hour to eat and drink while catching up with emails and facebook on my iPad.
It was a very enjoyable way to waste some airport time.
We boarded our flight at 9.50am and immediately the captain told us that the weather in The Bay was not very pleasant and although he expected we would arrive on time, we may not be able to land immediately. Being the nervous flyer that I am (though not as nervous as Adoring Husband), this news made me feel incredibly uncomfortable, as I'm sure you can imagine!
The flight was uneventful, in fact, it was very smooth and very comfortable .. I slept for the entirety of it .. but as we flew over The Sunshine Coast, the captain announced "We are about to begin our decent into The Bay, but the weather has not improved and there is a strong wind and heavy rain, so please don't be concerned if we have to make more than one attempt to land".
Immediately I felt concerned!
I took some deep breaths, placed my hands firmly on the arm rests and closed my eyes. In my mind, the voices repeated "Everything will be fine".
We descended through very heavy low cloud and it got a little bit bumpy, but then I could see land clearly and the pilot landed the plane very easily and very smoothly. I checked out the wind socks on the poles and they were limp. There were a few puddles on the tarmac, but it wasn't raining and looked like it had been a while since it had rained. I questioned my pilot's sanity and wondered if he was just playing with us. I think my pilot had a sick sense of humour. I wish I could have met my pilot face to face so that I could pour water over his head!
Adoring Husband's smiling face was there to greet me and it was great to feel his arms wrap around me to welcome me home.
It was Friday yesterday, so I got to dress up and go to the club and catch up with friends and drink wine. It seems a lot of us are, or have been, away recently so our numbers are somewhat diminished for the moment.
This morning I pedalled down to the Seat of Knowledge and caught up with a couple of my boys, then on to have my morning coffee, which I threw in the rubbish bin because one of the young girls made it and it was weak and uninspiring.
My next stop was the markets where I made a few purchases to support our local crafty ladies and also our local growers.
One more stop before heading home, was to buy a gift for BGWLBH to commemorate our holiday. I was going to buy it before our trip, but something happened to distract me (it doesn't take much these days) but I think that happened for a reason, because there were comments made during the road trip that makes the gift just a bit more appropriate. I think she will love and appreciate the gift very much.
Finally, Adoring Husband and I went on a lunch date today at Wild Lotus, which was just lovely, as always. A little bit of shopping, some new shoes, some jewellery and some food and the date was complete!
We came home and watched some footy (my team won!)
All is right with my world and once again, it is after midnight!
Nite all.
