On Our Way

We left the island on the last flight out on Saturday evening and arrived at Gatwick Airport around 10 pm.

Sunday morning, after a late breakfast we were off to Heathrow Airport - two trains and a couple of hops on the Tube.

Another airport hotel stay and then our flight to Copenhagen on Monday.

We arrived around 4pm and dumped our bags in our hotel room before taking the metro into the city. A quick and easy journey. It was already getting dark by then. We had a walk around for a while but then it started to rain so we ducked into a rather.nice pub/restaurant for a meal and a beer. Copenhagen is not a cheap place to eat. One burger and fries, one pasta carbonara and two beers came to the equivalent of £40. Another short metro ride back to the airport and our third overnight stay in an airport hotel. 

Tuesday morning and first in the Singapore Airlines check in queue.  Time for a healthy breakfast in the lounge then boarding our midday flight to Singapore.

A Singapore Sling was a welcome start. Two glasses of champagne with the meal also helped pass the time on the eleven hour flight.

We are now in the departure lounge at Changi Airport trying to stay awake before our onward flight down to Melbourne.

I think I may sleep well on that one.

All Packed And (Almost) Ready To Go

Tomorrow evening we are due to leave here on the first leg of our 4 week trip down to Tasmania, via London, Copenhagen and Melbourne.

I admit to being a little OCD when it comes to preparing for anything.  I packed our two carry-on size suitcases yesterday and they are sitting on the spare bed while I continue to double and triple check that nothing is missing before I lock them up.  Although they meet the airline carry-on size requirements, we usually check them into the hold as we can't be bothered with the scrum for overhead locker space on boarding the aircraft.

The things I need to take with me on board are all laid out on top of my dressing table so that I don't forget to put them into my tote bag tomorrow. 

Passports and boarding passes have been checked several times, to make sure they are still where they were the last time I looked.

Tomorrow will be spent quietly fretting in case our flight off the island is delayed or cancelled for any reason - weather, airline schedule issues, eco-rebellion protests, whatever.

I shall only be able to start relaxing once that first flight is in the air.  The worry will then start all over again when we get to London, just in case the next 2-3 stages of the trip don't go to plan.

I managed to work out why Mail2Blogger wasn't working so be prepared for a few boring blog posts showing our progress -  wifi availability permitting.

If any would-be burglars are out there reading this post, our friendly house-sitter will be here to thwart your plans.  Just saying.

Flood

We had very heavy rainfall overnight and woke up to a rather soggy garden and most of our driveway washed away.

I had a hairdresser appointment this morning so P dropped me off at the door then collected me afterwards as it was lashing down.

This photo is of our lane, just a few yards further along from our house...

Red and Gold

Today has been one of those almost perfect autumn days.

Fine and sunny for most of the day with just some high cloud building up later in the afternoon.

Driving home along our lane on  my return from Hospice at lunchtime I was struck by the abundance of bright red berries on the hawthorn all along the roadside.  They were particularly noticeable , the bright colour standing out against the bare branches, most of the leaves having piled up in our garden!

Later, as the sun began to sink towards the horizon behind Peel Castle out on its little island, the sky turned a beautiful golden yellow, reflecting off the dark blue patches of cloud above.  Much like the photo I took for my profile picture a year or so ago.

Isn't nature wonderful?

The Stone Loaf

Recently, blogger Yorkshire Pudding posted some photos of hag stones that he had collected (stones with perfect holes worn in them) and I was prompted to think about my "stone loaf".

Many years ago P dug it up from the garden. It appears to be some kind of quartz rock and had been split in two at some point.

The shape and colouring instantly reminded me of a cut loaf of bread and it has been sitting on our dining room window sill for the past umpteen years, alongside a small piece of white coral picked up from a beach in Queensland that was strewn with such pieces.

Fancy a slice?