A Moment of Bliss

I lay in bed writing this post in my head and now I can't even remember the three brilliantly witty titles I thought up never mind the one of them that I decided to use.  I said in a text to a friend yesterday that I was reaching muddle age.  I meant to write 'middle' age but I left it because muddle age seemed so much more appropriate.

Anyway the subject of my thoughts was ribs.  Not in the sense of BBQ ribs but of cracked or broken ones in general and more specifically those belonging to the body that I inhabit.  It's over 6 weeks since the incident when they were injured.  Everyone said it would take at least six weeks for them to heal sufficiently not to cause discomfort.  At around 5.30am this morning I sort of woke and turned over and suddenly realised that I had not let out a yelp which has been the case until then.  At last perhaps I could lie on my 'proper' side?  I could!  It's a small thing in the scheme of things but a very pleasant one.

The view from The Cottage deck

A bit closer.  Is that a car there?  Never seen that before.

Not only is it a car in a strange place but they are pointing at The Cottage.  I wonder why.

Not Quite Home

I'm not quite home yet but I survived the 50 hours between getting up on Monday morning in The Cottage and going to bed on Tuesday night in a suburb of Glasgow (bear in mind the time difference if you are wondering how that makes 50 hours) with no ill effects.  I then had six solid hours sleep and at 1640 on Wednesday as I write this I have had a fairly full day and am still awake and about to go to a friend's for dinner.  By the time I've had a glass of wine tiredness may catch up with me.  It may take a couple of days for me to adjust my body clock fully but at least I don't suffer from the disorienting and debilitating jet lag that many people have to put up with.  For that I am very grateful.

I still have one or two things left to post about here before I get home to Eagleton on Saturday and revert to Eagleton Notes.

Returning to Scotland

In 14 hours and 24 minutes I shall fly away from here for the eighth time.  Not only does life now seem to go so fast in six-monthly chunks but it seems to go even faster in decades.  I first came to New Zealand in 2005.  I seems like yesterday.  Yet I seem to have lived in New Zealand for ever.  It's a funny old world.  Talking of world Kay asked which way I was going back to Scotland.  I'm going this way:

Naoier to Auckland on an Air New Zealand 50-seat Bombadier Q300

Auckland to Melbourne on an Emirates A380

Melbourne to Dubai on an Emirate A380

Dubai to Glasgow on something with wings and engines

Glasgow to Stornoway on a Dash 7

It's a long way whichever way one looks at it.

Thankful Thursday: An Eventful Journey

Eventful day or what?  9.30 Wednesday morning UK time (and over an hour from landing at Heathrow)  we had finished breakfast - fresh fruit and yoghurt was my choice (as airline catering goes in my experience Air New Zealand does it well).  Shortly afterwards I felt decidedly odd.  In fact I felt nauseous and decidedly ill.  I decided to retire to the rear of the cabin out of public gaze and near to the cabin crew and toilets and more space and air.  Apparently I looked even worse than I felt and the cabin crew were exceedingly concerned.  By this time I was too unwell to care.  Tash (presumably Natasha) was assigned to take care of me and I was given oxygen.  A potential heart incident was suspected.

When we landed I realised the full extent of their concern when everyone was told to stay seated and a team of para-medics, firemen and police arrived and came up to the rear of the plane.

By this time I was relatively compos mantis and wondered why firemen and police.  Firemen to lift me out above everyone’s heads had it been needed because getting the ambulift in place takes time.  Police because I was travelling alone and next of kin needed to be notified in the event I wasn’t fit to give consent to any procedures and, presumably, in case I was travelling on a non-UK passport or perhaps even a forged one and knew that I'd be bypassing Border Control.  The paramedics were brilliant and within minutes I was hooked up to all the monitoring devices.

I must have been really popular with everyone who thought they were delayed.  In fact the plane had been given priority landing and taxing onto it’s stand so everyone was, in fact, earlier.

Let me say at this stage that how I felt had absolutely nothing to do with food or food poisoning!

I spent the next 4 hours at London's Hillingdon Hospital A & E.  Contrary to what one hears so often about the National Health Service my observations of that particular A & E is that it was run exceptionally well indeed with constant prioritising and re-prioritising taking place.  In my case whilst nothing initially appeared to be happening in any organised way it soon became obvious to me that all the tests were being carried out in a very organised and logically scheduled and efficient manner.  By the end of the 4 hours before I was discharged I had had numerous tests and even the results of the blood tests were available when the doctor paid his final visit.  I won't go into the details of what had happened and caused me to feel so ill but the Doc assured me that there was no medical evidence of any underlying problem (ie that my heart was fine).  What it came down to was that the medical issue was caused by exhaustion and lack of sleep.  That'll teach me!

So today I am exceptionally thankful for:

• The cabin staff's diagnosis, treatment and attention which undoubtedly prevented a potentially far worse outcome;
• All that Tash did for me when I was unable to think properly and couldn't have cared less what had happened;
• The kindness and efficiency of the para-medics, the police officers, the air-crew and the Air New Zealand station manager at LHR;
• The ambulance crew who looked after me and ensured that all the non-medical things like instructions from the ANZ station manager on what to do when I was discharged and my cabin luggage and things were kept with me;
• The staff at Hillingdon Hospital's A & E (the biggest I've ever seen) who impressed me greatly.
• The fact that I'm alive and well.
• And finally the fact that I didn't have to think about what to write for a Thankful Thursday post this week!

For all of the above this was just one tiny incident in their professional lives.  By now it will have been forgotten.  For me it was slightly more than that.  What has made me feel very humble is that not one of those people with whom I came into contact made me feel anything other than I was their most important concern at that moment.  I will always remember that.

Wibbeling Wednesday

Seeing as I shall have to be happy tomorrow for Thankful Thursday I have decided to be miserable today and have a good wibble.  Why do I feel the need to wibble?  Not sure.  It's a combination of things.  

It's still raining and it's cold.  That's 47 hours of constant, mostly heavy to very heavy, rain.

A lot of irritating things happened yesterday but I can only recall one of them.  This demonstrates that either a) I don't sweat the small stuff and that they were all small stuff or b) I have an appalling memory or c) that both of those things are true.

The thing I can still recall is that Air New Zealand with whom I always travel between here and the UK without even considering the fares of alternative carriers, has upset me by letting me down.  Whether the (long and boring saga I will omit) situation can be resolved before I leave here on the 1 May remains to be seen.  My upsettance is partly the irritation of what's happened but it's also the feeling of being let down by a trusted friend whom I have supported unconditionally.

In my nightmare last night I was in a very unpleasant war situation with atrocities happening around me.  I can't recall any details just that it left me feeling drained when I woke.  A friend asked me this morning (by coincidence) if I ever had pleasant dreams.  Unfortunately the answer is, so far as I can recall, in the negative.  They are all varying degrees of unpleasantness.

Oh.  Yes.  I knew there was something else.  I've got face-ache.

But, hey, wotthehellarchiewotthehell, it's time for a coffee, two squares of mint chocolate and a crossword.  Life's ok and it's Thankful Thursday tomorrow.

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday morning and this afternoon I shall be back in my Lewis home.

A few weeks ago I was listening to Radio New Zealand Concert and a conductor was being interviewed.  He travelled frequently between New York and London if I recall it correctly and he said that he had never, after many years, managed to get over the problems of jet-lag.  Since then I have listened to stories of what people go through with jet-lag.  I have to be honest and say that I had never realised how unpleasant it could be.  Yes, after being awake and traveling for long periods of time, I sometimes feel tired (most of my life I have needed very little sleep so that helps) but I had never appreciated what people who suffer from it experience.  Yesterday a friend was explaining.

So today - having had a great day yesterday without even feeling tired - I am exceptionally thankful that I don't experience jet-lag.

Safely in Heathrow Terminal 5

The USA and LA airport seem to be on a charm offensive.  Over the last 6 years I have gone from waiting over 2 hours to get through Immigration into a transit lounge where the rest of the plane is already boarding (we set off late!) to today where we were through quickly (possibly 10 to 15 minutes at most).  More peculiarly though is the fact that both my NZ Telecom and my UK Vodafone cellphones worked!  This has never happened before.  Wow.  We even had free internet access.  Unfortunately it seemed to be down as was the T-Mobile network.  Very odd.  Of course the answer is to get my emails set up properly on the cell-phone.

The new Air New Zealand 777-300 is a splendid aircraft.  I haven’t quite worked out the ‘cuddle class’ yet.  The 3-seat beds either haven’t been taken up or they are not yet in use.

So now I've arrived at Heathrow Airport and am waiting for the flight to Glasgow.  Frankly a shower and change of clothes will be very welcome indeed.

And on that note I shall set off on the last leg of the journey - for today at least.  I'll be back in Eagleton on Thursday.

Not Quite Home

I arrived in Glasgow this afternoon to find that Stornoway Airport had been closed because of the ash situation. I could have got home later this evening but I was very tired and the idea of spending an evening catching up with Gaz was very appealing.  It is now after 11pm and I've had a lovely Moroccan dinner cooked by Gaz, lots of chat, the odd glass of wine and some things to blog about too. I've now been awake over 50 hours apart from a few dozy hours on the flight from Auckland to Los Angeles so I'm a bit tired.  Hopefully I'll be home mid afternoon tomorrow.

Study in Blue and White: 2

Study in Blue and White

 

The Journey Home

This will not be the last posting on this Blog - there are a few more things I want to say before I start on my Eagleton Notes.

This posting is being started in Glasgow Airport where I have a couple of hours to wait for the Stornoway flight and the last flight sector of the journey home. It won't quite be the last leg of the journey because Pat will be there to meet me and drive me home from the Airport. I am so looking forward to that as I write this.

The journey started rather hurriedly. I had all day to finish packing and getting The Cupboard packed. However I was making such good progress cleaning the Cottage that I had managed to get all the bedding washed and dried including the big thick duvet cover - it was the perfect drying weather - 28 deg and breezy. I popped into town and had a coffee with Jayne from Croquet. When I got home I had several hours to finish off and somehow everything got a bit behind. Partly it has to be said because I couldn't access the British Airways website to validate my Stornoway flight.

Martin and the children hadn't arrived back from Gisborne so June took me to the Airport. We arrived and I realised that I'd left my mobile in its place on the window frame which is the only place in the Cottage that I can get a signal. So June set off to get it and was back in good time. The flight was, however, delayed over an hour which meant that Martin and the children did get to see me off and I had only 1 1/2 hours to get from Domestic to International (a decent walk or a possible 20 minute wait for the courtesy bus), pay my departure tax (which usually takes ages), and get though security. As it happens all that took me less than half an hour so I was airside and ready to board well before time for take-off at 2130.

The first International sector to Los Angeles was on a Boeing 747-400 carrying nearly 400 passengers and weighing about 369 tons and flying at a cruising height of 11000 metres at nearly 1000 kph. The 10000 k journey took about 11 hours.

We arrived in LAX (Los Angeles International Airport). Always a joy - not. The occupants of the plane who are transiting through the airport to get back on the plane after it's been refuelled and re-provisioned (why did I not use a hyphen in refuelled?) simply have to wait in the (exceptionally uninviting) cattle - sorry, transit - holding area. BUT first you have to get into that area and you have only two hours before the flight takes off again. This means that the majority of the 400 people on board line up in a corridor whilst ONE Border and Homelands Security Immigration Officer considers your visa waiver application, fingerprints both your index fingers and photographs your iris's. Needless to say this cannot be done in two hours by one person. So after a while they marched the rest of the waiting masses down stairs and along corridors and through the 'proper' immigration control area.

The reason that, until now, I have flown through the USA is to get my 2 x 23k baggage allowance. Other flights only allow 1 x 20k. I have to say that I am glad that I will never have to go through the USA again because I no longer need the larger baggage allowance as I have almost everything that I need duplicated in New Zealand.

I shall probably continue to use Air New Zealand because I can book my luggage from Glasgow to Napier (just taking it through bio-security and customs in Auckland) and vice versa without any need to see it in London. But other opportunities are at least open to the traveller who eschews the US of A. Air New Zealand fly more and more flights through Hong Kong Airport which is a lovely spacious airport with showers and a friendly, fast throughput of transit visitors. That is appealing.

The rest of this is being written on Friday morning (UK time) at home.

The second sector to LHR (London Heathrow) was flown by the same plane and the 8919 ks took about 10 hours.

Heathrow is an Airport which most people seek to avoid if they can but I have to say that I don't really mind it and after 1 June this year Air New Zealand will be using Terminal 1 so there will be no need to transfer terminals between the Glasgow to LHR BMI flight and the Air New Zealand onward flight. The only problem I had in Heathrow (apart from a snag with my BMI electronic ticket which had been 'locked' by Air New Zealand who could not be contacted for nearly 30 minutes) yesterday was Immigration - I didn't go through it! Of course you can't avoid immigration can you? Answer 'Yes, very easily. And you don't even have to try'. I managed to bypass the immigration controls and got as far as the boarding gate for the Glasgow flight. I was asked for my passport. It didn't have a biometric confirmation in it ie a digitised photograph so that they could check I was who I was. So I had to go all the way back to the Immigration Control that I'd bypassed (it's so obvious that I couldn't even find it when I went back!) to be processed. If I'd had a new passport with a digitised image presumably I would have got onto the plane without even passing through Immigration Control. Amazing. As it was I arrived back at the gate just as it was closing. However the plane was over an hour late so it wouldn't have mattered on this occasion.

The Glasgow to Stornoway sector was uneventful and only took 40 minutes with a strong tailwind. The sight of the Shiants and the South Lochs and then Stornoway was remarkably emotional. I felt that I was home. Rather the same as I felt when the plane circled Hawkes Bay on the first day of November last year.

Hawkes Bay Airport: Napier

The Airport at Napier is billed as Hawkes Bay Airport. Despite the fact that it's in Napier I suppose that's because it's the only one in the area capable of taking anything bigger than a 4-seater aeroplane. It's a very pleasant airport rather in the way that Stornoway Airport is. A bit like home from home. Except for one HUGE difference. Here there are no security checks and no x-ray machines: just like Stornoway was 30 years ago. Mind you in the last few weeks they have actually started checking the tickets before you board. Is this the pre-cursor to more rigorous checks I wonder.

Wendy went off to China from here early this evening. I shall be leaving from here on Wednesday evening.

Travelling by air

Travelling via Hong Kong was wonderful. Partly because Hong Kong is a much nicer airport than Los Angeles and partly because you don't have to go through the Imigration Service ritual to which the US (illegally, I understand) subjects transit passengers. It also means that one is travelling the 'correct' way round the globe and I managed two nights with some sort of sleep. That is only the second time that I have ever managed sleep on an air journey. The result was that I felt much fresher when I arrived here.

One point, though, for anyone concerned about their luggage allowance: Air New Zealand (and other Airlines I believe) who transit via the US allow 2 x 23k cases whereas if the journey does not have any sector via the US the allowance is 1 x 20k. All that refers, of course, to economy class. For those lucky enough to travel business class the allowances are different.