I’m not sure where it went to…..

It was there when I left in September, was very evident the whole of my time away but it doesn’t appear to have returned.  Enthusiasm – that’s what I’m talking about.  I’ve been home nearly 48 hours now and it hasn’t made an appearance yet! 🙂

We finally arrived at Tullamarine – (Melbourne airport) after our long journey home a little bit later than planned due mainly to our flight out of Athens being delayed.  The plane was late arriving, then had to be cleaned, restocked, refuelled etc for its return – the airline explained it was delayed because it was unable to take off from Abu Dhabi because of military exercises  (read that to mean what you like. Remember my worries before we left about flying over certain areas in that part of the world and the decisions being taken by various nations about how to assist with air strikes?)  Military exercises they are calling it!!

So that made the short stop and change of plane in Abu Dhabi for the next leg an even shorter one involving moving ‘very very ‘ quickly from one gate to another with another two security checks along the way.  After all that, this flight also was late leaving which meant my mood could not be classed as happy!

The second flight was about 13 hours long and with little sleep, unappetising food, lots and lots of turbulence, snarky attendants, lets just say I was glad we when we finally landed.

We have a fabulous system for Australians coming in through customs and immigration now, where if you have a passport with a ‘chip’ you dont have to line up but just put your passport into a little machine to be recorded then go to a camera booth for a facial photo thats compared with the one in the passport.  One good thing to be said about progress – it works if you remember to take off your glasses (unlike The Golfer who forgot one year and had to line up and be verified face to face in the old way)

Then, luggage took an eternity being unloaded, the baggage area was so noisy and busy, there were very tired children (quite a few of them) along with parents trying hard not to lose their cool, other travellers of various nationalities pacing up and down which didn’t help at all, not sure how many passengers there were on the plane but they were all milling round the carousel hoping to see their case drop out of the opening and getting rather pushy when it did.

Finally we were on our way – or so it seemed.  Just had to hand in the immigration form – you know the one where they ask if you have anything to declare.  Nothing this time ‘cept the man seemed to think we needed to be checked for seeds grains etc and soil.  Bummer, so off we go into another line where the lovely sniffer dog walks by and ‘sniffs’ your cases and bags.  No problem there but dog actually parked himself in front of a woman two in front of us – in a flash she’s moved over and the rest of us are let go.  Somehow I think they might have had their eye on her and the rest of us were snap check samples for decoy.

Luck was with us in that the little car parking shuttle was there waiting for another person so the driver rang through and we were able to use his van and not wait for another.  Nearly 7pm by now – about 23 hours since we left Athens.  The Golfer takes the wheel and we are on our way – ‘cept he took a wrong turn, well actually missed the turn off and we end up not on the Ring Road but coming home along Bell Street.  That’s one road I haven’t been on for many years but there was no way we could be angry with each other because I was talking when the turn off appeared and he just sailed right past it – ‘Oh I think I should have gone down there’ was all he said.

Now say what you might about M”accas (golden arches and all that) there are times when a hot cup of coffee and one of their big muffins from one of their Mc”Cafes sounds very tasty after all you’ve had is airline food so we called into one and drove the hour it takes to get home very peacefully.

The other good thing is that the weather has definitely changed from the cold days we had before we left – it was bliss coming out of the terminal and being greeted with warm air.  Warm and dry yesterday as well as today so that mundane task of washing clothes has been done with a smile on my face.  Not enthusiastically but with a smile on my face just the same.

I thought about the gym this morning – gardening appeared to be a better idea so thats where I’ve spent the day.  I’m thinking it might still be in another country at the moment – heres hoping enthusiasm makes a comeback some time next week.  Think it’s going to take me till then to sort myself out.

Bye for now
Cathy