A great sleep last night, and was woken by the alarm. I had
a series of jobs to do before the afternoon pickup. I took Ella to school, then
went to the library, chemist and home, where I finished packing my bags.
Sarah’s bag of supplies = 6 kgs. My bag 19 kgs, which includes a few items
which are also destined for Hoole. My backpack was 9 kgs- blaming computer,
electrical cords and medication- plus emergency GF snacks for “just in case” on
the flights.
After packing, it was time to feed the birds and clean out
their cage, feed the fish, water the pot plants, spray the roses, spray the
geraniums, feed the snails and slugs, pick the beans, plant some old potatoes,
rake the back lawn for random sticks, clean out the fridge, a quick tidy and dust and returned phone
calls that people had made while I was outside. Shower, washed my hair and
finally time for a late lunch.
Heather arrived just before 4, we loaded the bags and set
off into the peak hour traffic. I’d arrived too early for the check-in, so I
sat for 15 minutes, before queuing for another 15 minutes. Promptly at 6 the
check in opened and my luggage disappeared. Hopefully we will be reunited in
Manchester. The only glitch was the machine processing the departure passports.
It took an extra-long time to process my passport. Went through to the lounge
to wait, then boarded on time. Not a spare seat on either section of the
flight.
The same very ordinary GF food on the plane, including
incredibly stale GF bread, but unlike Qantas no snacks during the flight. Emirates
did have fruit IF you went to a galley area. I think I went to every toilet in
the plane during the flight. Saw some great movies, but had no sleep.
We arrived on time at Dubai and by the time I went from one
terminal to another, had a toilet stop and sat to have a drink, it was time to
board again. Somehow at Dubai I lost my boarding pass. They printed another one.
Again boarded on time, but we had to sit and wait on the tarmac for 30 minutes for
a connecting flight,, delayed by a heart attack. Only 7 hours for this leg from
Dubai to Manchester. More movies and still no sleep. I gave up in the end and
started knitting once it was daylight.
We’d made up the time and landed very close to documented
time. It was a very long walk through Manchester terminals. It is definitely
not a fancy airport. Luckily I saw the poster advertising the arrival cards and
stopped to fill one out. The longest queues were from returning British/ EU
members. The baggage carousel was the usual bun fight. No Customs officers-
just a note on the wall.
Sarah and Amelia were waiting for me, which was wonderful.
After paying for parking we set off for Chester. The English countryside was
lovely. SO green and lush. Trees are just starting to break out in leaf. Sheep
and lambs in the fields and the last of the daffodils nodding away in the
breeze. An incredible range of architectural styles in the buildings in this
area. Sarah drove us to Waitrose, a brand new supermarket that had a large
supply of GF food and even some LF cheese and yoghurt. After picking up Lachie
from school, we had afternoon tea, then went to pick up Tim from work. We had
an early dinner and then the children played outside with Tim. By this time I
kept nodding off if I stopped doing anything
I lasted until 10 pm.
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