In The Air and what happened to the 26th?

On the trail of the yellow brick road

Sunday

Woke up early 8am ish to get bags finally packed and everything sorted before we made our final move from Dorset

I packed my bag finally to go! Had a phone call from Judy she was going to pick me up from B&T’s so that I could have a quick look at Sarah’s baby before I left. Bob coked breakfast again! Bless him he works so hard in the house I think Tracey is a very lucky girl not many men are happy to do everything. We had eggy bread! My favourite and it was very well done too not too soggy not too bready just right! Looking forward to B&T visiting Oz to get a cooked breakfast again!

While eating breaky Judy arrived, I gobbled it down and went on my way to say my final farewells to those I had not seen last night.

Tim was going to pack his bags, go back to the house and sort out any stuff we had left behind that we decided we did not want to leave after all the hassle with selling the house we felt that certain things we left for free we were going to give to people who wanted them. After that he was going to visit his mum and give her instructions on all the mail that she should receive in the next 6 months.

Off I went with Judy to see the buby J so cute was he and so tiny! Poor Sarah was looking like a new mum, sore from having a C section, sore from the baby sucking hard on her nipples and tired from all the feeds during the nights! Poor Simon looked just as shattered, it was a fleeting visit as Nick phoned while I was there to come and help him load the van to get back to London.

Judy dropped me off at Julies and the loading began! It was not too bad in the van, it had taken Tim numerous trips to get it there, but it was sorted easy.

Tim met us at Julies club and we went via Shirley’s to say goodbye, which was very hard L Lots of tears and lots of hugs and finally we left to go and fill the van with stuff from B&Ts we had left there.

Nick was very patient up until he saw the stuff in B&Ts and then was getting very upset with me for giving him all our cack! Thinking about it there was a lot of cooking equipment and lots of oils, spices sauces etc. Strange how these things seem so important at the time, its hard to throw away all that belongs to you, as it feels like you are throwing part of you away with it too. We should have skipped it all, but I know how I felt when I emptied my house, I felt like I had emptied my life as all the niff-naff and trivia was connected to me, strange these attachments to personal possessions. Well we will definitely loose that over the next few months until we get settled!

We left B&T in tears, with hugs and promises of visits to Oz, we will miss you two as we spent most of our social time with you!

Tim, Nick and I were loaded into the van heading to mum and dads to meet Luke there and say goodbye. Luke had gone of early that morning (which is very unusual for him!) to sort out some computer problems for a friend and a client of his.

On the way to M&Ds I felt nauseous, Nick was good by talking and keeping my mind off saying goodbye.

Time was ticking on and we had to move quick so I had pre warned M&D it would be a flying visit, but we managed to have a cup of tea and relax while waiting for Luke, I had said to Nick that if he was not there soon they could leave and I would wait for Luke as we would catch them up in the car. But Luke turned up and all was fine, we stayed a bit more and then had to go. Nick and Luke slid out of the room as we said our goodbyes, more tears and hugs and a few jokes about leaving behind little brown fishes (for those who know what they are). M&D had sent a card wishing us luck in our new life, but it does not stop the feeling you are abandoning them and your own son L hard days ahead.

London here we go! Nick and Tim were the Yorkie boys and Luke and myself were in the car, off we set and arrive in London we did with good time. A stop off at Jeanne’s to pick her up and a visit the toilet as I was desperate, met her mum for the first time, who was a very nice person, spent a bit of time in the toilet with her (long story! Ask Luke!!!) Then headed off to Luke’s to drop off the stuff he wanted. Job done off to Avrils to finish the job and relax!

Quick sort out of stuff, showers, a couple of glasses of wine and off out to dinner! Avril told us on the way she had chosen this place after she had been there for a funeral!! The place was called Edwinn’s and it was in a stunning location, don’t ask me where!! As I have no idea! The food was fantastic, the company was great and it rounded our last hours off perfectly, thanks Avril and goodbye to Dorset, family and friends for a while!

Monday

Pedants

Spoke to solicitor regards house sale, promising noises that mortgage had been applied for but late, so money should be forthcoming at some point.

Security restrictions in England, I don’t buy it it all just seems like a government scam to annoy people and make them believe that there actually is some threat.

First niggles at check in, the bag I had bought at smaller than the new regulations was rejected so we had to take stuff out of hand luggage and check that in as an extra bag. Luckily we didn’t have to pay for it which was some small relief since £80 had already gone on excess luggage for the other four bags. Anyway we were told everything else would be OK to get on the plane so off we went for some food and a drink with NLJ.

Full scale pedantry resumed as we went through pre-security security checks. Everything for some reason has to be in one bag, even if it is small. Now what difference this actually makes who knows they still have to screen it. Nazi jumped up little shit of a woman reduced Y to tears, swift phone calls to M and S had to collect camcorder. Another 75 quid on a bag we didn’t need so that Ys two small document cases were in one bag. The geezer did actually let us jump straight though which was something. Just as well the house delay means another 170 quid a day until it completes. We didn’t have any body searches or bags searched so believe it or not it could have been worse. So much for a relaxing couple of hours. Finally made it to the gate, saw M before getting on the plane.

Plane was shiny and new, and we had managed top seats thanks to Ys contacts, which pissed off two Americans so can only be a good thing. Flight essentially consisted of eating and watching crap on the TV.

LA was surprisingly quick and hassle free. It is fortunate that American airports are staffed by Americans who failed to realise that we had paid for the extra hold luggage or paid excess for the whole trip. The receipt was ambiguous enough to talk our way out of any potential additional costs. BK was much like in England, no fecking milkshakes. No wifi so couldn’t check email.

Our schedule was tight but had 90 minutes slack in NZ. This was taken up before we left LA and no time was made up on the flight. When we were landing we were told the plane would be held for us, so a quick run through the airport and we were on the plane. We were informed our bags would also be on the plane so everything seemed hunky dory.

They didn’t. So were arrive with no luggage, announcement over the tannoy, Qantas seemed to handle it well at this point, taking descriptions of the bags, issuing reference numbers and assuring us they would be on the next plane to landing about 90 minutes later. We decided to find a hotel, which in itself was somewhat of a trial.

Eventually we got to the hostel, had a long chat with the owner as she was ex-pom and finally got to our room. Bit on the small side knowing that our bags were so big, decided to go into town and get our bank cards sorted so we can get some money out.

Stopped in BigW for some shorts and ladies items, went to Woolies for some food. Stopped at a fab ice cream place for some sweet indulgence. Thunder ensued during the afternoon. Went for a beer in the local bar later but it started raining so we popped into the bottle shop and headed home. Ronnie fell asleep shortly after a glass of wine!

Oh yeah, the cases finally turned up just before 7.

Thursday 28th

Woke at 5am which was quite good going considering I crashed out at 10pm QLD time even while drinking my first glass of wine in the room! Tim stayed awake but not sure for how long as I was dead to the world. It was the strange sound of different birds singing that woke me and then I remembered I was in Oz.

Showered, and got ready to sort out loads today! First on list was to hit the internet and sort out loads! Tim made breaky, orange juice and a nuked cheesy roll bit dry but ok.

Walked into town and found the internet place Tim had found in a book, but it was not open so we went across the road for a cup of coffee and a hot chocolate, then into internet to sort out mail and everything else via the web. Tim was happy and I was relieved that the house sale had gone through and we could breathe!

We then went on to sort out my mobile so that it was unlocked to any network; everyone seems so helpful at the moment which is really nice. Sorted phone bought some sandals for Tim and I (as he can't walk in flip-flops or thongs as they call them here).

Went on to book shop to buy test theory book to take our driving theory so we can drive here, which we have to do in the next 3 months, under pressure!! Then went to the test centre to register and find out information about when we can take the test and sorted it all out. They seem really quick and efficient!

After that we went to china town as we were hungry after our early morning wake up. Walked around and found a nice place to eat, $8 for a great lunch, but decided to have a drink in a pub called the elephant & wheelbarrow first an English pub but we drank local, Tim had a tooheys beer and I had a Bundaberg rum and coke, which to our surprise the bar manager gave us for free!! Don’t get that much in the UK!

From there we went back into town for appointment with the bank about mortgages, pensions and financial stuff! They were really nice; Caroline from yesterday got us some water and biscuits after a long chat and some recommendations for places to live we headed out into the sunshine.

We decided to get it all done day, so headed to the post office to find out if we could get a PO box number, but we were told that we could have our tax file number (TFN) sent there without a box number!! Went to the tax office to sort out a TFN and he gave us details to do it on line, so will do later.

Sorted out forms to join the RAC well it’s really called the RACQ (RAC Queensland). Picked up forms to get Roxy insured, came back to room looked up on map all the places they had suggested and while I am writing this to upload at the internet café, Tim is reading the theory book from cover to cover!! Desperate to take it and pass it with more points than me!