Hello Doha!

After the easiest and most pleasant six hour flight, we arrived in Doha.

Qatar Airways was nothing short of superb with excellent service and sublime food.

I always order the South Asian vegetarian menu when I fly and this consisted of two dishes of cauliflower, lentils and paneer lightly curried with a coriander chutney. Delicious.

The entertainment was strangely less successful with lots of choice but nothing appealing. It was aimed at the blockbuster franchise audience rather than the art house crowd but we eventually managed to find films and TV to while away a few hours.

The next leg to Melbourne will be long haul and we’ll try to get some sleep. It was an early start this morning so we should be ready for a nap, I’m fading a bit now.

In the meantime, I’m hoping to finish a film about the discovery of Richard 111 in a car park in the centre of Leicester!

Next stop, Melbourne Airport (tomorrow night!)

And we’re off!

After finishing work for the year and shutting off my laptop with a sigh of relief, we dropped Agnes off in the Chilterns where she’ll spend three weeks with fellow Welsh terrier owners. My fear is they won’t give her back but perhaps I’m biased and they’ll be glad to see the back of her!

We were up at 4:30am and set off to Paddington only to discover the Heathrow Express was cancelled and we were lucky to jump on the Elizabeth line. Who knew it was as good and cheaper?

We arrived at Terminal 4 (a first) and enjoyed a rather nice breakfast in the Qatar Airlines lounge. Lovely!

We’re travelling well this time having been unable to face the trauma of economy after last year’s journey to Cambodia.

And so for now, we’re relaxing in lounging outfits and waiting to board the longest flights in the universe!

Here we go!

Growing out

I’ve decided to grow my hair colour out to see what’s lurking beneath and since it’s been three months, it’s clear there’s a silver hat on the top of my head with much darker hair underneath which hasn’t seen the light of day in years!

It’s a bit Cruella meets Devil Wears Prada or as I’m optimistically putting it, free highlights.

I am slightly concerned about the appearance of aging but it seems grey hair is quite on trend and it can always be recoloured if I can’t handle it. and in the meantime, luckily for me I can wear a hat.

Only another year and a half to go!

This year

I haven’t written much this year.

When I started this blog many years ago, the idea was to put a positive spin on challenging times which worked well for a long time. I wrote with humour and there was always a laugh at the end.

Somewhere this year I ran out of spin and lost my mojo.

This year I’ve had some challenges.

I’ve also had some health issues, including menopausal changes which are the best kept secret until you get them. I’d spent fifteen years allergy-free, and then I started sneezing. Was it menopause-related as I was on HRT or was it Covid? I stopped HRT and started sweating, itching and sneezing. It wasn’t fun.

And I was pretty stressed. Work was stressing me out, life wasn’t fun, I seemed to be travelling a lot but going nowhere, endlessly delayed in airports during the summer.

And so I’ve been making some changes.

I stopped drinking in September and can count the number of drinks I’ve had in the last three months on one hand. It makes me laugh as a gin lover that my drink of choice now is tonic water.

I’ve cleaned up my diet eating lots of vegetables, going back to gluten and dairy free and started back on supplements and vitamins. Then I started researching. It seemed there was a connection between histamines and menopause as well as Covid.

I started a low histamine diet and read about gut bacteria being important for menopause, long covid and allergies as well as phytochemicals and so I added probiotics to my life and this seems to have been a turning point and I’m slowly coming back from the brink. It’s not over but perhaps things are a little better.

And so, as the year is ending and I’m knackered and ready for a break, I’m obsessively focused on health for 2024.

The giant bed

After complaining about our old bed (which was like the grandparents’ bed in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) for the last couple of years, we finally broke down and bought a new bed. It was all a bit stressful.

I was convinced we needed a bigger bed and, having measured carefully and turned the orientation of the room around, we ordered a super king bed.

In the UK, a queen sized bed (in the US) is called a King so I felt the UK Super King (US King) was the way to go, plus we would have 100 days to return it apparently, if we could get it back out.

And then I started worrying about the giant bed convinced it wouldn’t fit and ironically had several sleepless nights worrying about a bed.

And so this week the super king storage bed arrived and it is massive! And it’s like a hotel bed. I’ve only slept in it twice so I’m getting used to it but so far it’s amazing!

Here’s Agnes eyeing up the extra space wondering if Big T will ever let her sleep on the bed! I won’t say anything about me…

One Degree

It was one degree in London today. Balmy!

Agnes and I went up to Hampstead Heath on the bus and tromped around in the freezing fog for an hour or so. It was very atmospheric and a bit chilly but mostly good for a bit of fresh air to clear the lungs.

It’s now minus two degrees and I’m wearing two pairs of trousers (thermal leggings under wool lounging trousers) as our flat is very cold and drafty. We really should have repaired and double glazed our old Edwardian windows (given the energy prices) so Agnes and I are sitting under a large wool wrap. Big T has relocated to the South of France.

This afternoon I organised my summer clothes to go to Australia in two weeks. It’s hard to imagine wearing summer clothes and I’m concerned I should be taking a winter coat, woolly hat and gloves instead of flip flops, a sun hat and a swim suit. I am not summer-ready!

How can it be 30 degrees in Melbourne on Monday?

Cold in the South of France

After another trip back to France, exhaustion had set in and I was starting to feel a bit ropey. Perhaps it was sitting in Nice Airport for twelve hours.

I arrived back on Friday without any mishaps but had been feeling the old ominous tickle in the back of my throat. It’s not as if I could get a cold in the summer, as if?!

And so to Sunday where my face and head have been aching all day, I’ve been sneezing like billy-o and have been knocked out by a French version of Lemsip which is about five times as strong. On a 32 degree day, a temperature was the last thing I needed.

To coincide with my misery, the pool has gone green. Perhaps it’s a sympathy vote as I’m also feeling green.

And to think it’s only a couple of weeks since I attained ultimate clarity. How the mighty have fallen!

Twelve hours late

It didn’t get better as the fiasco continued.

We eventually boarded the plane but sat at the gate as debacle after debacle prevented us from leaving.

There was an unaccounted for suitcase checked in which had to be reconciled. The plane wasn’t refuelled. The air traffic controllers hadn’t given us a departure time or flight path. The list went on. much of it comes down to Brexit as the washer for the original repair hadn’t cleared customs as it was coming from outside the EU.

Eventually, at 7:15pm, we pushed back from the gate and took off fifteen minutes later. The flight was half an hour longer than usual due to having to avoid French airspace due to an air traffic control dispute.

You’d think there might have been a compensatory drink or food but those days are over as the tiny insulting bags of pretzels came out but the card machines weren’t working so anything purchased had to be manually invoiced.

The final announcement was that a hot breakfast would be served to business class as that was the original catering for the day. Whilst there was laughter, it did smell quite nice. I might add, I wasn’t in business class.

Arriving into Heathrow at 8:30pm, exactly twelve hours late as I should have arrived at 8:30am, it was the final leg. We landed into the farthest terminal so had to take the shuttle to arrivals followed by passport control and eventually onto the Heathrow express to Paddington.

My final stretch, on to the tube to Maida Vale where I had to buy food before eventually staggering in the door at 9:45pm. From a 4:40am start (3:40 UK) I was wiped out.

The thought now, waking up at 7:30am, is the prospect of doing it all again as I have another four flights in the next two weeks.

Eleven hours in Nice… airport!

And so it all went wrong.

The car is broken so we spent the weekend shopping locally. It was very nice as a novelty but we realised we need a car.

The car wasn’t repaired by Tuesday morning so we booked a taxi which collected me on the dot of 5am. I was up at 4:40am local time. And so by 5:20am I was at the airport all ready for my 7:20am flight to Heathrow. Except that I wasn’t going anywhere.

The first delay was to 10:40am so I had some breakfast and did some work. The next delay was 2pm, then 3pm and then nothing. By 4:30pm I was getting a bit wiffy so I bought a deodorant. If we ever take off, my fellow passengers will be grateful.

Apparently there was an oil leak which had started the night before and the plane needed a new washer. The washer had to be flown from the UK and despite it arriving twice, it hadn’t followed the correct import procedure.

Around the same time as my deodorant purchase (€7.99 can I get compensation?) an announcement that the plane would be boarding in about an hour but I know how this game works. Will it really be an hour or is that to placate the increasingly angry mob?

To be fair, people have behaved very well especially as some have been stuck overnight due to cancellations last night.

I was all ready to jump ship and head back up the hill to Le Rouret but as there’s no car, I would have to get a bus or a taxi and so I’m still waiting, reasonably patiently, to see what happens next…

Niçoise

The final day of the full gang saw a splinter group head off to Nice to explore the old town and the Chagall museum while the remainers enjoyed lunch by the pool and skulked around in the shade enjoying a bit of peace and quiet.

Reunited, the gang headed over to Valbonne in convoy for an early aperitif followed by pizza picked up from a double decker bus to be enjoyed in the garden.

Gang’s all here

With an early start for some, a little ping pong finished the evening as the Devon Two and the Maida Vale One were heading off early whilst The Thornbury Four were staying on for another day with plans to dig a large hole in the garden.

A good time was had by all and it may be some time before we meet again as we scatter across the globe to the farthest reaches. Happy times.

Agnes sensibly went to bed to recover from several days of fun and splashing.

Recovery mode