Long Haul

Landed at Manchester this morning, 3 March, at 7 am local time with the pilot informing us that it was minus 5 deg C. Frost coated all the fields and was clearly obvious from the plane. A bit nippy in other words. We found our way to the train station and worked out that we had to make a change at Preston where we had to wait in the freeze for 20 minutes then on to Accrington, arriving at 1017. We then walked to Nan's place which took till about 11 am. We are now settled in to the Guest room at her retirement complex.

The flight was as good as can be expected. Twenty-six hours broken up with a stop in Singapore for 2 hours during which time we walked as much as possible. We found a butterfly garden which we hope to see another time in the daylight. The 13+ hours from Singapore to Munich were indescribable. By the time we took off, we had been awake for 20 hours and then were handed a menu showing us that we were to be served a meal called supper but which looked like a main meal. This added another hour to our sleeplessness but we managed to get about 6 hours of fitful sleep in the end.

Thought I'd achieved a competent for "Opening Pesky Packaging 101" but then was defeated by the cheddar cheese. Had to stab it with a fork in the end.

In the late afternoon we walked to Neale's which took about 30 minutes so now we only have to catch up with Wazza and Jemma.

Many of you will know that I'm a white knuckle flier but can proudly say I did get a Competent for "Long Haul 101". My Learning Strategies included entering a zone of resignation and walking around whenever I could extract myself from the middle of the row of three seats that I scored on both planes.

Also it was "I" who was randomly selected for a security check at Brinsbane airport. Fortunately the female assistant who "patted me down" could tell the difference between my bumpy bits and a bomb belt, so there was no further embarrassment.