Circus of the air

It seems that even when I do manage to actually write something, I'm getting slacker at posting them! At least they make it here eventually.

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Yes, our blissful time back home has come to a close and so once again I find myself in the skies between Australia and Canada with what can only be described as more than adequate time in which to record some thoughts.

It’s taken me a couple of hours to pull the lap top out because quite simply, by the time that we managed to get on the plane in Adelaide, I was well ready to turn around and go back to bed.

Any day that starts with getting four kids out of bed in the proximity of 4am after getting yourself to bed at midnight is never going to be a great day. Add to that the emotional trauma of fare welling everything that is good in life to travel back to the other side of the world (particularly when that part hasn’t exactly been winning awards as far as family delight is concerned) and sure enough, you have a recipe for a situation that borders on stressful.

And of course, when you’ve beaten and battled your way from the trenches to the airport in time to actually be able to board the first of the four planes that you have to catch, what you really want to find out is that the computer system that is responsible for check-in,. seat allocation and baggage tracking is being electronically challenged (or substitute the past tense of a four letter word that possibly rhymes with duck); because that was the start of our day today. But that’s okay because we only had some 26 hours together to look forward to beyond that. And as I said to Dad, “I’d rather the computer that dishes out the tickets malfunctions than the one that flies the plane.”

And things always improve remarkably from these challenging situations don’t they? Because to quote the song, “Things can only get better …”

Yeah, of course they do.

Well, bollocks.

Because I’m sure if that had been true then at the point that we go to the stage of allocating seats, we wouldn’t have discovered that we were one luggage tag short and then, when we finally got on a plane, all children would have sat quietly in the first seat that they came across without any discussion as to who had sat near the window last time and therefore had future rights to that particular piece of real estate.

Of course, there does always tend to be a point where things finally turn for the better and given the start to the day, I was on the lookout for that point. I can however assure you that it wasn’t at any point during the transition in Sydney where our mostly agreeable children (who admittedly have had almost as little sleep as ourselves) were almost to a child decidedly unhelpful and so of course Caroline and I were saddled up like a couple of pack horses bound for a trek of epic duration (oh wait, we were).
We did eventually manage to get on the plane (for another round of musical seating desires) and thought that we might now manage to get everything settled down and underway. After all, there’s those neat seat-back entertainment units to baby-sit the kids for the 13 and a half hours that we’ll be in the air.

Which would be great if they actually worked; because yes, we managed to get our three boys in one of those rows on the plane where there’s been a minor technical hitch and thus their screens are going to be nothing more than an unreflective mirror for the next 13 and a half hours. Did I mention that this would go on for thirteen and a half hours!?

And I find it mildly amusing to have heard a conversation between the person sitting on the other side of the aisle from me and the cabin crew as to how to go about getting the reading light for the seat turned off given that every time the activated theirs, the light 3 rows behind theirs flicked on and off. Of course, I try to ignore the nagging doubts that it might raise in the mind of a sane around, if they can’t get the light switches to work the right lights and the entertainment system is just a little bit broke … exactly can one expect from the auto pilot … (but like I said, a sane person would ignore those questions).

But to close for today, I think we need a lighter note, something that isn’t quite likely to lead to wrist slitting mayhem. And so:

Quote of the day from Emily as she peeks out the window at 30,000 feet and gazes upon the clouds, “Wow we’re up high!”