All Is Safely Gathered In.

[SisterMaryFellatio]

After a fabulous week away seeing the sights in Sydney and a great 4 days with Gob, Hen and The Hatch we finally made it back home.


Everything was smooth sailing,flight to Sydney, hotel, car hire, finding our way to Gobs House, driving around Canberra (am a hooj GPS fan now, I reckon it can save marriages!) leaving Canberra and driving back to Sydney.


Then the it all went awry.....Seans fault he jinxed us by saying how easy and stress free its been.

On the way to Sydney Airport, I got a text an hour and a half before take off telling me our flight has been cancelled due to volcanic ash! Wouldn't mind but we were heading north and it was the south that is affected. Was there no ash 5 hours earlier so we could have stayed in Canberra another night? Twats!

So got a refund on our flights all bar $50 they keep that for admin costs!

Rebooked flights with another airline which cost us $300!!

Drama over (so we thought) Go through security check to go airside. I removed my boots which made the detectors go off on the way there. Shoved coats, boots and bags through. Security guy asked me to step aside as they wanted to search one of the bags. No worries says I. I packed them and i knew there was nothing in them that hadn't been on the flight there. The bag they wanted to search was Pudds....full of cars and toys which he had taken with him. They pulled out Pudds plastic drill!! It is entirely plastic. Yes it is a Black and Decker replica but its hollow plastic! Told us this couldn't go on the aircraft,I argue its a toy, its plastic and it flew down here. We were told by security if it was going on an international flight it would have made it through!!! But said it would have to be confiscated. So now Pudds very very upset (it was the first thing he actually bought himself with saved money). So we placated Pudd with a promise of replacing it with an plane. Drama over.


Sat down then with a coffee before boarding the flight. To be told the flight is half an hour late! No big deal we should have been home an hour ago but with all things aside not bad so we thought!!!


Boarding the plane....we are seated in the 3rd row. Now the Cabin Manger looked like an officious bitch and I wouldnt have picked an argument with her, by this stage we just wanted to get home. Some woman in the row in front of us called her a smart arsed bitch because she didn't want to stow her coat and handbag, she wanted it under the seat in front of her. Officious Trolley Dolly, told her the airline has a zero tolerance for swearing at staff and she needed to leave the aircraft as she wouldn't be flying and neither would anyone else until she de planed!!! Cue arguing from people she was travelling with who were told to shut it or get thrown off too. Woman refused to cooperate, so ground crew had to come on and call the Feds!!!

Feds came removed woman we are now an hour late taking off!


Got home last night at 930 pm, Grumpy tired Pudd who decided to vomit all over the couch!


Thanks to our fantastic hosts in Canberra, we had a ball. Seeing the sights, eating great food and drinking good wine and fab conversation.

Looking forward to when we can do the same when they visit us.

[Gob]

Glad you are home safe, but Sean needs a slapping for declaring "smooth passage" down here.

I must reciprocate as well. Due to my being incapaciated after my bike crash, the whole thing could have been a bloody nightmare.

However, Sean SMF and Pudd were absolutely brilliant company, it was like we'd been best buddies for years, not people who had met just twice, six years ago.

Pudd is a clever, articulate and well behaved child, a real credit to his parents.

It may have been a blessing that I was hobbled for the first few days, as our guests got to see Canberra at a leisurely pace, rather than the forced marching about everywhere they experienced on their last day with us.

But bloody hell, what a great few days it turned out to be!

Certainly will be taking you up on a trip up your mountain when we have the chance guys!!

Thanks

Taff

[Sean]

No arguments from me, it was a belting few days... with the exception of the bellboy service in Canberra which was crap!

We could not have asked for better hosts or better company. Pudd had his first crush... he would have followed Hatch anywhere and was delighted when she travelled in the back of the car with him where he could be a little gentleman and offer her chips and a drink.

We also managed to make a quite reasonable dent in a bottle of Glenlivet.



Which was nice...

[The Hen]

I can't believe the crap time you had getting back home.

It was a great couple of days though.

By crickey, you're a stonkingly good cook Sister M. It was a treat watching you magically produce tasty things with no effort at all.

Pudd is a fine little gentleman. What fun I had with him every morning as he accompanied me for a walk with the dogs. it is amazing the amount of aliens I didn't realize had been walking around in the back paddocks. it is just as well he was there to point out their footprints.

We must all meet up again soon.

[@meric@nwom@n]

A friend of mine's parents got caught in that cloud on their way home from a visit here. They said it was a big pain in the arse.