Saturday 23rd September
Returning to England this morning (Friday), we set off quite early. In fact it was still dark when I walked the dogs just before seven. As we drove out of town and into the countryside we were enveloped in a thick mist, almost a fog. The sun was a pale orange in the sky, just rising above the hills but too weak to warm us, or to dissolve the silvery mist. It was quite eerie, passing the rows of vines with their dark grapes hanging and the road ahead disappearing into the white mist.
And somehow my brain too was wrapped in a white mist. Nothing seemed real at all, this monthly commute to England, the work I had waiting for me – was a million miles away from reality. And you know how it is, your mind starts wandering. And I was thinking, what a strange existence – my Grandparents wouldn’t believe it. They had barely moved from the streets they were born into. A visit to Ipswich, 12 miles away, was a big deal. And here was I, just fifty years on, flying backwards and forwards, country hopping with as much nonchalance as getting on a bus.
We had dinner with friends last night, and they were talking about their visits to Australia. Now, I have never been – but it isn’t even unusual nowadays. People travel the globe as if it were just the few fields I used to wander round at the back of our little council house in Stowmarket. And I can remember quite clearly taking our little dog for long walks through those fields, and watching as the mist swirled and settled over the hedgerows. I was lost in thoughts, my mind a million miles away – just as I was this morning.
Plus ca change, plus ca meme. The more things change, the more they are the same.
Misty Morning…part 2
Yes, it was misty alright, so bloody misty that our Ryanair plane couldn’t land. It and we were diverted to Bordeaux. A two-hour bus journey and then chaos at Bordeaux as the electronic ticket readers wouldn’t recognise our boarding passes and no Ryanair staff were there to help. Eventually we got through Security and Passport Control for a second time (again they couldn’t enter our passport numbers in their computers as we had never returned after supposedly leaving from Bergerac) – eventually common-sense broke out and us bewildered and lost sheep were shepherded onto our plane. Arrived very tired and five hours late….
And ironically the mist had cleared at Bergerac about twenty minutes after our plane had failed to land.