Flight Of The Grumble-bee

Written Wednesday 10th:

Hey there. It's 5:05am on Wednesday 10/10 (although it won't be when you're reading this), and I'm sitting in gate lounge 4 at Melbourne Airport. In my psychotic eagerness to get to the airport in plenty of time to change my seating allocation (in the hope of getting a seat where my legs aren't crushed by the seat in front), I ordered a taxi for 4am. He was early, traffic was great, and I got to the airport at 4:40 - almost an hour too early. And would you believe that I had already been allocated an exit row seat - the row with the most legroom - so I didn't need to be here early anyway!

The gatelounge TV is showing the NBC Today show, and they've been discussing the #1 issue facing that society at the moment. Iraq? Afghanistan? The Presidential Race? Crime? Nope: deodorants that leave white marks on your clothes (seriously, they are doing a full-on investigation). So I've switched over to the iPod and this laptop - and I'm currently listening to a weekly current-events trivia podcast, NPR's "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" (It's a great show, and I've learned a lot about U.S. politics too - so make sure you subscribe to it if you have iTunes installed somewhere).

So I'm heading back up to Brisbane today, and staying though until Friday night. I can really think of at least seventeen dozen places I'd rather be, principal among them being back in bed and not far from M & J & __? (thanks for the notes of congratulations, too!). I know, I know, I keep predicting that each trip will be my last, so I won't make that mistake this time 'round. It's funny (in a sad way) that when I first flew to Brisbane earlier this year for work, I dismissed the idea of joining the Frequent Flyer program on the basis that I was never going to be a frequent flyer. Then, with every subsequent flight, I lament that I never joined up, but I again rationalise that this really is my last flight so i again avoid joining up. Given that this is now my 10th trip in 8 months, I'd probably have enough points to fly to New York by now if I had joined. Idiot! What's the bet that if I bite the bullet now and join up, Murphy's Law will dictate that that'll be the end of my travelling? Maybe that's reason enough to join!

Well, I might pack this up and take a stroll before we board: us old codgers need to loosen up.

Written Friday 12th:

OK, now it's 4:05pm on Friday, and I've just arrived at the Brisbane gatelounge for my trip home. Looking back at what I wrote earlier, I can be so whiney! I'm really looking forward to getting back home of course, but Brisbane wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, or as I intimated it would be above. The motel I stayed in was very, very old and basic, but at the same time it was clean and quiet - and on the list of my wants and needs when travelling, they;re pretty much the top of the list. They also had a great cook, who prepared coconut prawns with Atlantic salmon, with a Margaret River cheese platter etc. You had me at "cheese".

I was also invited out to he home of some friends who recently moved from the Vic office to the Brisbane site (Kate & I used to sit together, and her husband Chris worked two desks away) - and we all had a great evening together. They have two kids - Danny, 17 and Tara, 20, and apparently I wasn't too old and daggy for them - that's always nice! The work I'm here to do has been pretty straightforward but at the same time very productive and on top of that, the weather has been 32 degrees today. The plane has been delayed though - in keeping with every other Friday afternoon flight I've had at Brisbane - but since I'm now looking at the bright side of things, this at least lets me go and stretch those old-codger legs again, eh? Have a great weekend.

(Oh and last but certainly not least, I just learned that my sister got a full time job today - one that she looks set to really enjoy - despite originally going in to interview for a totally separate part-time role. CONGRATULATIONS Bec!)