Saturday, January 10, 2015

Trip part 1

Well, she's in the air. Arriving Dubai in a couple of hours, and after leaving her at the airport last night, I got home to Clokes watching the news, telling me there were two sieges in Paris and that Melb Airport had a security thing (a domestic situation, I think). So we sat up, unable to leave the tv. Me explaining my take on the Paris thing, and him disagreeing with me, and explaining what he thought. And me disagreeing. Finally went to bed, just before four, and had weird dreams.

I have a recurring type of dream, where I am separated from people I want to be with (P, Clokes etc) and can't get in touch. In last night's dream, I managed to incorporate a whole lot of anxiety images: I was naked on a tram, and had to deal with the ire of the passengers (but one lady, as she stepped off at her stop, said she 'understood what I was trying to do' which was very nice of her, but strange as I didn't understand what I was trying to do. I had some clothes some where so managed to pull them on, and the phone I had was a really old one and I couldn't work it (predictive text was on, I never have that on, so I couldn't type what I wanted no matter how carefully I tried).

I worked out which corner I was at and tried to text it to Clokes. One street had a 3 in it and the other had Lady or something. EVENTUALLY he found me, but not before someone was going to kill me and I bartered for my life with the phone ('just let me get my message through and you can have this!) That baddie turned out to be reasonable and an okay chap, so he kept his end of the deal, only to be shot by another baddie as soon as I handed the phone over

When I found Clokes, his son was with him, sobbing and really upset. I told him to pull himself together. I think Princess was there too.

So I've woken up exhausted, and now am trying to find P's plane on flightradar24 and I can't. And things are going to shit in Paris and P and her friend are training there from London on the 14th. It's all a bit tricky but the government website haven't upgraded their security ratings for any of the places we're going to. We had chats about how to keep safe, be smart. Even before all this the friend's family were worried about the girls being alone in Budapest so P's friend's brother is joining them on the last night in Paris to go with them to Budapest. Not sure how I feel about that (ok, I do know: I'm relieved but also annoyed) but anyway, P likes him and it will make it easier for them to be there. But now with this terrorist shit I won't be surprised if he turns up in Paris earlier, or even in London to escort them. Nothing I can do.

So I have to go and read the papers and have breakfast. I'm hoping P will be able to get onto the wifi at Dubai and send me a message. Hope her flight was good and that she is okay and not too tired. That's the longest leg, then it's about 8 hours to London, but then at London she has to go through all the controls and then find her friend's arrival terminal to wait for her there (different flights from Melbourne. Some families have so many points and blah blah. Would have been nice for them to fly together but, again. WHATEVER.)

I leave in a week. Excited. Do love travel. We were joking yesterday with my mother how it feels like a Grand Tour, a bit like Room With a View but without Italy. I'll play the lemon-sucking pursed lipped Maggie Smith character (alert, disapproving), and P will be the Helena Bonham-Carter character (fresh, young debutante, eyes flashing, boys hovering).

6 comments:

Melba said...

We have just been messaging - she got to Dubai fine, dozed/slept so feels refreshed. Getting back on plane now to fly to London. Only 8 hours so won't be so bad. One of the few times I really love technology: being able to be in touch so easily.

Alex said...

I think things in Paris are starting to settle down now, even if the media stays in full frenzy mode for a while. And regardless, the law of averages says the kids should be fine. They sound intelligent and switched on, and that's the important bit. Interested what your and Clokes' takes were on the situation, but understand if you don't want to go into it.

Weird dreams indeed. Hope that settles down a bit for you.

Alex said...
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suze2000 said...

I'm not sure if this will make sense or not, but let me say that worrying about P will not change the outcome of her trip. She's a smart girl, her friend probably is as well and Paris is not a difficult city to get around. She's in a lot more danger from pickpockets and scammers than random extremist violence, and they'll just take her money, and it's just money.

(tell her not to stand and watch bitch-fights, sign petitions, catch babies or look at mysteriously found rings)

Your dream reminds me of ones I have, usually in mine the phone is a rotary dial phone and it's missing the thing that stops it going around, or the push buttons have been rearranged. I like that yours is much more modern.

Enjoy your trip.

Alex said...

worrying about P will not change the outcome of her trip

This is also an important point. Though how much it actually helps you to stop worrying, I dunno.

Melba said...

I think the anxiety is more subconscious, so that's fine. I'm not feeling worried, more excited for her. They'll be fine. Thanks for your voices of reason.