What Time Is It?!

We're back from Florida, the house is still standing, the garden desperately needs weeding and the 'grass' cutting, the kitties are all hale and hearty.

We had great luck on the flights out, with both of us on different days having a window seat with the aisle seat free. No such luck yesterday, the plane was absolutely packed to the rafters in coach, and we haven't the funds to fly business class. We had aisle seats across from each other at least, so we could wave and check in on each other from time to time.

It was a night flight, and I know from listening to other well-travelled folk that it is a good idea to set your watch to local time at your destination, so when we were due to take off at 4.25 pm in Florida it was 10.25 in Frankfurt. Dinner was due to be served around 6 pm/midnight, so I was looking forward to settling down to sleep after that.

Unfortunately, a poor man on the row in front on the left hand side of the seating collapsed while we were still on the tarmac. There was a paramedic on the flight, so he checked on him, and the emergency services were called. The cabin crew did a very good job indeed of co-ordinating things and keeping the gawkers at bay. All I heard was a big bang as he hit the floor, and I'm not the sort to start rubbernecking. They had no need of my rusty first aid skills so I kept in my seat, but my understanding was he had a history of heart problems and had got up from his seat to go back to the bathroom before we left the gate and collapsed on his way back.

It took a little over an hour to get him off to hospital, take details of witnesses, find his baggage and remove it from the hold. Then we had to wait for a new take-off slot, and as we queued up an airplane ahead of us blew a tyre on take-off and so they had to close the runway to clean it up. That meant waiting for another slot.

In the end, I think it was about 6.30 by the time we took off. Whatever, by the time we'd eaten dinner and had the last round of beverage service after it, it was about 3 am German time, so I settled down to sleep. That was when I realised the guy on the other side of the aisle row was blasting out heavy metal on his iPod, which I could hear over the engine noise even with earplugs in.

The cabin lights stayed on for another couple of hours, so even with the eyeshades they provide you, it was too bright to sleep. Every twenty minutes or so the cabin crew came round with water, which was nice, but rather loud.

And then, after the cabin lights went out and some of us finally managed to drift off, first of all the guy on the left of me refused to let the guy in the middle back into his seat, so he had to wake me up, followed a few minutes later by the duty free trolley coming round and making enough noise to wake even D, who will sleep through earthquakes.

So, I think all told I might have snatched maybe an hour on the flight. I'd started to feel headachey in the airport and took some painkillers on the plane, but had to wait so long to get a drink (forgot to buy water) my migraine had really taken hold, so I was in a pretty miserable state.

The crowning glory of the day had to be the wrangling of the baggage - three suitcases, one of which has wheels but is the old-fashioned kind that has the wheels on the long axis so I was bent double trying to pull it along. It was easier just to carry it. Out the terminal, onto the bus to the railway station at the other terminal, the long walk to the station itself and the escalators down to the platform...by the time we got down there, I was almost fainting and had to lean on the luggage trolley for support.

I was semi-conscious on the twenty minute train ride to Mannheim, but then had to drag the older suitcase through the station and out to the taxi rank. That meant wrangling it the length of the platform as I had to get to the escalator because the funky conveyor belt by the stairs is still out of order and has been for months, then dragging it back the length of the station building and up a hill to the taxi rank. I think taxi drivers in every city in the world are equally deranged...

I was so pleased to see Monty when we got to our friends' flat, but not pleased to note that someone had keyed the panel between the door and the bonnet...

Got home, checked the gardens - I have a green pepper growing, and all the tomato plants and peppers are in full bloom, my gladioli bulbs have all sprouted, the peas and beans are growing well, clematis, poppies, peonies are all blooming, and the weeds are taking over!

Then I staggered upstairs and crashed out for a few hours, and now I need to think about packing a few things to take to Scotland with me tomorrow. Change at Manchester and Edinburgh...argh!!!!